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Baz Luhrmann speaks to PEOPLE exclusively about his new film EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival
The “cinematic tone poem,” as the Australian director calls it, consists of unearthed footage of Presley’s legendary Las Vegas residency that began in 1969
Luhrmann’s follow-up to his 2022 biopic Elvis will win over even those who “don’t like” the late singer, he says
Even as a bona fide Elvis Presley expert, Baz Luhrmann realized he had plenty to learn about the King of Rock and Roll upon diving into his new project.
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, which premiered on Sept. 6 at the Toronto International Film Festival, consists of archival footage shot during Presley’s 1969 epochal residency at Las Vegas’ International Hotel. As Luhrmann, 62, tells PEOPLE, his follow-up to 2022’s Austin Butler– and Tom Hanks-starring Elvis is “a cinematic tone poem” rather than a documentary or concert film.
“Documentaries about Elvis tend to be people talking about him: ‘Well, Elvis is this,’” the Australian filmmaker says at the PEOPLE/EW and Shutterstock studio on Sept. 7. Instead, Luhrmann wanted to let much of the 36 hours of Presley footage unearthed at MGM Studios’ Kansas salt mines speak for itself.
“As we go through the material, we recognize we have him in his prime,” he recalls, including “singing like never before seen… We found 40 minutes of [footage] of him actually talking about his life, himself.”
Presley, who died in 1977 at age 42, has been the subject of countless biopics and documentaries. The “poignant” EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, as TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey wrote in a synopsis, focuses “on Presley’s musicianship and his interactions with band members and singers. What’s revealed is his deep knowledge of gospel, blues, and country traditions, and his instinctive feel for finding the best arrangements and pace for his songs.”
Courtesy of TIFF
Elvis Presley in ‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’
Luhrmann says he hopes the new film changes some music fans’ minds about the King. “People don’t like Elvis,” he says bluntly. “I was a bit surprised by the level of [audience members] relating to the screen like it’s alive.”
The director’s younger collaborators previously thought of Presley as more of “a Halloween costume,” he adds. But watching the new footage, “they couldn’t get over [how] goofy he is and how funny he is. And you get the sense of his vulnerability, that he’s particularly empathetic.”
What allows viewers of EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert to empathize with the late singer anew? “I think he always felt less than, and then he turns into almost godlike,” opines Luhrmann. “So to feel less than on the inside, but godlike on the outside is what makes such a remarkable person — who can then convert that into song.”
Pop culture icons like Presley, he says, are considered “aspirational,” an outsized projection of who they really are. “But great icons are always flawed and they’re very human. That’s what makes them so powerful.”
Earl Gibson III/Deadline via Gett
Baz Luhrmann at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 8
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EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert does not yet have a release date. Among Luhrmann’s other upcoming projects is Jehanne d’Arc, a retelling of the story of Joan of Arc.
Read the original article on People