Baz Luhrmann Wants You To See ‘Elvis’ Up On The Big Screen: ‘I Make Theatrical Movies To Be Seen In Cinemas’ by jeffconway
received there felt like a full circle moment for Baz, as he says he was first discovered when opening at Cannes with his first feature filmWith now six films under Baz’s belt over these three decades, I wondered how his latestproject might standout from his previous work.
“I recognize now because my projects were so ‘unlikely.’ Nobody said ballroom dancing is going to be popular. No one said a Shakespeare film could make money. No one thought that the musical could be re-invented, and that’s alright. But to do that, I had to give away a lot of my, what I would call ‘sell my futures.’ So, I didn’t really get a lot of money out of them and I realize now that I have to change my business model.
As I concluded my conversation with Baz, I left the visionary storyteller with one final question: After all of your hard work bringingto life on the big screen, getting to know the real roots of his story directly from the Presley family, and now having the film finally being shown to moviegoers all across the world, what message or few words would you like to say to the real man, Elvis Presley, surely looking down from the heavens on this whole experience with your filmmaking team, Priscilla,...
“I would like to say that if in any way I have done any justice in telling a fair story, that for what he has left behind in his legacy, I would like to say in a few words that he deserves a telling that is as passionate and spiritual, and that people have put as hard of work into, as he did in his music.