[www.slashfilm.com]

"Tom Hanks will continue his quest to play every historical figure ever by taking on the role of Colonel Tom Parker
in Baz Luhrmann‘s untitled Elvis biopic. Parker was the man who discovered Elvis Presley,
helping him land a record deal and serving as the King’s manager from 1955 to 1977.
Elvis and Parker had a very close relationship, with Parker overseeing nearly every single aspect of Presley’s life.
For his film adaptation, Lurhmann wanted a star to play Parker, while a newcomer will play Elvis.
Variety broke the news about Tom Hanks entering into negotiations for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic as Colonel Tom Parker.
While Parker helped launch Elvis’ huge career, he also hindered it in many ways.
Because he himself was Dutch-born and did not have a US passport, he never allowed Presley to tour internationally.
He also took 50% of Elvis’ earnings, even after Presley died in 1977.

Per Biography, “In 1980, [it was] estimated that Parker had defrauded the Presley estate of an estimated $7 million to $8 million
in just the three preceding years…Parker had never registered Elvis with BMI, an organization that manages music rights.
Some 33 songs for which Elvis is credited therefore earned him no songwriting royalties.”

This definitely doesn’t sound like the typical nice guy character Hanks specializes in (for instance,
he’ll next be seen playing Mr. Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood).
It’ll be interesting to see Hanks play a potentially shifty character, depending on how Luhrmann intends to portray Parker in the film.
Hanks also has some experience playing a music manager – he played such a part in his directorial debut That Thing You Do.

Per the Variety story, “Luhrmann always envisioned a star for Parker’s part, he wants a newcomer for the role of Presley.”
A search is currently underway to find the right actor to play Elvis.
Luhrmann and his wife Catherine Martin have been developing the movie ever since Luhrmann finished his 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
According to THR, the biopic “is described as focusing on Presley’s rise and zenith, with a major aspect being his relationship with Parker.”

Music biopics continue to thrive in Hollywood, and will likely only increase in quantity in the wake of the box office success of Bohemian Rhapsody.
I’m not a huge fan of Lurhmann’s frantic style, but I have a feeling at the very least,
his Elvis biopic won’t suffer from the same by-the-numbers filmmaking as so many other music biopics do."
---------------------------



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2019-03-30 00:09 by hopkins.

I don't ever want to think about a Stones biopic.
I just don't. Otherwise competent actors have made, imo, a Mess
of Jerry Lee, Ike and Tina and very many others. Let's not even talk
about the way the other Pistols were portrayed in Sid and Whiney.
etcetera...
...I try to stay away from these kind of things generally.
Hanks slayed me in so many films with really fine work however.
Very Many actually. Really superb and moving work.
I'm not comfortable calling his career a fluke or 'star turn,'
his preparation is usually amazing.
He's probably made two dozen Great movies. Road to Perdition is
only one of them that stands up and out for me. and I've sorta
moved deeply away from regular movie going or renting.
He's deeply skilled. I haven't seen this Directors other stuff but am curious.

Here's Mick's second chance to play a rock star in the movies.
Just have a super make-up team shave off 60 years and we're ready to jump
like Jumpin' Jackie Flashenhoffer.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2019-03-29 11:42 by hopkins.

I agree.
I hate musical biopics...all of 'em.

Some maybe stand up as movies on one level if the viewer isn't very familiar with the artist portrayed...

...but I'm never comfortable watching the typical semi fictionalised screen plays.

Quote
Spud
I agree.
I hate musical biopics...all of 'em.

Some maybe stand up as movies on one level if the viewer isn't very familiar with the artist portrayed...

...but I'm never comfortable watching the typical semi fictionalised screen plays.

Even Bohemian Rhapsody? That is a great film.

If Tom Hanks plays Col. Parker then I think it will be fantastic and I am looking forward to this motion picture !

I think Forestt Gump did meet Elvis

When Elvis first came on the scene Bob Hope wanted to make a movie where he played Col. Parker.

I can only imagine how fast Parker worked on shutting that idea down, not wanting any spotlight or scrutiny on his activities, and especially his shady past.

A search is currently underway to find the right actor to play Elvis.

Good luck with that one.

"I'll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon."

Quote
Spud
I agree.
I hate musical biopics...all of 'em.

Some maybe stand up as movies on one level if the viewer isn't very familiar with the artist portrayed...

...but I'm never comfortable watching the typical semi fictionalised screen plays.

I have the same, exception is of I dont know the artist

__________________________

I wonder where this leaves the Mick Jagger /Jagged Films production Last train to Memphis.
The story of Sam Phillip's, founder of Sun records.

Quote
Spud
I agree.
I hate musical biopics...all of 'em.

Some maybe stand up as movies on one level if the viewer isn't very familiar with the artist portrayed...

...but I'm never comfortable watching the typical semi fictionalised screen plays.

I almost fully agree. Walk The Line is an absolutely excellent movie though (about Johnny Cash of course). If you haven't seen it, I fully recommend it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-03-29 20:12 by Happy24.

tom hanks isnt the same as he was in apollo 13, he was made for that movie.

Quote
buttons67
tom hanks isnt the same as he was in apollo 13, he was made for that movie.

yes he's stunning in that; thing is, when i did a quick search,
it sorta knocked me back how diverse those characters were...
...and he approached the physical challenges for many of them
in somewhat the Daniel Day Lewis, De Niro (and many others)
and trained hard in those areas; so it seems he was made for a lot of roles...
...it just knocked me out; he's an attorney with AIDS, army officer in extremely dynamically filmed combat scenes (with other great actors,,,,road to perdition
stands tall for me for a lot of reasons, but there's gump and apollo and the ups plane crash one where his dynamic leading lady was a soccer ball and he still scored...he made himself for that part i guess...lol, he's fat in one film and you and then the skinniest tarzAn; he made me believe the metamorphosis...and i drift more and more away from commercial entertainment, happily, as the years go by; i haven't seen many of his blockbusters like the pilot in the hudson and many others...the man who turns into a kid or however that goes..he's in rare territory imo; i'd think even his stinkers would be hard to find...for me it's Jeff bridges when he was alien lol and the dude and anything else, even his sea hunt shows with his dad was good and he had lines like 'there's a fish"
, Brando, Pacino DE niro denzel Washington a lot of the big movie stars over the years...but tom's pretty distinct; i'd probably still not go near this lol; but the guy is remarkable.

Just saw this; may adjust the header title a bit in coming days;
but i thought it relevant even tho it's Sex Pistols not the big E.
i had mentioned Sid and Nancy, which gave very shallow 'doors like'
whoa that's the king of unholy stinkers come to think of it..
robbie and john bailed big on that screenplay before it was shot.
the wigs were ridiculous; Val Kilmer, who gave one of the best
film performances ANYONE ever has as Doc Holliday, stunk on this one as
bad as the Island of Brando not giving a shit, pay me, movie...
tho Gary Oldman always has a reliable performance, it was an early film
and he didn't have the most skilleed writers and everything else;
or something; it just didn't ring true as anything more than hwd crap;
even if it's UK produced or watevah..
tho i always admired, always; and never doubted Oldman's deep skills...


[ultimateclassicrock.com]

"As details about a movie built around the Sex Pistols emerge, the group's leader, John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon, has given the project his stamp of disapproval.

However, the producer still plans to move ahead with the film, which will be called Only Anarchists Are Pretty.

"You may have seen recent reports of a Sex Pistols biopic," Lydon's Twitter account stated. "For the avoidance of doubt, this film would be unauthorized, unofficial, and not endorsed by Sex Pistols."
The film takes its name from Mick O'Shea's 2004 book The Early Days of the Sex Pistols: Only Anarchists Are Pretty, which its publisher described as a "semi-fictionalized fly-on-the-wall account [that] focuses on the band’s early days when they were a bunch of rock-obsessed street urchins and petty crooks, rehearsing, bickering, fighting and hanging around Malcolm McLaren’s shop SEX."
"The only non-factual element is my putting words into their mouths, but the dialogue is in context with what was happening around them,” O'Shea, who co-wrote the screenplay with producer Ayesha Plunkett, told Variety.
As such, Plunkett protested that her movie is "not a biopic. I’m not interested in doing that. It’s a feature film, a script written from a book I liked by Mick O’Shea.”

While the book covers the 16 months from the moment Lydon joined the Sex Pistols in August 1975 up through their infamous, profanity-laced televised interview with Bill Grundy in December 1976, the film covers the next six months -- through the release of "God Save the Queen" and the band's gig on a barge that floated down the Thames River to mock Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee celebrations.
“We decided to do the six-month period from them going on the Today show to the release of ‘God Save the Queen’ and the trip down the river – that is the six months in which they were public enemy No. 1,” O'Shea said.
He noted that he believes Lydon's unwillingness to endorse Only Anarchists Are Pretty is based on a previous experience. “Sid and Nancy presented the band as illiterate buffoons," he said. "And that’s a big part of John’s reticence to get involved with any other Pistols-related projects.”
The movie doesn't have a director or cast yet."
_______________________________________________



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-03-30 00:07 by hopkins.

Where are they gonna find a
fightin' rooster with poison tipped claws … ??

And who's gonna play Mr Sam Phillips ????????



ROCKMAN

Somehow, it's hard for me to envision Hanks as Colonel Parker. Not that he can't do it, but Parker always looked like, IMHO, a two-bit paunchy carny barker. This doesn't seem to fit Hanks physical characteristics.

The bigger question for me is who could play Elvis? Especially, the bloated drug addled Elvis of his final years. Maybe it would have to be like the movie, "I'm Not There", where a variety of people played the character that was/wasn't/is/isn't Bob Dylan. A number of people could represent Elvis at the various phases of his career. By the way, if you've never seen "I'm Not There", it's a really good movie. The soundtrack to it is fantastic.

As for the mention above of "Last Train To Memphis", that's one of the two books written by Peter Guralnick. They're considered one of, if not the best biographies ever done on Elvis. Highly recommended reads.

Peter Guralnick (1994). Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. ISBN 0-316-33225-9.
Peter Guralnick (1999). Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley. ISBN 0-316-33297-6.

There's also this related to Elvis and the Memphis music scene:

Peter Guralnick (2015). Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock'n'Roll. Little, Brown

I wonder if the Presley Estate have given any sort of authorisation to the film.
And if the film makers will be able to include original music.

Quote
jlowe
I wonder if the Presley Estate have given any sort of authorisation to the film.
And if the film makers will be able to include original music.

Very good questions JLowe; if they don't get the right to use Elvis' music, the movie would miss the excitement, the rock and roll chromosome. Probably the movie could be made without scenes of Presley singing, that would be a movie in which Music isn't center stage. Could be done.
Rockandroll,
Mops

From what I've found, the rights to Elvis belong to a few companies. The estate has a small percentage of his rights from what I have discovered. Here's a link (or two) to some info re all of this:

[www.dailymail.co.uk]

[www.elvispresleymusic.com.au]

Quote
dmay
From what I've found, the rights to Elvis belong to a few companies. The estate has a small percentage of his rights from what I have discovered. Here's a link (or two) to some info re all of this:

[www.dailymail.co.uk]

[www.elvispresleymusic.com.au]

Many thanks.
Some good links...the EPM one especially. Wish the Stones had one as good.

Tom was likely cast because they need a box office name to get the film made and get people to see it. He could play a skinnier Col. Tom or wear a padded suit. It may be a plan to cast a true unknown in the Elvis part, or just a way to get publicity. I'm not a Baz fan, but who knows what he might do with it.

Quote
ROLLINGSTONE
A search is currently underway to find the right actor to play Elvis.

Good luck with that one.

I vote for Gazza!

Well Baz had better do it right, Elvis deserves nothing less, a poorly educated country boy with a Phd in cool, looks like a Greek God and the voice of an angel. The King

The Pistols, you could get any number of young character actors out of RADA etc who could pull it off, the trick is Malcolm McClaren, do you orientate the arc around him, Johnny or Sid. I'd relegate Sid to entering halfway through dying with 20 to go and then into P.I.L. folklore then the reformation tour, i'd go with Johnny as the core of the film, one because he can carry it and two he'll be great publicizing it (pure commercial motive there, but that's how the biz works)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2019-03-31 12:01 by SKILLS.

I have mentioned this fact a few times before in other Elvis threads and I will do it again because it still amazes me to this day.

As famous as Elvis was , he Only performed concerts in the United States and a handful if that in Canada ,no place else.

Quote
virgil
I have mentioned this fact a few times before in other Elvis threads and I will do it again because it still amazes me to this day.

As famous as Elvis was , he Only performed concerts in the United States and a handful if that in Canada ,no place else.

And Colonel Parker was to thank for that!