Director, Baz Luhrmann reveals the existence of an extended ‘Director’s Cut’ version of the Elvis biopic that is dropping tomorrow.
After a few years in the making, the highly-anticipated Elvis Biopic starring Austin Butler will be launching across Aussie cinemas tomorrow (June 23). In a recent interview with Radio Times, director Baz Lurhmann unveiled that a four-hour cut of the shortened film exists.
“I have a four-hour version, actually,” said Baz. “I do. But you have to bring it down to 2 hours 30.”
As for whether or not we’ll ever get to see this extended version as a subsequent ‘Director’s Cut’ release, Baz Luhrmann didn’t confirm nor deny. However, he did reveal some spoilers of what’s included in the four-hour material that didn’t make it into the trimmed-down version for cinemas.
“I mean, there’s lots of stuff that I shot,” he said. “Like the relationship with the band, I had to pare [that] down – and it’s so interesting how the Colonel [Tom Hanks] gets rid of them.”
Luhrmann goes on to elaborate on further moments that didn’t make it into the final cinema version, including a scene that depicts an iconic moment in histoy, where Elvis meets Richard Nixon, former US president, in 1970.
“You know, the addiction to barbiturates and all of that, he starts doing wackadoo things – like going down to see Nixon,” explains Baz. “I had it in there for a while but there just comes a point where you can’t have everything in, so I just tried to track the spirit of the character.”
