Baz Luhrmann is a vision-eccentric filmmaker who isn’t a stranger to making epics. And if anybody deserves an epic story, it would be the biggest name in rock and roll. Earlier this year, Elvis was released with a majority of positive reviews and a high audience score. The film has also made star Austin Butler a new household name and has garnered praise for his performance.
Variety has recently reported on a possible future cut of the musical biopic also starring Tom Hanks as the Colonel. Baz Luhrmann filmed Butler’s Elvis concerts in full-length, and the director feels that audiences should be able to experience them in a total experience. He has recently revealed to IndieWire that an extended cut of the film could showcase this.
It’s a directors’ assembly. It’s not a cut. There’s a whole lot of material that adds up to four hours…Austin did his concerts full out. He did all the numbers. Austin just did it and it was an out of body experience to watch him do those full concerts, so one day I will cut those full concerts together.”
Luhrmann recently participated in a Filmstage Q&A in Los Angeles, where he revealed, “I thought it would be great for you guys to have the experience only we had, which is to watch Austin do the entire concert. So I can’t say exactly when because I have got to get through this, but I can say one thing: there will be a day when we do that concert version.”
When Butler revealed that he performed entire concerts in character and recreated iconic moments from them, the actor explained, “We weren’t going to have a moment where suddenly we’re talking about acting. So I would come on stage, like in Vegas, do the entire concert, curtain comes down, I walk off. So every time the audience is getting the experience of the show. And if we would cut for any reason, I would entertain the crowd as Elvis.”