Baz Luhrmann wants to turn Elvis into a miniseries

Baz Luhrmann wants to turn Elvis into a miniseries – the director has just presented Faraway Downs, a remake of Australia as a series and hopes to repeat the formula with his biopic.

By Megan Sauer

Elvis was one of the most important films of last year, and despite greatly dividing critics and the public, Austin Butler ‘s work was praised worldwide. In fact, the actor became one of the strongest contenders of the awards season and even took home the Golden Globe, although the magic was not repeated on Oscar night.

In the end, the biopic was a success in many ways and Baz Luhrmann has every intention of revisiting the material to remake the film, but now as a miniseries.

The power of Elvis in the cinema

Elvis Presley ‘s talent and complicated private and public life immediately made him a musical legacy that cannot be erased from history. His time in the industry, his contact with Hollywood, his addictions and romances, everything interested the media and his fans who wanted to get closer to the big star in one way or another.

After his death, his figure did not lose that power of attraction and that is how the singer became one of the most interesting celebrities to develop biographical films.

Over the years, Hollywood has taken Elvis to show different facets of his personality and career, with some films focusing on his first steps in music and others analyzing his later years of life.

With Elvis , Baz Luhrmann sought to pay tribute to the performer’s career, but without losing perspective of that relationship with Tom Parker that established his fame, but also led him to excesses and stagnated him on a creative level.

With Tom Hanks in the role, this biopic aimed to show the cynical perspective of the manager who financially abused Elvis and exploited him for years, making him a sensation, but also a joke at times. Many critics were upset with this decision, since the singer’s life was enough to justify a film, and they did not see it necessary to put Parker as the axis.

In fact, many attacked Hanks’ performance and preferred to focus on what Butler demonstrated in the role that led him to be considered one of the most promising actors in recent years.

In the end, Elvis greatly divided critics and audiences. Yes, everyone agreed that Butler had achieved something extraordinary in the singer’s shoes, but Luhrmann’s striking and loaded style was not highly appreciated, as was telling the story from Parker’s perspective, which is lost as The film progresses and shows that it was not really necessary or new.

Baz Luhrmann wants to reissue ‘Elvis’

But Luhrmann has not left Elvis behind and believes there is a good possibility of re-editing the film as a television series, something he has just done with Australia, one of his worst failures that now becomes a miniseries with the title Faraway Downs.

In an interview with CinemaBlend , the director revealed his pleasure in working on his old film in this way and how much he wants to repeat the formula with his biopic:

Doing it as episodes, and in answer to your question, it made me think about doing it more radically. And now I get into a lot of trouble. Here’s the scoop. [Do the same thing] but with Elvis, okay? Not this year. Maybe not next year. But I would really love to do the episodic version of Elvis. And I will adopt a completely different style of storytelling than I would if I had done it for film.

The director added:

“Now why would that be so stupid? And why would I bring all the fire and brimstone down on me like that? Well, like when a popular, iconic musician makes a song and performs it in concert and, you know, let’s say he does a dance cut, he does a heavy metal version.

I think about the craftsmanship of music and the ability to take the same piece and reinterpret it and rediscover it. It keeps the artist engaged. But he also keeps decoding and recoding the story, keeping it alive in the moment. That’s why I would do it. And I think I would do it with Elvis.”

Australia is considered one of Hollywood’s biggest disasters, as it failed in every way and was a disappointment that played with the names of Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.

Part of the problem is that many felt that the story seemed too long and that it was like watching three movies in one, which led to the creation of a miniseries that hopes to do justice to Luhrmann’s original plan.

If this experiment works, then the director could put all his energies into a remake of Elvis, which could fix the problems he had as a film.