Yes No Maybe So: Baz Luhrmann's 'ELVIS'

by Nathaniel R

Baz Luhrmann's career began explosively with two of the most endearing, unusual, and entertaining films of the 1990s (Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet). His promise as a Great Showman was realized with his masterpiece Moulin Rouge! (2001) which was only his third feature. Unfortunately in the 21 years since that very modern movie musical revitalized its genre, he mostly vanished from movie screens. He's made only two features since, the disjointed epic Australia (2008) and a box office hit adaptation of The Great Gatsby (2013). Nearly a full decade later we finally have a sixth feature. His latest, which was untitled long enough that its official title Elvis is hysterically anti-climactic, is a biopic of the rock n roll superstar. The movie hits theaters on June 24th, so let's break the trailer down with our Yes No Maybe So™ system...

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Showbiz History: Oscared Siblings and Tilda's Sensuality

Six random things that happened on this day, November 5th, in showbiz history

Douglas Shearer and his baby sister Norma

1930 The third Oscars were held (yes, the Oscars were in Novembers for three years early in their history. The masterful anti-war picture All Quiet on the Western Front took Best Picture. The First Lady of MGM, Norma Shearer won Best Actress (The Divorcée) but, get this, her big brother Douglas won Best Sound Recording for her Best Picture rival (The Big House) making them the first sibling pair to win Oscars. 15 more pairs of siblings have followed them to win Oscars. They are, in rough chronological order...

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"Elvis" gets back to work

by Ben Miller

Elvis and his manager Colonel Parker in 1958

Though the coronavirus is still raging in the US, the rest of the world is starting to get back to normal, and that means the restarting of international film productions.  One of the most noteworthy of those productions,  restarting in Australia, is Baz Luhrmann’s (as of yet untitled) Elvis Presley film, starring Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood’s Austin Butler as the King of Rock and the world’s most famous COVID patient, Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker.

The project itself is relatively unknown, but we do know Luhrmann, so don't expect the typical biopic treatment...

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Austin Butler will be Elvis for Baz Luhrmann

by Nathaniel R

Vanessa Hudgens with Austin ButlerBaz Luhrmann has ended his casting search for his forthcoming Elvis Presley biopic. Twenty-seven year-old Austin Butler, also known these days as Vanessa Hudgens' boyfriend, has won the role. Butler beat out bigger stars Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, and Harry Styles for the plum opportunity. It's rare these days to see a lesser known actor snag a big biopic, but we'd argue it's actual healthy; lesser known actors come with less baggage as performers and that's theoretically better for audiences who already have their collective hive mind filled up with one famous persona when they approach any movie about an icon.  

About his choice, Luhrmann says...

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Showbiz History: Chéri, Elvis, and Top Gun: Maverick?

7+ random things that happened on this day (June 26th) in history...

1925 Charlie Chaplin's classic The Gold Rush premieres at the Egyptian theatre in Hollywood. Tickets were $5.50 (which would be around $70 today)

1971 The 21st annual Berlinale begins (it used to be held in the summer rather than February). The winner will be Vittoria de Sica's Italian classic The Garden of the Finzi Continis which will win the Oscar the following April for Best Foreign Language Film...

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