Elvis ‘Knew He Couldn’t’ Pull Off the Starring Role in a Film That Could’ve Changed His Life
In 1975, Elvis Presley received an offer to act in the film A Star Is Born alongside Barbra Streisand. The opportunity excited him greatly. He hadn’t been in a movie since 1969’s Change of Habit and was growing bored of his endless schedule of performances. A new film could have reestablished him as an actor. Ultimately, though, when negotiations fell through, Elvis’ friend the singer hadn’t been sure he could pull off the role.
Elvis Presley reportedly didn’t think he would be a good fit in a film
In 1975, Streisand offered Elvis $500,000 and 10% of profits to star as rock star John Norman Howard in A Star Is Born. After the initial meeting with Streisand, Elvis’ friends recalled that he seemed excited about the part. The role was of a rock star whose career was on the decline. It was the sort of dramatic and complicated part Elvis had been craving for nearly two decades.
Unfortunately, Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, got in the way of this. He wanted Elvis to receive $1 million, half the profits, $100,000 in expenses, and a deal to record the soundtrack. When Streisand and her production company didn’t agree to these terms, the deal fell apart.
In later years, Parker claimed Elvis “did not want to do” the movie. While this could be a response to criticism Parker received for shooting down the deal, Elvis’ close friend, Lamar Fike, believed there was some truth to it.
“Deep down, Elvis knew he couldn’t play the part [but] laid a lot of blame on the Colonel,” Fike said, per the book The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley by Alanna Nash.
Kris Kristofferson, who ultimately took the part, went on to win a Golden Globe for his performance.
Elvis Presley had grown weary of his film career
One of Elvis’ biggest career regrets was that he never reached his full potential as an actor.
“People aren’t going to remember me because I’ve never done anything lasting,” Elvis told his girlfriend, Kathy Westmoreland. “I’ve never made a classic film to show what I can do.”
Parker wanted Elvis to take roles in lighthearted, musical films. Elvis grew to hate them.
“He would sometimes see himself in a movie and he would get disgusted,” his bodyguard Red West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “He would say, ‘Who is that fast-talking hillbilly sonofab**** that nobody can understand? One day he is singing to a dog, then to a car, then to a cow. They are all the damned same movies with that Southerner just singing to something different.’”
He needed something to shake up the monotony of his career
While it’s impossible to judge whether Elvis would have been good in the role of John Norman Howard, the film would have been a break from his music career. At this point in his life, Elvis needed that. He played lengthy residencies in Las Vegas that bored him more with each passing day.
“Nobody goes to Vegas and plays four weeks anymore — they do five days, tops,” his friend Lamar Fike said. “And Elvis had such a high-energy show that when he would do an honest hour and fifteen minutes twice a night, he was so tired he was cross-eyed. That’s why he took that stuff, to keep him going. And because he was bored. Bored to tears.”
A break from his endless performance schedule may have revitalized Elvis.
