‘Elvis’: Priscilla Presley Reveals Which Scenes Were the Hardest to Watch
Elvis follows the career of Elvis Presley and covers the glamorous, lavish life many associate with the rock legend but also covers the darker, disturbing aspects of his career that were more private. Priscilla Presley lived many of the events shown in the movie and recently revealed which scenes were the hardest to watch.
‘Elvis’ stars Austin Butler as Elvis Presley
Austin Butler portrays Elvis Presley in Elvis. Directed by Baz Luhrmann, Elvis follows the career of Mr. Presley as he goes from a controversial musical act to the king of Las Vegas. The movie spends a lot of time exploring his love of performing and how black artists heavily influenced his music.
While the biopic does focus a lot on his career, it also analyzes the relationship between Elvis and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). The Colonel acts as an unreliable narrator of the movie as his shady past makes him an untrustworthy character. Parker’s financial mismanagement of Elvis has been well documented but Elvis shows the disturbing effects that Parker had on the rock star.
Priscilla Presley explains why certain scenes in ‘Elvis’ were hard to watch
Priscilla Presley was married to Elvis from 1967-1973 and is the mother of Lisa Marie Presley. In the movie, Priscilla is portrayed by Olivia DeJonge. In an interview with Today, Priscilla says the scenes in Elvis involving Tom Parker were the hardest for her to watch because she lived those moments. She knew where Elvis wanted to go in his career and how the Colonel was holding him back.
“He wanted to do movies, serious movies, and Colonel Parker probably should have stayed a publicist,” Priscilla said. “He didn’t take Elvis where he wanted to be, and that was hard because I lived it. I lived the arguments that they had, I lived Elvis trying to explain he didn’t want to do the movies with all the girls and the beaches and everything, that he really wanted to do serious things. So, living that, with him, and watching the movie, it brought back a lot of memories.”
The Colonel finds Elvis at a young age and earns his trust as he makes him immensely famous. The Colonel comes from the circus and treats Elvis as a sideshow instead of as a person who wants to share their music with the world. Their relationship eventually deteriorates as Elvis yearns to go in his direction and eventually finds out who Tom Parker really is.
What does Priscilla Presley think of the movie?
While there are plenty of inaccuracies in the movie, Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley both enjoyed Elvis. In an interview with Extra, Priscilla praises the movie, especially Butler’s performance.
“It was very emotional, my daughter [Lisa Marie Presley] felt the same way,” Priscilla shared. “Only because he got Elvis to a T, I mean to a T. It is unbelievable what this kid did, Austin Butler. He spent two years studying about Elvis, so that was like a shock to watch. Even some of the songs. [A talent manager who worked with Elvis] Jerry Schilling sat next to me, we had a private screening, and I said, ‘Is that Elvis or is that Austin?’ and he goes, ‘No, that’s Elvis.’ And then I go, ‘Are you sure?’ and then about a minute later he goes, ‘That’s Austin.’ That’s how amazing he is.”
Elvis is still in theaters and is now available to buy or rent on digital.
