Elvis Presley Biopic Casts Australian Actress In Pivotal Priscilla Presley Role
The as-yet-untitled Elvis Presley biopic starring Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker and Austin Butler as Elvis has found its lead actress for the pivotal role of Elvis’ young love and wife, Priscilla Presley, in Australian actress Olivia DeJonge.
The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Olivia, who co-starred in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2015 thriller The Visit, will portray the wife of the late King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Priscilla, in the movie that will follow a 20-year period of Elvis Presley’s life as he hit stratospheric levels of fame and success.
“Olivia is capable of manifesting the complex depth and presence that has made Priscilla Presley an icon in her own right. She’s an extremely talented young actor and the perfect counterpoint to Austin’s [Butler] Elvis,” said the film’s director Baz Luhrmann in a statement.
Austin Butler scored the titular role of Elvis, beating out the likes of actor Ansel Elgort and musician Harry Styles for the coveted role.
The film will detail Elvis Presley’s life throughout a 20-year period of time when the musician was managed by Colonel Tom Parker. The Colonel will be portrayed by Oscar-winner Tom Hanks, who scored back-to-back golden statuettes for his lead roles in the 1993 film Philadelphia and the 1994 film Forrest Gump.
Variety reported that Luhrmann co-wrote the script with Craig Pearce.
Elvis Presley seemed unlikely to take center stage as the man who brought rock ‘n’ roll music to the mainstream. He was born to a poor family in the town of Tupelo Mississippi, and lived an otherwise unremarkable life until the day he decided to make a record, which cost a total of $4 for his mother, Gladys, and entered Sun Studios to make the one-off recording.
In unlikely kismet, Sun Studios boss Sam Phillips was looking for a white singer to bring the music that was predominantly being produced by black musicians to the masses. After working together on songs he felt that Elvis could perform, it was the odd choice of an old blues number by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup called “That’s All Right Mama” that would be the breakout tune, putting both Phillips and Elvis on the path toward superstardom.
Elvis would later meet Colonel Tom Parker, a former carnival worker who would eventually become a country music promoter in February 1955. He would continue to manage Elvis until the singer’s untimely death in 1977.
Elvis met Priscilla when she was just 15-years-old while serving in the U.S. Army in Germany. The couple would eventually marry in Las Vegas in a hastily thrown-together wedding at the Aladdin Hotel in 1967 in front of just 14 people — the couple’s closest friends and associates. After having one child together, Lisa Marie Presley, the couple divorced in 1973.
The Inquisitr recently reported that Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis and Priscilla’s only daughter, has reportedly rekindled her romance with her ex-love, actor Nicolas Cage.
Principal photography for the film will begin early next year in Queensland, Australia.
