Revealed: How Elvis movie production guarded Gold Coast economy from worst of Covid-19 pandemic
As the Gold Coast celebrates the launch of Elvis, a very different movie premiere saw Hollywood superstar George Clooney fly in and look at local property.
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The Gold Coast has been known as Australia’s answer to Hollywood for more than 30 years.
This weekend saw the Australian premiere of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, a blockbuster in the making for more than three years.
Luhrmann and stars Tom Hanks and Austin Butler walked the red carpet at Pacific Fair.
It’s a special moment for Gold Coasters who worked on the film over its infamously long production, which was disrupted in March 2020 by Covid-19’s arrival and Hanks testing positive just before the nation went into lockdown.
The launch was the latest in a long line of film premieres the Gold Coast has hosted.
In 1995, Warner Bros Movie World hosted the premiere of Batman Forever, and welcomed some of the biggest stars to visit in the city since the theme park’s opening four years earlier.
Tommy Lee Jones, fresh off winning an Academy Award, flew in to promote his role as villain Two-Face, along with Robin actor Chris O’Donnell and director Joel Schumacher.
Neither Batman actor Val Kilmer or Nicole Kidman were available.
More than 450 people, including business mogul James Packer and his then-partner Kate Fischer, attended the premiere, which was then the largest in Australia’s history.
The event also celebrated it beating Jurassic Park’s then-record opening weekend income.
Fast-forward two years and the city did it all over again.
It was 25 years ago this month that the city enjoyed a blast of star power as the leads from another Batman film made their grand appearance.
It was June 1997 – the UK was just weeks away from handing over Hong Kong to China, Super League’s lone season was in full play and Wayne Goss announced plans to run for federal Parliament.
Cinemas, including the new theatre at Pacific Fair, were packed for hits such as Liar Liar, Volcano, The Beautician and the Beast and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.
But these were all predicted to be small fry compared to that year’s superhero blockbuster, Batman and Robin.
While critics now universally regard it to be among the worst films ever made, Gold Coasters were looking forward to it.
And even more exciting was the arrival of the film’s stars, George Clooney, Alicia Silverstone and Elle Macpherson, and a returning Schumacher.
All flew into Coolangatta on the same plane but took separate limos to the Sheraton Mirage at Main Beach.
It was Clooney’s first visit to the city.
The Bulletin’s editorial of the day declared that the launch of the film in the city was indicative of the “respect for the role played by the Coast industry and what it is achieving”.
Clooney walked the red carpet at the Australasian premiere with then-girlfriend Celine Balitran.
During his time on the Coast, Clooney was photographed playing basketball at the Mirage and relaxing.
There were later reports that Clooney was looking to buy property here.
Speculation started after he and Balitran were spotted cruising the city in a limousine, allegedly looking at real estate.
The report claimed the pair had risen early to inspect potential properties.
Clooney responded to the reports with laughter. “Everyone’s been telling me that. I just found out,” he joked to the Bulletin.
“You’ve got a good deal? I’m buying a house on the Gold Coast, congratulate me. Sure it’s beachfront, in fact I’ve only been here two days, now that’s fast.
“You know what I did? I flew over and pointed at a house and then moved down. You know I’ve got to have that house.”
Clooney wrapped up his visit to the Gold Coast by cutting the ribbon at the opening of the new Warner Bros store at Pacific Fair, which had recently finished a major expansion.
While he never bought property on the Coast, he did return in late-2021 to film the romantic comedy Two Tickets to Paradise with Julia Roberts.
After Batman and Robin, it was another 20 years before the Gold Coast put on another giant film premiere of superhero productions.
This time it was the locally produced 2017 Marvel film Thor: Ragnarok, which had been shot at Movie World a year earlier.
That year’s premiere featured lead actor Chris Hemsworth and was held at Robina Town Centre, where hundreds of fans gathered to see the Byron Bay-based actor.
We got to do it all over again in late 2018 when Jason Momoa flew into the city to launch Aquaman, which was also shot locally.
‘Just the beginning’: What’s next after huge Elvis windfall
Elvis has done a lot more than adding much needed Hollywood glitter to the Gold Coast.
The filming here has injected more than $130 million into the economy and provided a huge jobs boost, it can be revealed.
The Australian premiere of the Baz Luhrmann film at Pacific Fair’s Event cinemas on Saturday night will be a huge celebration for the cast and crew who worked through the worst of the Covid pandemic. For many locals, it kept them employed during lockdowns.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told the Bulletin: “Hollywood is coming to the Gold Coast.
This is an Australian premiere with Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Tom Hanks, Austin Butler and Olivia DeJonge all here on the Gold Coast.
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“It would be hard to over-estimate the importance of this event for the Coast. This premiere will shine a spotlight on this city as a global hub for the screen industry.”
Ms Palaszczuk said the movie entrenched the Coast’s position as Australia’s screen capital.
“And Elvis is a Gold Coast success story. As Premier of this state, I’m so proud that we were able to secure Elvis to be filmed on the Coast.
“In total, filming of Elvis created more than 900 Queensland jobs and injected more than $130m into the local economy.
“We know that productions like this have great potential to create even more jobs in the future.
“Since 2015, we’ve secured 28 productions for the Gold Coast through our Production Attraction Strategy, creating 10,000 jobs for locals.
“But this is just the beginning. We’ll continue to secure more productions that will create jobs and opportunities for Gold Coasters.”
Luhrmann believes the Coast, where the film was shot entirely across 2020 and 2021, was the obvious choice to host the premiere.
“There’s simply no way we could premiere this film anywhere else in Australia but the Gold Coast, or as we have come to know it – the Goldie,” he said.
The support of the council and government meant post-production occurred here, he added.
Academy-award winning actor Tom Hanks will be on the red carpet.
Hanks attracted global attention when he and wife Rita Wilson contracted Covid-19 during pre-production of the film in early 2020 and spent time in hospital on the Coast.
The magic mural in Magnolia Lane
Matty Te Paea‘s brush with celebrities is spreading.
The internationally renowned street artist has painted rapper Snoop Dogg and actors Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Aquaman’s Jason Momoa – and in a thank you to a Covid-hit entertainment industry has completed a large mural of the Elvis crew in a tourism hotspot.
The art replaced Mr Te Paea’s Aquaman mural in Magnolia Lane, Burleigh.
“Me and a friend were just talking about the Elvis premiere, and thought during Covid the Gold Coast arts got hit really hard, but it’s good to see its coming back,” Mr Te Paea said.
“It was more like a ‘thank you, a thank you to the premiere that is going to be here on the Gold Coast for a celebration’.”
He painted the mural in five days to ensure it was ready for the film’s premiere on Saturday.
He said he worked 12-15 hours for five days straight to complete it.
“We just want to get it out to the Gold Coast community and show everybody what we are doing, and give thanks to all the actors that are coming to the Gold Coast and hopefully they can see it in person.
“We are planning on trying to get celebrities there, but we understand their schedule is going to be super, super busy.
“As a street artist that is my background. Murals in the street never last forever and I’m totally fine with that, and I have accepted that.
“I think it adds to the value, because it is not going to last forever.
“I’m happy to give a fresh look.”
Mr Te Paea said the Elvis mural featured the film’s main characters – Austin Butler who plays Elvis, Tom Hanks who plays Elvis’s manager and Olivia DeJonge, who plays Elvis’ wife, Priscilla.
Mr Te Paea has painted murals for large, international companies such as Culture Kings and World Gym.
Originally published as Revealed: How Elvis movie production guarded Gold Coast economy from worst of Covid-19 pandemic
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