Trailer drops for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic

The first trailer has been released for Baz Luhrmann’s anticipated Elvis biopic, starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.

The first trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s feature film Elvis has finally dropped, giving fans a glimpse at Austin Butler in the titular role.

The 30-year-old US actor portrays Elvis Presley for the Warner Bros. movie, which hits theatres in June, and is seen sporting slick black hair, eyeliner and the king of rock n roll’s signature suits.

Academy Award winner Tom Hanks, who is heard narrating the three-minute teaser, plays his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, while Olivia DeJonge stars as Presley’s wife, Priscilla.

The film looks like a true love letter to one of music’s most influential figures, who tragically died of a heart attack in 1977 aged just 42.

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Austin Butler plays Elvis Presley in Elvis. Picture: Warner Bros Pictures

The three-minute trailer was released today. Picture: Warner Bros Pictures

We first get a snippet of a young Presley becoming inspired by gospel music as a child, before being mocked for his hair and unusual dance moves in his early days of trying to break it into music – the very things which would ultimately form his unwavering legacy.

Elvis later charts his earth-shattering rocket to superstardom and the personal struggles he faces as a result, while we also get a glimpse of how the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis jolts him back to his humble roots.

Olivia DeJonge stars as Presley’s wife, Priscilla. Picture: Warner Bros Pictures

Elvis is Luhrmann’s first movie since The Great Gatsby in 2013, which made more than $353 million worldwide.

Speaking to news.com.au in May last year, a giddy Luhrmann said he was excited for viewers to see what Butler was capable of given the high-stakes role.

“I can say that we have had to create lots of different worlds, and there was no world we were challenged in creating,” Luhrmann said.

“We went to a lot of effort, but it’s all there.

“The performances are remarkable. Austin Butler, I think he’s really going to surprise people. And Tom … (enough said).”

Tom Hanks plays Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker. Pictures

Elvis was shot on the Gold Coast in Queensland in 2020, when Oscar-winner Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson infamously contracted Covid-19. And it seems the local film industry had Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to thank.

“The Gold Coast is an awesome filmmaking environment. We just immediately connected with it,” Luhrmann said.

“We were initially going to film in North Carolina but I met with the Queensland premier in London and she said, ‘You’ve got to try the Gold Coast’.

“My memory of the Gold Coast was like, meter maids. But she said, ‘It’s the hipster capital of Australia’.

“So I decided to come out and saw it had amazing food, music, an art scene going on. The attitude, energy and the people … It is just awesome.”

Elvis premieres in Australian cinemas on June 23.

Originally published as Trailer drops for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic