Elvis biopic to resume filming on the Gold Coast in late September

The full cast has been locked in for the $100 million Elvis biopic filming on the Gold Coast. Here’s who’s starring in the film.

THE main cast for the $100 million Elvis film has been locked in as crews get ready to resume filming next week on the Gold Coast.

It was announced on Thursday morning some of Australia’s best actors have joined the production.

Richard Roxburgh – known for Moulin Rouge!, Breath and Hacksaw – will star as Elvis’s father.

Award-winning theatre actor Helen Thomson will play Elvis’s mother, Gladys Presley.

Stranger Things star Dacre Montgomery will act as TV director Steve Binder.

Famed Aussie actor Dacre Montgomery, from Stranger Things, will be coming to the Gold Coast to star in the Elvis biopic. Source: Instagram

Australian actor Natasha Bassett. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

David Wenham, Natasha Bassett, Xavier Samuel, Leon Ford, Kate Mulvany, Gareth Davies, Josh McConville and Adam Dunn have also been added to the list.

“Elvis was surrounded by an extraordinary array of rich personalities,” Mr Luhrmann said.

“We are very fortunate to pull together a tremendous ensemble to tell this story.

“It’s exciting to unite some of Australia’s finest actors, from longtime collaborators from Moulin Rouge!, Australia and The Great Gatsby like Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham and Kate Mulvany, to exciting new faces such as Dacre Montgomery, Helen Thomson, Luke Bracey, Natasha Bassett and many more.

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Famed Australian director Baz Luhrmann. Picture: Jerad Williams

“With the world as it is right now, our entire company is grateful that we can join together in this creative venture to bring employment and opportunity in front of and behind the camera, and to the community at large.”

The actors will star alongside Hollywood A-listers Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, and Sydney actor Olivia DeJonge.

Mr Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic – which is untitled – explores the life and music of Elvis Presley, seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

The story delves into the complex dynamic between Presley and Parker spanning over 20 years, from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America.

Filming will resume next Thursday, on September 23.

EARLIER:

A DATE has been locked in for when Baz Luhrmann’s $100 million film Elvis movie will resume filming on the Gold Coast.

It was announced on Thursday Sept 10 the Elvis biopic production would resume on September 23.

It will be the day Hollywood A-lister Tom Hanks will be released from quarantine after flying to the Gold Coast by private jet on Tuesday night.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk with film director Baz Luhrmann.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, who is directing the film, said: “We’re back to, as Elvis liked to say, ‘taking care of business!’”

“It is a real privilege in this unprecedented global moment that Tom Hanks has been able to return to Australia to join Austin Butler and all of our extraordinary cast and crew to commence production on ‘Elvis.’,” Mr Luhrmann said.

“I can not emphasise enough how lucky we feel in the current climate that the state of Queensland, and Queenslanders in general, have been so supportive of this film.

“We thank our partners in the Queensland Government and Queensland Health for their extremely diligent process, so that we can be an example how creativity and productivity can proceed safely and responsibly in a way that protects our team and the community at large. We are all excited to start working with Tom Hanks when he is out of quarantine in two weeks.”

Filming of the biopic was shut down in mid-March when Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson contracted coronavirus while staying in Broadbeach.

Hanks, 64, flew into the Gold Coast Airport in Coolangatta late on Tuesday night.

After speculation throughout the day on Wednesday it was confirmed Hanks was not given special exemption and would quarantine in one of the city’s quarantine hotels.

Tom Hanks flew into the Gold Coast by private jet on Tuesday night, Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

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Ms Palaszczuk dismissed the claims of special treatment during parliament on Wednesday, saying he would have to quarantine “just like everyone else”.

“Under (the screen industry safety plan) they have to stay in a place for two weeks just like everybody else and they will have random checks by police,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“The film is supposed to bring in, from memory, over $100 million to the local economy, to the Gold Coast economy. And also 900 jobs on the Gold Coast.

“It is interesting the Gold Coast members are against jobs. I find that totally and utterly unbelievable.

“I have had discussions with Mayor Tom Tate about how we can expand our studio capacity to have more productions in Queensland because other countries are shut down.

Instagram image of Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks while they are in hospital for coronavirus

“Our measures are making sure Queenslanders are kept safe. It is about making sure people get into jobs and that we can continue to recover.”

A spokesperson for the Elvis biopic said (Hanks) was in “one of the approved quarantine hotels” on the Gold Coast. A spokesperson for Ms Palaszczuk reconfirmed Hanks had no an exemption.

It has been confirmed production would go ahead later this month at Village Roadshow Studios in Oxenford.

It’s understood co-star Austin Butler, from Los Angeles, never left when production was shut down and has been staying on the Gold Coast for the past six months.

Hanks’ arrival comes almost a month after the US crew also returned.

The Gold Coast sits at three active COVID-19 cases whilst the Queensland added eight new ones on Wednesday but Ms Palaszczuk said all were linked to existing cases, mostly in quarantine and it was not cause for “alarm”. She urged people to continue practising social distancing.