Cannes can’t help falling in love with Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis

Cannes was shaken, rattled and rolled overnight as the world premiere of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic rocked the film festival on the French Riviera.

From left Australian director Baz Luhrmann, Priscilla Presley, US actor Austin Butler and Australian actress Olivia DeJonge arrive for the screening of Elvis during the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes.

Fifteen-year-old Mark Luhrmann’s parents called it “running away from home”. But for the adolescent absconder – known to his mates as Baz – there was a more romantic term for fleeing his father’s house in tiny Herons Creek in northern NSW and his subsequent move to the bright lights of Sydney, where his mother resided.

“I’m addicted to wanderlust. I always have been,” said Luhrmann. “I grew up in such a tiny isolated country town and I always had an attitude and a point of view of the yellow brick road. What was down the yellow brick road? You know … you get to the Emerald City, which is Sydney, I guess. (And then) I kept going.”

Luhrmann’s wanderlust has taken him around the world and to the international stage, most recently with his anticipated biopic Elvis, which premiered on Wednesday at the prestigious Cannes film festival and opens next month in cinemas around the country.

Baz Luhrmann (L) and US actor Austin Butler who plays Elvis.

Cannes was shaken, rattled and rolled for the world premiere of Elvis. Luhrmann wore a rhinestone Elvis belt buckle and a blingy pinkie ring with his tuxedo as he walked the famous red carpet for the premiere in one of the glitziest evenings of the 12-day festival.

Priscilla Presley was a guest at the premiere, as well as pop stars Kylie Minogue, Shakira and Ricky Martin.

Australian director Baz Luhrmann wears a belt with the name Elvis as he arrives for the screening of the film.

But while the careers of Luhrmann and his multiple Oscar-award winning costume designer wife Catherine Martin have always been globally focused, the pair has always valued the idea of home. That’s one of the reasons Luhrmann and Martin appear in The List – Arts and Culture magazine, a 92-page glossy insert published on Thursday in The Australian featuring the 100 game-changing identities taking forward the cultural sector.

“We always were passionate about (keeping) our Australian roots and using our international wings (to) live around the world,” says Luhrmann, whose multimillion-dollar Elvis stars Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge and Austin Butler.

The biopic, filmed on the Gold Coast during the height of Covid, reportedly created more than 900 jobs and contributed more than $130m to the local economy.

After Cannes, Elvis will have its global premiere for the public on the Gold Coast on June 4.

Elvis is the third of Luhrmann’s films to open the Cannes festival, following Moulin Rouge! in 2001 and The Great Gatsby in 2013. The 1992 screening of Strictly Ballroom on the French Riviera launched the Australian director on to the global stage.

Kylie Minogue attends the screening of Elvis.

Tom Hanks attends the premiere.

Priscilla Presley – the guardian of Elvis Presley’s legacy for more than 40 years – has called Luhrmann’s film and Butler’s performance outstanding. “I think it’s a movie for everyone,” she said at the Met Gala in New York earlier this month. “Even the people who’ve heard stories about Elvis before, they’re gonna learn something.”

Presley’s granddaughter, actress Riley Keough, told AFP last week that she was “honoured” that Luhrmann was telling her family’s story.

Austin Butler in Elvis, Luhrmann’s new biopic. Picture: Warner Brothers

“The first movie I ever watched in a theatre where I knew I wanted to make movies was ‘Moulin Rouge!’ when I was 12,” said Keough.

“It was a real honour to know Baz was making this movie. I started crying five minutes in (to Elvis), and didn’t stop. There’s a lot of family trauma and generational trauma that started around then for our family. It was a very intense experience.”

Baz Luhrmann and Priscilla Presley get into the groove.

Baz Luhrmann and his wife Australian costume designer and producer Catherine Martin.

The inaugural edition of The List features profiles with luminaries such as Australian Ballet superstar Callum Linnane, international music star The Kid Laroi and best-selling author Hannah Kent, as well as features on the boom in gallery building around the country, the resurgence of musical theatre, the new generation of philanthropic leaders and television streaming services’ major investments in local productions.