How much of the Elvis movie is real?

VIVA! Baz Luhrmann’s lairy, flamboyant, neon-basked Elvis extravaganza is finally here. It’s a frenetic 159-minute crash course on Presley’s life.

VIVA! Baz Luhrmann’s lairy, flamboyant, neon-basked Elvis extravaganza is finally here. It’s a frenetic 159-minute crash course on Presley’s life.

It’s whiplash-inducing and wondrous: tracking his childhood hardship; growing up in the Jim Crow era South; the early exposure to the black music that would shape his sound (blues and gospel); his nascent career, cutting his teeth on the country circuit; his astronomical ascent to rock’n’roll superstardom — and the conservative pearl-clutching and horny hysteria that ensued; his military service; his marriage to Priscilla; his run of pulpy Hollywood films; his flailing career and subsequent 1968 Comeback Special; and the long, depressing, downward spiral that was his Las Vegas residency.

If you left the cinema wondering, “how much of that happened?”, we’re right there with you. Let’s examine. 

Did Elvis really kiss his fans?

Elvis performing ‘Love Me Tender’ during his Las Vegas Residency at the International Hotel is one of the most genuinely thrilling scenes of the film — the kind that makes you want to hoot and holla. The King is back! And he’s sharing dozens of lascivious kisses with his fans.

This happened, and you can watch the performance in crystal quality below. 

Did they really make him sing ‘Hound Dog’ to a dog? 

“Those people in New York are not gonna change me.” The only instance where Austin Butler’s cool, haunted-by-melancholy performance slips into petulance is after Presley’s appearance on The Steve Allen Show, where he was forced to sing ‘Hound Dog’ to a basset hound, clad in a top hat and tails.

This actually happened. After Presley’s widely condemned ‘bump and grind’ performance on the Milton Berle Show, he was enlisted by Steve Allen — a conservative advocate in television — to appear on his new variety show. The announcement was met with uproar. Critics and the public urged Allen to cancel Presley’s appearance on the show. 

In an open letter, Allen defended bringing Presley’s act to the screen, pledging he would have total control over the performance. “Let me assure audiences that they will not be offended by Elvis on any program over which I have control.”

It was a low point for The King, in Elvis: The Searcher, Priscilla observed “It was humiliating. After that, he didn’t like Steve Allen at all.” 

Did Elvis serve in the army? 

Yes. In March 1958, at the height of his rock’n’roll powers, Presley was conscripted into the US Army (America would not abolish the draft until 1973). As a successful musician, Presley was offered to join the military’s Special Service — which would have kept him from frontline service. 

Parker, however, felt that two years on the Cold War frontline would remedy the conservative public’s fears that Presley was a corrosive influence on teenagers. So the singer lopped off his sable pompadour, served in the army properly, and returned as a hero.

Was Elvis arrested?

“Crimes of lust and perversion.” In the film, Presley is carted away in a police car after a performance at Russword Park in Memphis Tennessee incited pandemonium amongst the crowd of 14,000. It’s as close as the film gets to touching on his run-ins with Lily Law.

In real life, he was arrested twice. The first time, he was cuffed for going 20 miles over the speed limit whilst driving through Caddo Parrish in Louisiana in his 1954 pink Cadillac. He posted a $25 bond and was released. Boring.

Elvis Presley in a scene from the movie "Jailhouse Rock."

Presley was arrested a second time in 1956. After pulling into a Gulf gas station, Elvis was swarmed by fans and stopped to sign autographs, blocking the other customers who wanted to fill their tanks. Ed Hopper, the gas station owner asked him to move, but he refused. 

According to a police report, the altercation escalated to a fight. Hopper maintained that Presley swung at him first, and hit him in the left eye, leaving a gash. Both Presley and Hopper were booked for disorderly conduct battery, and assault. 

Despite the rumours, Elvis was never arrested for his gyrating pelvis.  

Is Colonel Tom Parker real? 

"There are some who'd make me out to be the villain of this here story," says Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), Elvis's crooked, financially abusive manager. Baz Luhrmann tells the singer's story from The Colonel's perspective, who throughout the film, tries to set the record straight. The papers labelled him a cheat, who took advantage of Elvis, and fans speculate that he may have driven him to his grave. 

Parker is a man of mystery, true to the Parker of real life. He was a carney who claimed to be a West Virginia native, with an accent plucked from the Anna Sorokin playbook. The question of his identity looms throughout the film — until it’s revealed by conservative political players that Parker was not American at all, but from the Netherlands.

1963: Elvis Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker. Getty.

This much is true, Parker, born Andreas Cornelis Dries van Kuijk illegally emigrated to the United States at 20. He enlisted in the United States Army, taking the name ‘Tom Parker’ from the name of the officer who interviewed him.

After working as a carney for years, Parker moved into music promotion. Working alongside crooner Gene Austin and country music singers Eddy Arnold, Tommy Sands, and Hank Snow (played by a dour David Wenham.) 

And his relationship with Elvis?

The film is faithful to real-life events. Parker encountered Presley in 1955, booking him as the opening act for Hank Snow. By August, Parker acquired a controlling interest in Presley’s management contract and set a deal in motion for RCA to purchase Presley’s contract from Sun Records for the unheard-of-sum of $35,000.

Throughout their partnership, Parker concealed his true identity. Because of his status as an illegal alien, he would not let Presley tour outside the USA.