Here’s the trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, starring Austin Butler as Elvis Presley. Weirdly, Butler mostly looks like a young John Travolta in most of the scenes. I honestly thought they CGI’d old footage of Travolta. [Dlisted]
The Queen doesn’t have the power to remove Prince Andrew as a Counsellor of State, only Parliament can do that. [Buzzfeed]
Rihanna is craving Japanese food during her pregnancy. [LaineyGossip]
Kaley Cuoco has been pretty quiet recently. [Just Jared]
Robert Pattinson is so good at promotion. [OMG Blog]
John Oliver + Stephen Colbert = magic. [Pajiba]
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is suited up and nice-looking. [Go Fug Yourself]
I totally forgot about Salma Hayek and the snake!! [Gawker]
The IOC responds to Sha’Carri Richardson’s complaints about “double standards” with who gets suspended and who doesn’t. [Towleroad]
A Teen Mom/Home Town crossover? [Starcasm]
I totally forgot that Nina Dobrev is dating Shaun White. [Egotastic]
Austin Butler is nearly as good looking as John Travolta was in his youth and he doesn’t look like Elvis either. I enjoy Baz Luhrmann’s work but how many Elvis movies are gonna be made?
Oh, what a fun question: how many Elvis movies will be made? Probably the same number of TV shows/movies that feature a “Princess Diana”, which is getting to be too many. Austin Butler is tall, good looking, and can sing, which is what I want to see on screen in a Baz Luhrmann flick. Elvis can’t be duplicated 100%, but if his music is done right, I’m there for it. I’ll take the Baz on-screen circus any day of the week.
Agreed, but it’s a thankless task playing the young Elvis, as that was Elvis at his sexiest. Plus, he was singular, unique, no one else like him in the universe. Having said that, I thought Jonathan Rhys-Meyers did pretty well 15 or so years ago.
My first thought seeing Austin Butler as Elvis was he looks like a black velvet picture of Elvis. My second thought was d@mn he looks like someone I dated in high school. Third thought: I dated a black velvet picture of Elvis in high school.
The trailer looks good. AB seems to have the Elvis moves down. My 1984 black velvet picture of Elvis boyfriend of a couple of months did not. His style of dance involved mosh pits.
I’m a sucker for Baz Luhrmann’s movies so I can’t wait for this. There’s something about his way of presenting chaotic parties/frantic scenes…
Honestly at this point I don’t care about Hollywood getting actors who look like the real people they are portraying because they NEVER get them right, ever.
Same. I think Baz Luhrmann should direct all the movies ever.
I bet this will be incredible.
My favorite was the first party in Romeo and Juliet. That was fantastic!
I just don’t understand why people are so obsessed with whether the actor looks like his subject in a film. Much more important is that they capture the essence of the person. Michelle Williams as Marilyn and Nicole Kidman did just that. So did Anthony Hopkins as Nixon, Kristen Stewart as Diana. The performances make it work.
That’s how I view it as well. It’s one thing to look like the person, but if they haven’t captured any of the voice or mannerisms of that character they are portraying, what’s the point?
I completely agree. People are waaaaay too focused on whether the actor is an exact match visually. That’s an insane expectation. You are never going to find someone who looks EXACTLY like the original, who also can act, who also can speak and act like the original.
Close enough is fine, especially when it is an incredible actor playing the role.
I’ve definitely seen film where the actor had the right “look” but they were terrible in the part. It’s a fictitious character, but an example of this would be the actress who plays Brianna in Outlander. She’s awful (sorry but she is) but she looks like Jamie and Claire’s daughter.
And then I’ve seen it where the actor looks nothing like the original but did such a fantastic job: another example to add to yours is Victoria Hamilton as the Queen Mother in the first two seasons of The Crown. She was wonderful but looked absolutely nothing like the QM.
Agree with you about the actress that plays Brianna in Outlander. At first when Caitriona Balfe was cast as Claire, I thought she doesn’t look like the character from the books. Now, I can’t imagine anyone else being Claire because I think Caitriona captured the strength & essence of Claire. Same with Sam Heughan as Jamie. I’m also happy that some fervent fans didn’t get their wish having Gerard Butler play Jamie.
Not knowing that much about Mozart, I thought Tom Hulce was excellent in Amadeus.
True enough. I thought David Keith did a good job as Elvis in Heartbreak Hotel (just a fun movie). He looks nothing like Elvis, but he caught Elvis’ swagger & accent quite well.
I agree with you in principle, though I don’t agree about Stewart as Diana. A good example for me would be Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash. Aside from having dark hair, he doesn’t look like him but was still great in the role, IMO. Claire Foy as young Queen Elizabeth, too. She’s petite and they mimicked the hair well, but she doesn’t look like QEII. Her features are much more delicate.
That was my immediate thought about Austin Butler too! I’m a little surprised Travolta never played Elvis in his younger days after Elvis had just passed. I don’t know what year the first Elvis biopic happened though.
Every single biopic like this are the same. I don’t feel like I need to watch more than the trailer.
Will they ever get more creative with these films?
Feel like the world has forgotten that Shaun White was accused of sexual harassment in 2016
The links have been awesome this week. Thank you Kaiser!
I personally don’t think he loves like travolta. I think this looks great so excited for this film. I’m a big Elvis fan too. Also I don’t think I have even seen Tom Hanks in anything bad. Butter certainly is good looking….lol
I think he looks like he has the moves and swagger down pretty well. I am wondering why there is no outrage at Tom Hanks wearing a ‘fatsuit’ to look like his character, but there is for Renee Zellwegger wearing one to look like her character. I am overweight myself, and don’t find it offensive when they are trying to look like the character they are playing.
I’m very curious to see how a 2022 Elvis movie is going to handle his predatory relationship with Priscilla and his abusive behavior. Looks like yet another hagiography, but it looks like at least they are being honest about where he got his music and style. “Absolutely original” indeed.
I forgot about Salma and the snake. Completely understand her reaction.
Kind of forgot about Nina & Shaun too. Seeing Shaun’s name reminded me of reading about Shaun Cassidy going on tour this year. That sent me down a Hardy Boy’s memory lane with Da Doo Ron Ron playing in the background.
Love Baz Luhrman. Never loved Elvis, esp bc I had a black musician father who talked about what Elvis co-opted from black musicians at the time , absolutely NEVER loved Elvis
I’m seeing Cry Baby Johnny Depp.