Incredible unseen archive footage of Elvis Presley is coming to UK screens next month and the lost images and footage from Vegas should send fans quiverin’
Tantalising viewers, a studded white flared trouser leg is seen ‘wigglin’ and quiverin.’ Then the unmistakable gospel-infused sound of Elvis fills the air.
In never-seen-before pictures, The King, dressed in his trademark Vegas white suit, pads towards the stage, accompanied by a huge entourage, to a commanding soundtrack of him singing the words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic: “His truth is marching on.”
Incredible unseen archive footage of Elvis Presley’s seven year Las Vegas residency – beginning in 1969 – was uncovered by filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, together with rediscovered audio in which he talks about his life.
It will now feature in Luhrmann’s new film EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, to be released here next month.
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Born Elvis Aaron Presley in Tulepo, Mississippi to Vernon and Gladys Presley, the surviving twin of two boys – his brother Jessie Garon having been tragically stillborn – the legendary singer would have turned 90 yesterday (January 8).
But the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll – just 21 when he stormed to number one in the US and number two in the UK in 1956 with his single Heartbreak Hotel – succumbed to heart failure on August 16, 1977, aged 42, at his Graceland home in Memphis, Tennessee.
His star has never waned and the the lost images and footage from Vegas, together with previously unseen recordings of his 1972 North American tour, promise to lure fans to the cinema in their droves.
Describing the film as “an experience that is not just a documentary and not just a concert film”, director Luhrmann says this is his way of enabling Elvis to have the world tour he never managed in person – by taking the archive material to his fans around the globe.
“From the first day my editor, Jonathan Redmond, and I encountered this rare and never-before-seen footage of Elvis almost 8 years ago, it has been our mission that Elvis should finally fulfill his unrealised dream to tour around the world,” he says.
Elvis, whose first UK number one single in July 1957, All Shook Up, was followed by hit after hit, seldom toured, despite being one of the best-selling artists of all time. Instead, he focussed on releasing singles and movies, like Jailhouse Rock (1957), Blue Hawaii (1961) and Viva Las Vegas (1964) and, of course, on his Vegas residency, where sell-out shows drew 100,000 strong crowds.
It was during his residency that he debuted Suspicious Minds, often described as his showstopper, which ran for more than seven minutes and often earned him a standing ovation. Luhrmann is hoping that EPiC will be another showstopper – finally proving the rumours about unseen footage that have been circulating for 40 years – are true,
The material was finally found in a Warner Bros. vault situated in an underground salt mine in Kansas, where the treasure included a new video from Elvis’ famed 1957 ‘gold lamé jacket’ concert in Hawaii. But Luhrmann’s favourite finds were the “unheard recordings of Elvis talking about his life and music.”
Most of the unreleased footage was originally filmed for The King’s two early 1970s’ concert films – Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970) and Elvis on Tour (1972). Luhrmann and his team have spent the past two years restoring the video footage, which involved having to “claw back sound from the many, unconventional sources that were also unearthed.”
As Elvis says, snarling into the mic in the trailer: “There’s been a lot written and a lot said but never from my side of the story.” Now the new movie promises to change that.
