FILM

from What's On Dubai - June 2022

by Motivate Media Group

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Words: Miles Buckeridge

Elvis

The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll gets the Luhrmann treatment

Baz Luhrmann projects don’t come around often, but when they do, we’re borderline guaranteed a spectacle. His latest, out this month, is another celebration of music – a biopic with the limelight focused intently on the undisputed King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis Presley. Taking the titular lead is Austin Butler — whose main claim to fame thus far was playing tussled high school crushes in both Hannah Montana and iCarly — a finer pedigree of teenage hearthrob, you’re unlikely to see. Despite initially offering only a vague resemblance to the legend, the trailer showcases a stage charisma that feels hauntingly accurate. Tom Hanks joins the cast as Colonel Tom Parker, the controversial figure who ‘discovered’ Elvis, became his manager and helped forge an icon. We’re given glimpses of a world charged with racial tension and the entertainment paradigm shift left in the wake of the first truly global megastar. We see what happens when that star’s fire begins to wane, and the internal void that opens when the lights go off. DIRECTOR: Baz Luhrmann CAST: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge

In conservation with the stars of Elvis

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

BAZ LUHRMANN (Director) What’s On: It’s clear from the trailer that this film deals with some pretty big cultural themes. What lessons can be learned from the Elvis story? Baz Luhrmann: You can’t tell the Elvis Presley story without talking about race: no issue of race in America, no Elvis. He goes from being a truck driver at 20 years old to the most famous man on the planet, and right at that moment, desegregation is happening in the south and the powers that be want to stop it. Also, at that time, post-war, the young have money for the first time – they can buy records, they’re a market and Colonel [Tom Parker] knows that and the south is saying “you gotta stop that kid [Elvis] from jumping the race line. So when Elvis comes back from the army, gets his haircut and goes into the movies, that was the Colonel’s ploy. Elvis wanted to be a serious actor, but the Colonel makes him family-friendly. He eventually fights back, and reconnects with the thing he loved most. Thing is, he was a spiritual guy – his greatest love of all, was singing gospel. So this movie is not so much about a lesson, but I guarantee you, that any audience member that goes to see this story will have a reflection, a debate and engagement with those subjects and for me that makes it worthwhile. AUSTIN BUTLER

(Elvis Presley)

What’s On: The film tracks Elvis’ life over quite a long period of time, with the character going through some big physical and psychological changes. What was your favourite Elvis era to play? Austin Butler: I don’t think I can list just one, but some of them that stick out in my mind, was the visceral animalistic nature of the ‘50s. There’s this one performance that we do in Russwood [Park, Tennesse], that almost feels like the birth of punk rock and it’s a version of Elvis we don’t get to see on video much. You see images of it, hear stories of him rolling around on the stage, and it’s like watching a wild animal, so that was a really fun one – just because it had that fire in it. And then later on, what has now become one of my favourites parts of his life – the ‘70s, with the big orchestra behind him, it was so incredible. Him singing Polk Salad Annie up on stage is one of the greatest live performances, I think, ever. I want people to see that because that’s really an exciting time in his life.

OLIVIA DEJONGE

(Priscilla Presley)

What’s On: After doing extensive research on your character, what do you think the public perception gets wrong about Priscilla? Olivia DeJonge: I think back then, when social media wasn’t around, the perception of her came through images that were somewhat curated. When you’re the wife of the most famous person in the world, I think you’re put into a box of beauty. And only that. But what was exciting for me was learning more about this fire and grit that she had. And, one of my favourite things that I learned about her was about a crazy fan who was waiting outside and [Priscilla] went out ready to fight. That to me really flipped a switch on this angelic being that we’d solidified her as. In general, that’s what we miss about women in history, they’re multi-faceted and unapologetic and she’s feisty and I really like that about her.

Photo: Getty Images

A Day to Die

DIRECTOR: Wes Miller CAST: Bruce Willis, Kevin Dillon, Brooke Butler Due to health reasons, this action spectacle will be one of Bruce Willis’ last scheduled releases, after an announcement that he’s retiring from acting. And its title sounds about as fittingly close to a Die Hard homage as you’re likely to find. Directed by Wes Miller, Willis plays veteran parole officer Connor Connolly who becomes indebted to a local mob boss. To pay one’s dues, he must perform a series of heists all within 12 hours, before ultimately going up against a corrupt chief of police. Will it generate Oscar buzz? Eh, unlikely. Will it be an on-brand ‘farewell to the party, pal’ for one of the action genre’s best-loved ambassadors? We predict a big yippee-kay-yes.

Jurassic World Dominion

DIRECTOR: Colin Trevorrow CAST: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum The Carnotaurus is out of the bag. Following the cataclysmic finale of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), human beings are now forced to coexist side-by-cageless-side with giant extinction-reversing murder lizards. This is the third film of the Jurassic World Series (and the sixth of the Jurassic Park saga overall) and sees Chris Pratt teaming up with OG dino dodgers Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum to help humanity avoid ending up as an extended velociraptor tasting menu. It’s great that they’ve got the band back together (sans Richard *sobs* Attenborough), but really at this point, if human beings haven’t learned to stop poking the Dilophosaurus nest, do we even deserve a happy ending?

The Black Phone

DIRECTOR: Scott Derrickson CAST: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Jeremy Davis Scott Derrickson picked up this directing project after a conflict of interest with the Marvel team over where to take Doctor Strange in his Multiverse of Madness. The house of capes’ loss, was this haunting specter of psychological horror’s gain. The Black Phone is an abduction tale, where a young boy imprisoned in a dingy basement who, using a disconnected phone, is able to communicate with the past victims of his captor – the mysterious serial killer known as ‘Grabber’. The villain of the piece looks to be played eerily well by Ethan Hawke. From the trailer alone, we reckon we’ve racked up about a month’s worth of sleeping with the lights on.

Minions 2: The Rise of Gru

DIRECTOR: Kyle Balda CAST: Steve Carell, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Taraji P Henson, Russell Brand This, of course, is a follow-up to 2015’s Despicable Me spin-off prequel, which followed the calamitous quest for purpose conducted by diminutive minions Kevin, Stuart, Bob. This movie’s role, in what we guess we’ll have to grudgingly refer to as the Despicable Me Universe, is the introduction of the minions into the life of a young Gru (once again voiced by Steve Carell). Before the shrink rays, the orphans and fluffy unicorns, we find Gru as an aspiring young offender who enlists the help of the minions following a failed attempt at joining the Vicious Six. The Six are a group of supervillains voiced by some considerable ‘80s and ‘90s action movie clout — JeanClaude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless, Dolph Lundgren, and Danny Trejo.