Elvis Presley was who? The biography Elvis by Baz Luhrmann, which is currently available on HBO Max,
Baz Luhrmann
constructs the character of the American icon by rotating him through a variety of uniformly admirable parts.
Baz Luhrmann
He was a devoted son to his parents, a sincere admirer of Black musical genres,
Baz Luhrmann
a supporter of civil rights, a devoted husband and father, an innovative musician, and an irreplaceable performer.
Baz Luhrmann
Elvis indulges in hagiography for 159 minutes, claiming that the singer's lone error was in believing the wrong man. Here,
Baz Luhrmann
Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) is the only person to blame for Elvis's financial instability,
Baz Luhrmann
drug addiction, shattered family, and growing irrelevance in the 1970s, and the movie draws clear lines between Parker as the bad guy and Elvis as the good guy.
Baz Luhrmann
However, they are also recognisable because Elvis successfully reverses the gender of a typical music-movie trope: