Elvis is an early TV film by John Carpenter and is based upon the life of 'The King of Rock 'n' Roll' Elvis Presley. However, it ends in 1970 and does not depict the last few years of Elvis' life and career.
Elvis is notable in Carpenter's career for two reasons. It was made after Halloween had wrapped, so it offered him an avenue to try his hand at a film away from the horror genre. It was also the first time Carpenter had worked with Kurt Russell, who became a frequent collaborator of Carpenter's. Russell subsequently starred in Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Big Trouble in Little China (1985), and Escape from L.A. (1996).
Country singer Ronnie McDowell provided the vocals for a number of songs Russell performed in the film as Elvis.
Elvis is an award-winning 2005 CBS mini-series. It was written by Patrick Sheane Duncan and directed by James Steven Sadwith, it chronicles the rise of American music icon Elvis Presley from his humble beginnings in Tupelo, Mississippi to his international superstardom.
The cast includes Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Presley, Rose McGowan as Ann-Margret, Randy Quaid as "Colonel" Tom Parker, Camryn Manheim as Gladys Presley, Robert Patrick as Vernon Presley, Tim Guinee as Sam Phillips, and Antonia Bernath as Priscilla Presley.
The mini-series is available on a region-free DVD. The DVD will be available August 14, 2007 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000RIWAVC?tag=tvshowsondvdcom&link_code=as3&creativeASIN=B000RIWAVC&creative=373489&camp=211189
Carpenter, John directed this movie about Presley, Elvis who, in Change of Habit (1969), played a character called John Carpenter.
Kurt Russell (I) made his film debut in It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) which starred Elvis Presley. According to Russell, Presley was 27 years old when he did "...World's Fair" and Russell was 27 years old when he did this film.
John Carpenter (I) was hired to direct this movie after having written the score for Halloween (1978). The execs figured that, since he knew something about music, he must know about Elvis Presley.
Elvis Presley's father Vernon was played by Kurt Russell's father, Bing.
One of three films that Elvis Presley and Kurt Russell have in common. Russell appeared in the Elvis movie "It Happened At The World's Fair" (1963), he portrayed Presley in the TV movie "Elvis" (1979), and he played an Elvis impersonator in "3000 Miles to Graceland" (2001). In "It Happened at the World's Fair," Russell (who was a young boy at the time), ran on screen and kicked Elvis in the shin. In "3000 Miles to Graceland," this scene is parodied when a young boy runs on screen and kicks Russell (in full Elvis attire) in the shin.
Shown on TV in America, it was released in theaters overseas, a common practice for TV movies at the time.
Only instance in which real-life father and son - Bing Russell and Kurt Russell (I) - play that very relationship.
According to John Carpenter (I) during his DVD Commentary on Big Trouble In Little China (1986) with Kurt Russell (I), the reason he got the job directing this film was because the producers found out he did the music for Halloween (1978) and figured he could handle a biopic of Elvis.
Originally was to have included a performance of "A Little Less Conversation," a hit song from Elvis Presley's film Live a Little, Love a Little (1968). A version was recorded for the special, but dropped from the final show.
Colonel Tom Parker originally wanted Elvis to perform in a powder blue tuxedo, singing Christmas carols. Producer Steve Binder axed this idea and came up with concept of Elvis performing his classic hits in a black leather outfit.
This is generally credited as the special that pulled Elvis Presley's career out of the doldrums and started the so-called "third act" of his career.
Producer Steve Binder once told a story about how something came to be cut from the show. He said that there was a musical number that suggested that Elvis went to a brothel. A network executive wanted the number cut. Binder asked him to reconsider. One time, while in the video editing room, they were reviewing the scene. Nearby, an episode of "Dean Martin Show, The" (1965) was also being edited. A scene with Martin and one of his dancers was being edited that had every suggestive sex joke possible and the executive laughed. Binder asked him if the brothel scene bothered him so much, why didn't the sex jokes on the Martin show bother him. The executive answered that the other show "was funny". Binder said he never understood that distinction.
The bordello segment that was deleted from the show's main production number before it aired was restored in the 2004 Deluxe Edition DVD release. Back in 1968, these scenes had made it past the censors, but the broadcast's primary and presenting sponsor, the Singer company, asked that the segment be cut, deeming it too risqué.
Though now known as the "68 Comeback Special", Elvis Presley's first television special was officially titled "Elvis" when originally broadcast on U.S. network NBC on 3 December 1968. Sponsored by the Singer sewing machine company, it was the top rated program of its week and the highest rated television special of the 1968-69 TV season. Following his death, the special was rebroadcast in tandem with Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii (1973) (TV) as "Memories of Elvis" hosted by Ann-Margret in November 1977.
Elvis Presley was unpopular in 1968, but still 42% of television viewing audience of America did watch the show, making it the most watched television program in America in 1968.
Elvis was paid $250,000.
On September 11, 1968 "Variety" announced that the bordello scene had been cut from the TV special.
Elvis Presley singing "If I Can Dream" was cut from this show and edited with computer technology to look like Céline Dion and Elvis Presley would have been on same stage at the same time in one episode of "American Idol" (2002). The duet song went no 1 on iTunes on few days after.
More than 300 Elvis fans auditioned for the role of Elvis Presley, they were all turned away and Rhys Myers hired, even though he wasn't one of the 300 lining up for audition
