The biopic Elvis by Baz Luhrmann ( The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge! ) will hit theaters in many countries this week, including India. The reception is generally very good. However, there is one point that some people have trouble with, the playing time of 159 minutes.
Now it turns out that the original version of the film is much longer. In a recent interview with Radio Times, Luhrmann confirmed that he originally produced a four-hour (240-minute) version that featured numerous key scenes, such as Presley’s infamous meeting with Richard Nixon.
The 4 Hour version of the Film Elvis
“I mean, I have a 4-hour version. Really. But I had to cut it down to 2:30 hour,” said the director. “I would have liked to zoom in a bit more on some of the other things — there’s so much more.”
“I mean, there are so many things that I’ve recorded, like the relationship with the band, I had to take that out, and it’s so interesting how the Colonel loses them,” Luhrmann added.
The filmmaker went on to reveal that the longer version featured a larger exploration of Elvis’ relationship with his first girlfriend Dixie and his addiction to barbiturates, which ultimately led to the Nixon encounter.
There’s no mention of that longer cut eventually coming out, even though it sounds like perfect HBO Max material. The “short version” of the film with Austin Butler and Tom Hanks can be seen in Dutch cinemas from tomorrow.
