Baz Luhrmann Elvis Presley Film Finds Its Priscilla Presley In Netflix ‘The Society’ Actress Olivia DeJonge

Every day is bringing sweeping changes to the entertainment industry at large as the coronavirus strain known as COVID-19 is spreading around the United States. But last night, it got more personal for beloved Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks and his wife, actress and producer Rita Wilson. The couple were confirmed to be the first major Hollywood stars to contract the virus, and they are now in quarantine down in Australia where Baz Luhrman's Elvis Presley biopic was in production.

Deadline got the news before Tom Hanks made the following post on Instagram:

Warner Bros. Pictures released a brief statement about the situation, which will undoubtedly have an impact on other members of the film's production crew:

“We have been made aware that a company member from our Elvis feature film, which is currently in pre-production in The Gold Coast, Australia, has tested positive for COVID-19 coronavirus.

We are working closely with the appropriate Australian health agencies to identify and contact anyone who may have come in direct contact with the individual. The health and safety of our company members is always our top priority, and weare taking precautions to protect everyone who works on our productions around the world.

The individual who tested positive for COVID-19 is currently receiving treatment.”

What makes COVID-19 that much harder to deal with is you could be spreading the virus and not have any symptoms, and by the time you feel sick, you've already given it to many others. That's why we must all take the proper precautions to isolate ourselves as best as possible if coronavirus symptoms become apparent.

During this time period, as our government fails to be honest about the gravity of the situation and instead chooses to worry about the stock market instead of people, the population should start social distancing in order to slow and eventually stop the spread of this flu strain. If you don't know how social distancing works, you can read up on it over here. In fact, South Korea's institution of social distancing has already resulted in the number of new coronavirus cases dropping, and if the United States gets more serious about it now, they might be able to fight this infection more effectively before it gets dramatically worse.

We'll keep you posted on how coronavirus continues to interrupt the entertainment industry. Stay safe out there, folks.

Source: Slashfilm.com

Maggie Gyllenhaal is about to give birth to the King of Rock and Roll. Gyllenhaal has been cast as Gladys Presley, AKA the mother of Elvis, in Baz Luhrmann‘s musical biopic Elvis. The real Elvis was very close with his mother, which means Gyllenhaal is likely to have a somewhat substantial role, and not just show up for a scene or two at the beginning of the movie only to then vanish. Austin Butler is playing Elvis, while Tom Hanks is set to play the King’s legendary manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

Variety is reporting that Maggie Gyllenhaal is set to play Elvis’ mother Gladys Presley in Elvis, a new biopic/musical from Baz Luhrmann. Elvis was extremely close with his mother, and her death at the age of 46 devastated the musician. The official Graceland website has more insight into their relationship:

After the Presleys moved to Memphis in November 1948, Gladys continued to work. Her jobs included working as a nurse’s aid at St. Joseph’s Hospital and working at Britling’s Cafeteria.

Elvis wanted to give his mother, who’d given him so much, a better life.

He purchased their first home on Audubon Drive, a year before purchasing Graceland. And of course, after he purchased Graceland, he welcomed his parents in with open arms.

Gladys lived at Graceland until her death in 1958, which broke her son’s heart. But Gladys’ impact on her son was lifelong. He was loving and protective of his own daughter, Lisa. He loved the same music Gladys loved and recorded some of her favorite songs. He shared his love of music with the world, the way she shared her love of music with her son.

When Elvis died in 1977, he was buried next to Gladys. So while Elvis’ mom dies young in this true tale, one can hope Gyllenhaal will have a somewhat substantial role, and not be delegated to an extended cameo, like Bryce Dallas Howard as Elton John’s mom in Rocketman.

While musician biopics are getting a bit tiresome, especially since they all seem to rely on the same formula, I’ll admit to being interested in what Luhrmann is working on here. He’s not a conventional filmmaker, so I doubt he’s going to take a paint-by-numbers route with this story. I’m also curious to see what Tom Hanks does with the role of Colonel Tom Parker, the other major controlling figure in Elvis Presley’s life.

Elvis is expected to take the stage on October 1, 2021.

Source: Slashfilm.com

Elvis Presley has been prominently featured in a number of films, ranging from the horror comedy of Bubba Ho-Tep to the meeting of Elvis and Tricky Dick in Elvis & Nixon. But there hasn’t been a definitive biopic about the man who was dubbed the King of Rock and Roll. That’s about to change with Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrman tackling the musician’s life, and another name has just been added to the film’s cast. Rufus Sewell A Knight’s Tale, The Man in the High Castle has joined the Elvis biopic as The King’s “reserved, soft-spoken” father Vernon Presley.

Variety has the latest update for the Elvis biopic cast, which already has relatively unknown actor Austin Butler in the lead role for the film chronicling the rise to fame of the poor kid turned music sensation. The story is said to follow Elvis and his “elevation to a level of stardom and celebrity matched only by The Beatles, set against an evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America.”

As for Rufus Sewell’s role in the movie, it should be a significant one. Vernon Presley was a proud supporter of his son, and in addition to accompanying Elvis on tour, he would also manage his business affairs in an office behind the famous Graceland mansion. Both Vernon and his wife, Elvis’ mother Gladys who will be played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, lived with Elvis there, and they were mostly a happy family.

However, Variety notes that Vernon was famously insecure, knowing he was unqualified to take care of his son’s affairs, and would often be worried about losing their fortune and going back to the poor lifestyle they led before. You can read more favorable things about Vernon Presley over at the Graceland website.

Tom Hanks is also on board as Elvis Presley’s manger, Colonel Tom Parker, a man who would end up betraying Elvis and taking advantage of his stardom.

With all the rage surrounding musical biopics lately, thanks to the success of Bohemian Rhapsody, there will undoubtedly be a lot of hype around this movie. We’re hoping that in the hands of Baz Luhrman, who has style to spare, it’ll be something a little more exciting and original like Rocketman.

Elvis is slated to arrive in theaters on October 1, 2021.

Source: Slashfilm.com

SPOILER ALERT: If you are among the few who haven’t actually watched Netflix’s Tiger King docuseries, this review contains a lot of details about what goes down in the sad big cat saga.

With Netflix poised in the coming days to cash in and crank the base up a notch with more Tiger King, it's time to come out and say it: I hate the Red State porn that is the crash and burn of Joe Exotic

The initial seven episodes of this septic and shallow patchwork of trademark infringement, sex, guns, labor exploitation, song, drugs, mullets, betrayal, animal activism, revenge, and a lot of big cats may be much binged over these weeks of coronavirus lockdown, but that doesn't mean it's actually worth watching.

Now, I get it, I sound like I'm just a dour critic who hates anything that isn't prestige premium cable or aspirational. C'mon man, you want to say, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is just so unbelievable, I can't look away.

I respectfully disagree, and in fact, propose Tiger King isn't just bad, but dangerous in a divided America persistently looking to reduce the other side to caricature.

In a presently ailing nation where TV is more voluminous and vital than ever, the truth is the March 20 launched Tiger King is a clawed white trash misery index. Gawking at some clearly fragile and damaged people like would-be reality TV star Exotic and their below the Mason-Dixon line antics, the series subsequently provides a cultural circus for those smug bicoastals under stay at home orders and screaming to rise up in moral superiority.

Essentially, the tale of big cat collector, self-styled Oklahoma zoo proprietor and 2016 Presidential candidate Exotic AKA Joseph Maldonado-Passage and his ultimately unsuccessful attempt to have rival Carole Baskin knocked off by a hitman hired for $3,000, Tiger King is in that context more a zero-sum game, literally and figuratively, than hitting the zeitgeist.

Obviously, Netflix are pretty damn good at gauging and dragging the public mood over the years, as the likes of the then phenomenon of 2015's Making A Murderer or 2018’s Wild Wild Country prove. Yet, for all the attention it has drawn, this unfocused murder for hire exploration of sorts emerges as a bastard child of Cops, a million Dateline segments from the 1990s and Fox’s short-lived Murder in Small Town X reality show from 2001.

Not exactly the prestige product that the home of Roma, The Irishman and American Factory likes to brag about at award shows. Then again, with the knowledge that the Romans sold out the Colosseum every night feeding Christians to the lions, the bottom line based House of Hastings surely loves the subscription sign up that the currently incarcerated Maldonado-Passage and the accompanying motley gaggle of...