Elvis Presley, for all his influential game-changing musical talents and troubled life, has never really gotten many full documentary or docudrama treatments.
Outside of the Kurt Russell/John Carpenter (weird) TV movie in 1979, the King’s life has been merely scattered throughout stories of other musicians and films that capture the pop culture impact of the singer – 300 Miles to Graceland, Honeymoon inn Vegas, and the existence of Nicolas Cage spring to mind.
Now, HBO is bringing fans a comprehensive three-hour documentary. The Presley estate is cooperating with the documentary, and it will not only cover his meteoric rise to stardom, but it will cover most of his life and break down his unique sound and why it was so influential moving forward. Kary Antholis, the president of HBO Miniseries and Cinemax Programming, had a statement about the documentary:
“The producers came to HBO and Sony with the idea for a film drawing upon very rare footage that captures Elvis’ musicianship in a new and exciting way. The artistry on display in that footage reminded us of the great work by Jon Landau and Thom Zimny on HBO films documenting the studio artistry of Bruce Springsteen, and we are thrilled to have them at the helm to lend their unique cinematic perspectives to this iconic, complex and singular artist.”
There is no release date yet, but expect it somewhere in 2017. Stay tuned.
