A touch of rockabilly: the Cannes Film Festival announced on Tuesday April 5 that the highly anticipated biopic Elvis, on the legend of American music, would have its world premiere on the Croisette during its 75th edition in May.
The performers, Austin Butler as the rock and roll legend, Olivia DeJonge as his wife Priscilla, and Tom Hanks as his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, are expected at Cannes, along with the director Australian, Baz Luhrmann.
Elvis, produced by Bazmark and The Jackal Group, will be released in North America on June 24 and worldwide from June 22, 2022.
This new rock biopic, a genre that has flourished in recent years, from Joaquin Phoenix to Johnny Cash (walk the line2006) to Rami Malek winning the Oscar in 2019 for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
The biopic traces the life and work of Elvis Presley over two decades, from his rise to stardom to obtaining “of his unprecedented star status as America experiences major socio-cultural upheaval and loses its innocence”according to a press release from the Festival.
Baz Luhrmann is a regular at Cannes: he is the only director to have presented “two feature films to open the event with Moulin Rouge in 2001, selected in competition, and Gatsby the Magnificent in 2013”, he continues. In 1992, he caused a sensation at the 45th edition of the Festival with his first film Ballroom Dancingscreened in the Un Certain Regard section.
The most important of the world film festivals must unveil its official selection on April 14, including the list of films in the running to succeed the Palme d’Or 2021, Titanium by Julia Ducournau.
One month before the festivities (May 17 to 28), very little information has filtered through on this 75th edition. Neither the composition of the jury nor the opening film are yet known.
The only certainty is the presence of Tom Cruise, back in the cockpit to present, 35 years later, a sequel to the legendary Top Gun. Top Gun Maverick is due to screen on May 18.