Baz Luhrmann has been spending his post-“The Great Gatsby” time lining up one project after another. On the small screen, he’s got the former Stanley Kubrick project “Napoleon” for HBO and producer Steven Spielberg, and a TV drama about the early years of hip hop, while earlier this month he got linked to the big screen take of “Kung Fu.” That didn’t seem like the most obvious gig for the director, but this next one does.
Over at Warner Bros., Luhrmann is in talks to direct a biopic about Elvis Presley, penned by “Fifty Shades Of Grey” writer Kelly Marcel. Before you ask, yes, WB does have the rights to The King’s music, and the project is coming straight from the brain/research of Marcel, but won’t be based on any books. And it’s not clear if it will be cradle to grave, or focus on a specific era. Sounds promising, but there’s a reason to be cautious.
Biopics on any musician or group (see Jimi Hendrix, NWA, Frank Sinatra, etc) tend to be complex and difficult to get going, as they often need the estate to sign off (and/or producers want that approval to make things much easier). So while this is developing, don’t be surprised if this is the first and last you hear of it for a while. But still, Luhrmann doing his razzle dazzle with Elvis makes a lot of sense. [The Wrap]