Hey Yo, Draven here.
Variety is reporting that Kevin MacDonald (THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, TOUCHING THE VOID, STATE OF PLAY) has signed on to direct an Elvis Presley biopic titled, LAST TRAIN TO MEMPHIS. The film will be based on a 1995 biography written by Peter Guralnick and will chronicle the early days of Elvis’ stardom. It will be scripted by John Fusco (THE YOUNG GUNS, HIDALGO, THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM).
Mick Jagger’s Jagged Films will be one of the production companies involved with the planned biopic and it sounds like they are going for an unknown in the role. They have set up the website, https://www.youngelviscasting.com/ and are holding open casting calls and asking for audition tapes to be sent in.
With the exception of John Carpenter’s 1979 TV movie starring Kurt Russell, there hasn’t been a lot of success in adapting Elvis’ life to the screen. It is promising that they are focusing on a small part of Elvis’ life and not trying to fit everything into one film, which is the big problem a lot of biopics have. But whoever gets this role is going to have a ton of pressure to do “the King of Rock and Roll” right.
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