Baz Luhrmann Confirms Plans to Release ‘Elvis’ Concert Cut with Austin Butler’s Onstage Performances

Baz Luhrmann knows that fans have a “Burning Love” for Austin Butler’s performance as Elvis Presley.

The “Elvis” director confirmed to IndieWire at the 2022 Gotham Awards that there eventually will be a concert cut of the musical biopic.

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“It’s a directors’ assembly. It’s not a cut. There’s a whole lot of material that adds up to four hours, but I have gone on record now to say not today, not tomorrow, but at some point I would do [it],” Luhrmann said. “Because Austin did his concerts full out. He did all the numbers. Austin just did it and it was an out of body experience to watch him do those full concerts, so one day I will cut those full concerts together.”

Luhrmann continued, “We just had all the cameras. [Cinematographer] Mandy Walker even got the lenses reproduced from the ’60s and ’70s and ’80s to match exactly everything.”

The “Moulin Rouge!” auteur previously stated that there was a “wackadoo” four-hour cut of “Elvis” including a subplot with Presley’s visit to President Richard Nixon.

“I tell you what, all my tweets are nothing but, ‘We want the four-hour version! We want the four-hour version!’” Luhrmann told ScreenRant. “I think people are at my gates with pitchforks saying, ‘We want the four-hour version!’”

He continued, “But I don’t close my mind to the idea that there would be an extended cut. Right now, with how long it’s stayed in the theaters and how well it’s done, it’s crossed the line. But it’s done so well on HBO Max over the weekend, so it’s about the parent company going, ‘Wow, it’s really worth spending the money.’”

Butler formerly stated that the concerts were done full-out during production.

“The way that we approached every [concert performance] was, for one, Baz and I early on decided that when I was on stage, we weren’t going to have a moment where suddenly we’re talking about acting,” Butler said during the film’s press tour (via The Film Stage). “So I would come on stage, like in Vegas, do the entire concert, curtain comes down, I walk off. So every time the audience is getting the experience of the show. And if we would cut for any reason, I would entertain the crowd as Elvis. It was the same thing as him having to make jokes to keep everyone entertained.”

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