Baz Luhrmann talks about his 4-hour editing of ELVIS and what scenes were to be left on the editing room floor

After years of searching for the right star and creating the exact story he wanted to tell, Baz Luhrmann he is preparing to release his masterful biopic Elvis this week. The length of the film is 2 hours and 39 minutes, making the film quite long, but apparently, this was after Luhrmann cut it from a 4 hour run.

In a recent interview with Variety, Luhrmann talked about the runtime and which scenes needed to be removed to move forward:

“I mean, I have a four-hour version, actually. I do. But you have to cut it down to 2 hours and 30… I would have liked to go deeper into some of the other things – there is so much more. I mean, there are a lot of things that I shot like the relationship with the band, I had to cut out [that] down – and it’s as interesting as the colonel [Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks] gets rid of them “.

The four-hour cut also included more exploration of Elvis’ relationship with “first girl, Dixie”. Luhrmann went on to say:

“And later like … once he’s been caught in a trap, and he’s upset and doesn’t understand … someone who has such a hole in his heart like Elvis who constantly seeks and seeks love and finds it on the stage but nowhere else. “

Luhrmann also shot scenes addressing Elvis’ “addiction to barbiturates and all.” The director added:

“What happens is he starts doing kinky things, like going to see Nixon. I’ve kept it there for a while, but there comes a time when you can’t have it all inside, so I just tried to follow the spirit of the character. “

It almost makes me wish Luhrmann turned the film into a series, but oh well. Can’t wait to see the movie. Elvis will be released in theaters this Friday, June 24th.