Austin Butler will be the new Elvis

Elvis, the latest, highly anticipated film directed by Baz Luhrmann, will be released on 24 June. The Australian director is returning to theatres with an ambitious project, developed over three years of work and destined to become a cult like William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!: to bring Elvis Presley, an absolute icon of pop culture, still revered today as a sort of divinity, to the screen. It is not a proper biopic, but rather the journey of a young boy-turned-star through America in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, from his passion for black culture and gospel to rock'n'roll and his contribution to sparking the sexual revolution.

"The film explores the life and music of Elvis Presley, seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Hanks). The story delves into the complex dynamic between Presley and Parker spanning over 20 years, from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America."

After considering and discarding for the role of Elvis Harry Styles, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ansel Elgort, Luhrmann, has chosen Austin Butler. He apparently made the decision after seeing the actor act and sing alongside Denzel Washington on Broadway in the play The Iceman Cometh. After a series of 

After a series of rehearsals and workshops, he "knew unequivocally that I had found someone who could embody the spirit of one of the world’s most iconic musical figures".

Born in 1991, the American actor is one of Hollywood's most promising young talents, even if, until now, he owes his popularity more to his love affairs than to his roles on the screen, from his long relationship with Vanessa Hudgens, through Lily-Rose Depp, to his current one with Kaia Gerber. Teen audiences know him for his appearances in TV series such as Zoey 101, Switched at Birth, The Carrie Diaries and The Shannara Chronicles, but more recently he has moved into film, working with cult directors such as Jim Jarmush and Quentin Tarantino. Playing an icon like Elvis is the opportunity of a lifetime that could take him all the way to an Oscar, as it happened to Rami Malek as Freddy Mercury.

Giving body, soul and voice (Austin sang all the songs of the young Elvis, while for those from the mid-1960s onwards he mixed his own voice with the legendary singer's real one) was a complex process, a challenge, but also an honour, as Butler himself said:

"There were many reasons that brought me here, but above all the chance to explore the humanity of someone who became the litmus test of a society: Elvis is such an icon and he’s held up to a superhuman status, so to get to explore that for years now and learn why he was the way that he was and find the human within that icon, that was really just such a joy that I could do it for the rest of my life probably." 

The first trailer for the film shows Elvis and his manager sitting on a Ferris wheel, when, having arrived at the highest point, the man asks the future star "Are you ready to fly?". The journey begins here. The release date is 24 June in the theatres.