Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge), the director behind the upcoming Elvis biopic is speaking out about why he passed on Harry Styles to play the role of Elvis Presley.

 

 

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While appearing on the Fitzy & Wippa podcast, Baz was asked about ‘some of the hopefuls for the title role,’ which included Harry and Miles Teller, “I don’t audition.  I do these really rich workshops. I’ll talk about Harry only because Harry said it himself just recently,” he says.

 

He later said, “Harry is a really talented actor.  I would work on something with him, however, the real issue with Harry is, he’s Harry Styles.  He’s already an icon.”

 

 

 

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“I think Harry and I came to a place, genuinely I mean, he was just desperate to put the suit on and explore.  He’s such a great spirit and I have nothing but great things to say about Harry Styles,” Baz continued.

 

The role of Elvis eventually when to Austin Butler, “The thing about Aust[in] was that he will tell you himself, I didn’t pick him it’s as if he was drawn like the role drew them in because he was almost born to play it.  You know, we can talk about it now, he like loses his mom at the same age that Elvis did. He sends a video to me with this thing and… He just happened like two years non stop living and breathing as Elvis. He’s now going through a sort of like deprogramming thing because he’s been a long time since he’s known who he was,” Baz explained.

 

 

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Just last month during an interview with Howard Stern, Harry opened up about ‘the process of exploring the role,’ and shared, “Elvis was probably the first person I knew outside of my family when I was a very small child.  There was something incredibly sacred about it, that felt like I should [audition]”

 

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He continued, “I was very intrigued by it… I feel like if a director feels like I’m not the best person for the role then it’s better for them and it’s better for me.  If they think the movie’s going to be better with someone else then I don’t want to do it because I don’t want to be the not-as-good version.”

 

Elvis, starring Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, and Olivia DeJonge, debuted at the Cannes Film Festival last month, and will hit theatres June 24.

 

 

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Filed under: austin-butler, elvis-presley, Harry Styles