Stevie Nicks, Eminem, Jack White For Elvis Biopic Soundtrack
Stevie Nicks, Eminem and Jack White are are among the artists who will feature on the soundtrack for the upcoming Elvis Presley biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann. Elvis is set to arrive in cinemas on 24 June.
The soundtrack will also include “original songs and recordings” by Presley himself along with the film’s star, Austin Butler. Cee Lo Green will join Eminem on a song, while Swae Lee and Diplo will also unite. Elsewhere on the compilation will be songs from Kacey Musgraves, Tame Impala, Chris Isaak, Denzel Curry, Jazmine Sullivan, Måneskin, Pnau and more. Doja Cat’s contribution, Vegas, was released earlier this month.
Elvis will examine the complex relationship between Elvis and his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (played by Tom Hanks) over two decades, “from Presley’s rise to fame to his unprecedented stardom, against the backdrop of the evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America”.
Elvis also stars Helen Thompson as Elvis’ mother Gladys, Richard Roxburgh as his father Vernon and Olivia DeJonge as wife Priscilla Presley. Other cast members include Luke Bracey, David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Josh McConville.
“While respecting and loving the fans, I’m opening Elvis’ journey out to a new audience that knows only the guy in the jumpsuit and doesn’t understand that he was a rebel,” Luhrmann told Entertainment Weekly. “He was the first real pop-cultural youth rebel on a mass level.”
Luhrmann continued, “The Apocalypse Now of musicals is what I’ve joked about calling the movie — and that’s the ’70s period. It’s so sprawling and it’s beautiful, but it’s powerful. It’s a three-act pop-cultural opera…His life fits beautifully into three acts. There’s Elvis the punk, if you like, the original punk rocker, the rebel. Then there’s Elvis the movie man, and that’s when he is pop and family-friendly. And then there’s ’70s Elvis, which is epic.”