BAZ LUHRMANN

There are directors who move on from a subject. And then there is BAZ LUHRMANN, for whom an obsession never ends, but deepens. Three years after his opulent biopic Elvis, the Australian filmmaker returns to the icon with EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert – less as a director than as a conduit. Luhrmann is not a classic documentary filmmaker, but rather a curator of myth. “It’s neither a documentary nor a concert film,” he says, “but a poem, a dreamscape in which Elvis himself narrates.” He unearthed 68 boxes of film from the early Vegas years from the Warner Bros. archives, synchronised the picture and sound – and finally found a 40-minute recording in which Elvis speaks about his life. “The humanity in it, the modesty – I couldn’t escape that responsibility.” Luhrmann is fascinated by the paradox: the poor boy from Tupelo who becomes a godlike idol – and is marketed as an attraction by his manager, Colonel Tom Parker. What surprised him most was Elvis’ humour and insecurity. “On stage, I’ve never seen anyone who seemed so comfortable – and off stage, probably no one who was so uncomfortable.” For the director of Moulin Rouge! or The Great Gatsby, EPiC became a liberation: “My leading actor was quite talented.” And thus, the film becomes Luhrmann’s homage and his attempt to give Elvis the world that was denied to him.