In fact, in my book I included a chapter entitled, The Parker Propaganda Machine. It outlines how Parker promoted, marketed, and booked Elvis in ways that undeniably made possible Presleys meteoric rise in show business. The Colonel seized on the moment and put Elvis back on tour, eventually settling on a residency in Las Vegas and a non-stop barrage of venues and recordings that took the singer to the brink, as he deteriorated into a mockery of his former self. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google. And maybe its a given that a director who puts hip-hop and hard rock on his period-film soundtracks, as Baz Luhrmann does, might favor effect over total verisimilitude. ", Another guy says he has a script which would cinch an Oscar for Elvis and wouldnt we do it for less money. The Elvis version became a smash while you were overseas and blissfully unaware. But we did an album of the score with an orchestra and some wonderful British singers and actors. "The gargantuan size and complexity of Parker would define the air for Elvis to be internal and spiritual," Luhrmann tells EW. And then I guess it, obviously, became something else. Is it bittersweet that you had your theatrical success with a revue? Elvis, especially, thought that it might even be over by the time he got out. Anyway, what do I know about production? Yeah, thats true. The Masked Lookalike Explained. Tom Hanks will be playing Colonel Tom Parker, the infamous music manager who discovered Elvis and landed him his contract with RCA. I think it was presented to the guys who run Leiber and Stoller stuff, and they had already done it and were gonna put it in the movie. And director Baz Luhrmann has teased how fans . Do you think, based on your experiences with the Colonel, which werent great, that its easy to paint him as a villain? What can I say? Yes, Priscilla invited us to a private screening, and she and Jerry Schilling were there. Any thoughts on the portrayal early in the film of country star Hank Snow, who first takes Elvis out on the road before becoming disgusted with him, and his son, Jimmie Rodgers Snow, who seems to worship Elvis? Years later, I think in the 90s, we all went on a trip to Graceland and were given a private tour by Georgie Klein, who was one of Elvis Memphis mafia guys. He says, "I said he should sing this kind of thing." It sounded like a weird (Southern) regional dialect, and you would know it was Dutch only by listening for certain consonants. There's a number of thematic elements there that All right. ), Parker admitted he was a bit troubled by the public perception that he was profiting too much from Presleys work. However, as he always does, Hanks shone as Tom Parker in Elvis, and the Colonel proved to the world that he could play a complex villain. Everybody's very familiar with it. and B.B. On that note I got to go. Did Elvis ever really fire Parker on stage, followed by Parker getting back at him by threatening to demand repayment for every tiny expense item over the years? How about a credit? And Jerry Wexler said, But you wrote the song! Sadly, the blues do not sell well. They went motorcycle riding together in Nashville. In the same interview, Hanks also hinted that he is connected to the upcoming Disney+rebootof the classicTurner & Hooch, but seemed a little confused as to how it was going to play out. Coupled with the fact that the character of Tom Hanks' Tom Parker isn't his usual role, and Hanks was eager to play the part. Hanks recalls. Tom Parker wasn't a household name before Elvis, but it's clear that after the biopic, it soon will be. Elvis loved it because it was typical of blues, of rhythm and blues songs of that period, or even an earlier period. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Tom Hanks during Tuesday's July 14, 2020 show. Is it true, as portrayed, that Parker was consistently trying to pressure Elvis to tone down his sex appeal? Colonel Parker is the devil to many Elvis Presley fans. I very much like the ballad Dont, which was also written on demand, so to speak, over a weekend. In an exclusive interview, David E Stanley said his brother's manager Colonel Tom Parker - played by Tom Hanks in a new movie about the star - treated the iconic singer as a "product" and. The Tom Hanks Tom Parker portrayal was a shocking one. Parker became known as a shrewd, showy, and manipulative businessman who was able to work out lucrative deals at minimal overhead while making sure his pockets were lined healthily along the way. While Elvis and the Colonel carried the movie to several awards, Hanks' omission stands out above most others. Does it veer off in ways that seem unnecessary? Are you kidding? He was in for a surprise. That can be found in detail in two Parker biographies published in recent years . Finally, we got on the ship to sail back into New York, and we almost made it before our ship collided with a Swedish ship and sank. The promises. Colonel Parker called himself "the Snowman" because he loved snowing, or fooling, people. I always kept Elvis Presley where he was. I played on one of the songs from those sessions (Treat Me Nice), but I wasnt that good of a player. Dont call us sir. After all, we were all of two years older than he was! Tom Hanks goes dark: Why our favorite good guy wanted to play the. ", The Colonel just shrugged at the perception around Hollywood that Elvis was falling off at the box office due to over exposure. During the interview, Hanks talked about the way Parker was a promoter and not a manager, why Elvis never fired him, and how he prepares for a really emotional scene. So we wrote Jailhouse Rock, and then we wrote the others. He claimed that at least 50% of his share went right back into the business of promoting Elvis office expenses, advertising and exploitation, etc. Elvis cut, said Parker, goes straight to the Memphis accountants., "Look you got a product, you sell it. He never fired him on stage, but there was an incident in Vegas in 1974 where Elvis criticized Barron Hilton from the stage for firing one of Elviss favorite employees. Elvis Presley: TRUTH about Colonel Parker and '50 per cent' cut In particular, Hanks was looking forward to taking part in a fresh look at the story, as the tale of Elvis is well-known enough to garner fatigue. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member (class of 1987) told us about everything from why he never much liked Presleys version of Hound Dog Big Mama Thornton was a hard act to follow to how he realized a Broadway musical rooted in the duos songs, Smokey Joes Cafe, could be a smash if they just dispensed with a storyline and script. He was astonished to discover Parker was a poorly dressed, slovenly PR hack, rather than the authoritarian, ram-rod image the word "Colonel" summons. "I had a different layer of expectations.". Hanks and his wife, actress Rita Wilson, had dinner with their friend Priscilla Presley in the hopes of getting a better take on the man he was playing. There were concert riots, most notably in Jacksonville, Fla., but not a concert for which Parker issued orders like that. It had a line for our signatures. "I had the luxury of essentially recreating somebody who no one really knew. Anyway, one of us said, Uh, Big Mama, you know, you could growl it, and she said, Dont be telling me how to sing the blues! [The version Leiber and Stoller relay in their memoir has a little more lewdness to the response.] As Editor-in-chief, he has taken the site from a small bedroom operation to having millions of readers around the world. So then we had to perform it for her, as I played the piano and Jerry sang. In addition, he revealed his dream project, which would be about Dean Reed, who was an American actor and singer that decided to become a communist behind the Iron Curtain. Its the blues! I mean like ridiculously handsome guy who also happened to be a third-rate singer and a second-rate actor who just happened to become very, very, very, very famous for a record in Chile. 2023 Billboard Media, LLC. Austin Butler won the Golden Globe for Best Actor, beating out favorite Brendan Fraser (The Whale), and he picked up a nomination for the same award at the Oscars. Leiber died in 2011 but, creeping up on 90, Stoller remains active still showing up to collect the few accolades he hasnt already received, like the Icon award BMI bestowed upon him at its annual ceremony in May, and also working on a stage musical he doesnt want to say much about at the moment. But Elvis gives us Hanks as we've never seen him before: trussed up under layers of costuming and make-up, bloated and reptilian, with a strange, slightly Dutch accent, pulling the strings as the carnival barker-turned-talent manager who made Elvis into a star. I dont think the band is great. And I called, I think, Jack Viertel, because we had been working on a totally different kind of project a ballet musical which never got finished and I said, Listen, I dont like it. Hanks has portrayed real-life people in a number of films, from Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 to Mr. Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood to Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger in Sully - and many more. I got to really appreciate Elvis. But if you have gotten over the fear of making the movie in the first place, which you do I think in the first three days of the movie. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. Fontana. No, Luhrmann has really framed this through a present-day lens. He was a wonderful man, and I wish he was alive today. The Elvis Presley manager did a lot of controversial things during his time in show business, and the Baz Luhrmann movie reveals just how much of a monster he really was. But a few of them started playing them all the time. Is it true that Colonel Parkers reason for being attracted to Elvis was that he thought a white singer who sounded Black was bound to be a star and accomplish what a Black singer could not? He said, Dont worry, Ill fill it in later! [Laughs.] He did not know how to say no to someone who had already made all of his dreams come true. He told me: There were times when B.B. No. He cited several reasons primarily security and not big enough venues, or said the money wasnt right. 1 hit in 1953 with Big Mama Thorntons Hound Dog, which you wrote for her. Fontana on drums and Scotty Moore on guitar, and Bill Black, who passed away after that, on the upright bass. We'll make a lot of money." The branding. Elvis Information Network, May-June 2022). But you ought to see it, because theres something happening with these songs in this theater. You know, there wasnt much rock n roll or rhythm and blues in these theatrical productions that I knew of at that time. In 1983, he was paid $2 million dollars in an out-of-court settlement, which had him turn over any and all audio and video recordings he had of Elvis and terminated his involvement in any Elvis-related earnings for five years. There is the legend of an afternoon where you and Leiber cranked out four classic Elvis film songs in just a few hours Jailhouse Rock, Treat Me Nice, I Want to Be Free and (Youre So Square) Baby I Dont Care pretty much because someone trapped you in a hotel suite and compelled you to be prolific. [Laughs.] Turns out he didnt have an impediment he was just trying to wrap a Dutch tongue around the English language, Southern-style. And when you first buy it, you love listening to it. He also paid a visit to Little Richards home in California in the late 50s. Backstage, he and King had a photo made. Elvis Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker, whose sole client was the King, has long been said to have taken 50 per cent of all the rock 'n' roll icon's earnings.When asked about the deal . A proud father, a combat veteran, dog lover, gym rat, coffee enthusiast and all around equal opportunity doughnut devourer, you can follow his daily exploits on Twitter and Instagram, as well as YouTube Videos on The Arctic Ninja Network. 6 pop hit in 1955 for the group the Cheers). Related: The Darkest Moments In Oscars History. Yes. Elvis could sing whatever he wanted. Although from the Netherlands originally, actor Tom Hanks' Parker had a Southern-style accent due to a huge chunk of his life being spent there, but it was more of a mixture with his native Dutch accent. [Stoller adds that the rabbit lyric might have been added by a lounge act Presley was believed to have seen and liked covering the song in Vegas prior to his taking it on.]. But Im happy to have a show like Smokey Joes Caf in existence. Its (Eminem performing) over the background sound of Elvis recording of Jailhouse Rock, which Jerry and I virtually produced as well as wrote not the movie version, but the single version that Jerry and I were in the studio with Elvis working on back in 1957. All in all, the manager was known for some appalling behavior towards his star client, and Elvis tries its best to portray that accurately. According to the Colonel, We make no picture deals without the great potentate Abe Lastfogel. (Lastfogel was the long-time president of the Morris agency. Capitol didnt want to release it, because it didnt have a back beat. Austin Butler and Tom Hanks star in this musical biopic about the life of Elvis Presley, specifically his relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker. The article in question appeared inVarietyon January 15, 1964. And by the 418th time you've listened to it, you know every pause, every word, every lyric, and you have an emotional connection, an image for every one of those songs, every one of the emotional beats that's on the record. The Beatles and the Stones both covered your songs (Kansas City and Poison Ivy, respectively). He could turn down scripts. I recently spoke with Baz Luhrmann to discuss the 20th . With B.B. [Laughs.] Sure, of course. One was a 1956 radio interview that basically contains Parker's master plan for Presley's career. It was sad. Once a big crowd saw Elvis perform, there was a demand for his record. Other than the tremendous pains Baz has taken to make this story seem woke, the liberties are essentially fair except to Parker. In his interviews, Parker did seem to have a slight trace of an accent but it sounded almost Cajun so it would have been believable to . That interview gets at the heart of what both Hanks and Luhrmann wanted to say about the Colonel and the give-and-take between manager and artist. "The promotion. He took really great care of us. Formerly the Editor-in-Chief of JoBlo.com, he has over a decade of writing and reporting about the entertainment industry and has covered everything from Comic Con to CinemaCon to Star Wars Celebration, as well as covering numerous set visits and junkets all over the world. 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