Surprising cameos, hidden song meanings and a makeup tutorial?
Did you catch all these details in Baz Luhrmann's HBO Elvis biopic?
Fans may have missed all the hidden Star Trek references throughout the film. First, in the
beginning of the movie, at the International Hotel in Vegas, there's an advertisement for
the Star Trek Experience on the sign out front. And there's at least one other reference later
in the film during the Christmas special. While Tom Parker and the NBC studio executives walk the
hallways at NBC studios, there are several Star Trek posters hanging up that promote the show.
Some might think these small Star Trek details are merely a coincidence,
but they are actually purposely hidden in the film. The King was a huge fan of Star Trek,
of both the cast and the show's storylines. Celeste Yarnall, Star Trek actress and Elvis'
on-screen costar, talked about how much Elvis loved the show, and that Elvis even named one
of his horses "Star Trek." Because of the King's love for the show, Luhrmann wanted to include
some small Star Trek details that hardcore Elvis fans would recognize as an homage to his fandom.
One of Elvis' most famous films is Blue Hawaii. In the film, Elvis plays Chad, a boy who is meant
to take over his family business, but throws it away in favor of working for his girlfriend
as a tour guide at the agency she owns. The film also starred the late Angela Lansbury
and included hits like "Blue Hawaii," "Aloha Oe," and, most famously, "Can't Help Falling
In Love." There's a whole section of Luhrmann's film that pays tribute to Elvis' movie career,
but one of the homages to Elvis' acting is a small detail you might have missed.
"I'm gonna show you what the real Elvis is like tonight."
A bit over 35 minutes into Elvis, he and B.B. King go shopping for new outfits at a store
called Lansky's. While in the store, there's a shot of all the shelves and other products in
the store aside from what the two musicians are purchasing. In this shot, you can see a row of
shirts displayed behind Elvis, and one of the shirts is the iconic red Hawaiian-style shirt
he wears in Blue Hawaii. It's a small detail and the shot is fleeting, but diehard Elvis fans can
keep their eyes peeled for this small homage to one of Elvis' most famous acting moments.
One of the most action-packed sequences of the film comes from the Viva Las Vegas montage,
where the audience sees shots of real Elvis films, reenactments featuring Butler,
and moments with Elvis and Priscilla or Elvis and his "Memphis Mafia," as they were called.
There are several panels going at once, making it the perfect place to slip in some smaller details
about the musician and actor. Though many fans see this as a moment where it's once again hard
to tell the difference between the real Elvis and Butler's iteration, there's one panel where you
can absolutely be sure it's the real Elvis because of the other actor making a cameo in the scene.
One of the panels behind Butler's Elvis while he's filming the surfing shots
shows a memorable scene from Elvis' film It Happened At The World's Fair.
The scene involves Elvis asking a young child to kick him in the shin.
"No kiddin'. I'll tell you what. You kick me in the shin real hard,
I'll give you a quarter. Okay, go ahead, play it. Ahh!"
The child actor is actually Kurt Russell, who's starred in films like The Hateful
Eight and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The Russell cameo is also
measningful because he eventually played Elvis in John Carpenter's 1979 biopic,
Elvis. The 2022 Kurt Russell moment is brief, but there for those who pay close attention.
Elvis experienced a lot of mental stress throughout his career,
mostly because Tom Parker kept him continually running with no room to rest. This type of
exhaustion is something many celebrities experience, but Elvis, in particular,
was dealing with the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther
King Jr., while watching other celebrities murdered or attacked just for their fame.
"Memphis is burning. …And to fear his brother.
When you teach that he's a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs."
This took a huge toll on him and inspired paranoia in Elvis that helped Parker control his life.
One scene that perfectly encapsulates this is when Elvis is in the hospital for exhaustion.
Parker is reading a newspaper with Sharon Tate's murder blazed across the cover. This is used as a
plot device to spark a discussion about fear for the lives of entertainers. But for Butler fans,
it can be seen as an homage to his role as Tex, one of Tate's killers
in the Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It's a small detail
that only fans of Butler or the Tarantino film would know, but it's fun nonetheless.
The relationship between Elvis and his wife, Priscilla, is one of the film's
primary storylines. The audience gets to see their romance at every stage, starting with
how they meet and bond – "I've never met anyone
like you." "Well, I hope not."
– and ending with their divorce and co-parenting style. There's one scene that's particularly
heartbreaking because of how clear it is to the audience that they still love each other,
but just can't work as a couple anymore. When they are talking together in the car
toward the end of the film, it's a heart to heart that only Priscilla could help Elvis
get through. They both get out of the car to leave, and Elvis looks at Priscilla and mouths,
"I will always love you."
It's a tearful moment, but it's one with a deeper meaning than just the sentiment. Elvis famously
sang Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" to Priscilla when the two were getting divorced.
"His wife told me that, when they divorced, that when they were coming out of the courthouse,
Elvis sang that song to her and that just touched me so deep."
But even more than this, Elvis wanted to professionally record Parton's song,
and she wanted that as well. However,
Parker wanted to take half of the publishing rights for the song, and Parton refused.
"It broke my heart. I cried all night, you know, 'cause I was not gonna hear Elvis sing it."
So Elvis never recorded it.
The catalyst for Parker and Elvis' relationship throughout the film starts with their intense
conversation at the carnival. Parker notices Elvis standing alone, and recognizes him as a
lost outcast who would be easily influenced by his management. He approaches Elvis,
but Elvis is suddenly called away by his friends to go into the house of mirrors,
delaying the conversation between the musician and manager. However, when Parker first notices Elvis,
he notices something else, too: the advertisement for "The Geek" posted behind his view of Elvis.
This hidden detail has a deeper meaning. First, a "geek" is known to carnival lovers as the most
grotesque or shocking of all the acts. These performers bite the heads off animals or even
eat them alive. This slightly references 1947's Nightmare Alley, which was Parker's favorite film,
so that's one meaning to it. However, it also references the fact that Parker
saw how audiences reacted to Elvis' act, and how they couldn't control the pleasure they
felt from it but weren't sure if they were supposed to be enjoying it or rejecting it.
That goes for most of the world's response to the musician, actually. Parker knew Elvis could be the
music industry's "geek" act, and took advantage of that in his management of the musician.
One of the biggest parts of the film is Elvis' comeback special,
which is where you really see Elvis defy Parker to create what he wants his audience to see,
not what Parker is pressuring him to do. "I don't give a damn what the Colonel thinks."
Elvis fans will watch the film's version of the special and note that it is recreated
nearly perfectly by Luhrmann. Every detail of it is so precise, and Butler's performance,
though excellent throughout the whole film, is especially well done here. However,
one detail that was particularly accurate to add is extremely subtle, but tells a huge story.
In the scene, when Butler's Elvis first starts singing, he reaches for the microphone. When he
does this, his hand shakes slightly, like he's nervous to perform. This is because,
as Elvis fans will note, in the original comeback special, Elvis hadn't performed
in front of a live audience for a long time and was nervous. This caused his hand to
shake as he was getting into the feeling of the performance, and Butler included this detail in
the film version to make it more authentic and exact to Elvis' behavior at the special.
One of the defining moments of Elvis' life and in the film comes from Martin Luther King Jr.'s
death. His assassination deeply impacted Elvis, and eventually sparked his rebellion against
Parker's agenda and deciding to work with Steve Binder to create the special he wanted to make.
"Dr. King was shot eight miles from Graceland while I was out here singing to turtles."
However, there's a hidden detwail before this, while Elvis is contemplating King Jr.'s death.
In the scene, Priscilla walks into Elvis' trailer to find him watching
Dr. King's memorial. She greets him by saying "Satnin," which some might take to be a pet
name or not really notice she says it at all. This was no throwaway line, though.
"Satnin" is actually what Elvis used to call his mother, Gladys Presley. He used this word
because of her satin-smooth skin. It was more than that, though, because to the two of them
this word was a form of affection. Elvis and his mother had an extremely close relationship,
right up until her death. It was slightly strained by the influence of Tom Parker,
but was still pure and lovely. Priscilla greeting Elvis in this way is not only a
nice way to squeeze that reference into the film, but also especially meaningful because
he's grappling with Dr. King's death and it likely brings up feelings about his own mother's death.
Another small detail comes once more with the Viva Las Vegas Hollywood movie montage. There's a scene
in the top left corner of the five panel layout where Elvis is seen doing Priscilla's makeup. This
might seem like a small piece of romance between the two, but is really a detail that points
toward a larger circumstance between Elvis and Priscilla. Most people might not know that Elvis
was very particular about Priscilla's appearance, and actually taught her how to do her makeup.
In Priscilla's memoir, Elvis and Me, she talked about how Elvis created her,
and how she didn't really know who she was as a person without Elvis. She wrote,
Elvis had huge control issues when it came to Priscilla. But she didn't take
it as a negative. She saw it as more of a guidance to creating who she was. However,
with no separation between what she wanted and what Elvis wanted for her,
it became hard for her to see herself as her own person.
One element of Elvis that fans enjoy is the mixing of the old Elvis tracks with new
artists' music. Artists like Doja Cat teamed up on the Elvis and Big Mama Thornton hit,
"Hound Dog" to create a new spin on the classics. Another mashup audiences enjoyed
was the Elvis song "Viva Las Vegas" mixed with Britney Spears' "Toxic."
It circulated around TikTok and, because it wasn't released on the film's soundtrack,
fans begged for the cut to be released. Though this song is an absolute hit, it also serves
as an important detail in the film for those wanting to do more of a deep dive on its meaning.
One of the biggest news items of 2021 and 2022 came from the movement to free popular musician
Britney Spears from her conservatorship. She was poorly managed by her family,
particularly her father, and suffered a lot of abuse in the process. Because this song
plays while Elvis is being manipulated in his acting career by Parker, it's clearly a
reference to how both artists were exploited for the profits of those who handled their affairs.
"Now you listen to me. The only thing that matters is that that man gets up on that stage tonight."
It's a small detail that people might not immediately put together,
but, as Bustle writes, it's a way to link two of history's iconic musicians
through some of their shared negative experiences.