In the case of theeight-time Oscar-nominatedfilmElvis, the front men are writer/directorBaz Luhrmann,Austin Butlerand Tom Hanks.
Here, Berman, Martin and Walker discuss their passion forElvis.
But that isnt the case.
(L-R) Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker, Austin Butler as Elvis PresleyWarner Bros. / courtesy Everett Collection
Gail you got the rights to Elvis story.
How did this come together?
We went to Core with a singular idea of what to do with Elvis in terms of storytelling.
It was: Baz Luhrmann, Elvis, what do you think?
They said, good idea, and they let me run with it.
I called Bazs agent Robert Newman.
He liked the idea and when he ran it by Baz, he was intrigued.
Hed considered the story for a long, long time.
And here it was, within reach.
Went to New York to meet with him.
It went through some permutations, but the movie is what he pitched that day.
Why do you think Elvis stayed with Parker so long?
BERMAN:Its a good question.
I think it was a symbiotic relationship.
I think it was very mutually symbiotic.
When you think of Elvis background, he came really from very simple, impoverished origins.
He was the first person to graduate from high school in his family.
We think, what a money-grabbing terrible person, but he actually believed he deserved the 50%.
Thats in his mind.
Thats what he thought.
Hed start to think, would the Colonel be anything without me?
Was it an unhealthy relationship?
I leave it to everybody else to judge.
So he wasnt entirely without charm or human connection.
BERMAN:Definitely, I think the latter part of his life would have been better.
They were together his whole career, and he was frightened of what it would be like without him.
I agree with Baz.
Hed probably still be alive.
He wouldve gotten to experience other things and grow artistically.
Who knows if he wouldve got to that point without the Colonel, at the beginning of his career.
Its a deal with the devil, a Faustian bargain.
His mother knew that he was making a deal with the devil.
MARTIN:She did?
BERMAN:She knew.
Dont we three ladies speak often about why Tom doesnt get more credit?
DEADLINE:He wasthe first big star to get Covid, days before the movie was to begin production.
Maybe its because were all still in denial about the pandemic?
BERMAN:What a day that was.
I got the call from Warner Bros and they said that they needed to talk to me.
Tom was going back for the Academy Awards.
I got a call from Warner Bros and they said were gonna tell you something.
You cant repeat it.
And I was like, okay, what?
I didnt even know what to say.
It was so early, we didnt know what the ramifications were.
Then Warner Bros said, were gonna shut the movie down.
A very, very difficult phone call to receive.
Not the least of which was just hope that Tom and Rita would be okay.
I didnt know what the hell to do.
I was here and CM and Baz were in Australia.
MARTIN:I remember the afternoon.
I was in my wardrobe office, a hectic afternoon with fittings.
One of our producers, Patrick [McCormick], kept calling me.
I text him going, Patrick, Im in a fitting, I will call later.
He wrote, Im coming over now.
He walked into my office, white as a ghost.
He slammed the door and he said, Tom and Rita have the coronavirus.
And I just said, I beg your pardon?
And he said, we are shutting down because Baz and Austin were in close contact.
And the rest of us just feeling so terrible they were sick.
Only to be strapped down three weeks later.
It was just so crazy and scary.
And everyone thought that you got coronavirus and that was lights out.
Hed be in his prosthetics, sitting there, and he was Colonel Tom Parker.
So in my mind, Colonel Tom Parker is indivisible from the other Tom.
When I see him now, Im like, wow, you look great.
People say they cant believe that was Tom Hanks.
MARTIN:And then you think hes in basically a rubber suit for 10 hours a day.
Never grumpy, always good-natured, stayed on set the whole time.
Incredible transformation and ability to inhabit a character.
But getting him took Gails tenacity.
Without her this movie would not have been made.
And give Baz full ownership of the idea.
I think thats why the movie is also really good, and that that is really good producing.
BERMAN:Thank you.
What a body of work.
What were the challenges in doing that in period scenes when Elvis came of age?
But also showing it to a new audience, as youre saying.
Many are also not familiar with Elvis.
And we were going to replicate that exactly, what Baz called trainspotting.
We built the exact set of the international showroom, the Russwood Park concert stage.
There was reference for all of these and the 68 comeback special.
So that was my first task.
And when the drama is heavy and emotional, I really want you to be elegant and observational.
I wanted the audience to experience these moments and to feel like they were there.
So its the point of view of the audience.
So I always thought about that too in the camera language.
But I think the thing I like working with Baz is, he is a true visionary.
And as Gail said, he has an idea for any film hes going to make.
I had lenses made for the movie to represent the different periods of time.
Still photographers such as Gordon Parks, who was shooting during the civil rights movement in and around Memphis.
That was a great reference for me in terms of the time, the period, and the location.
How we were going to do that?
I did that with lighting, with camera moves.
And we plan, we test a lot during pre-production.
I was on the film way before we started pre-production.
I made my camera and grip learn the music and Austins movement.
And it was really important that the camera was moving that way.
Its an atom-splitting moment, and you get why Elvis awakened something in these sexually repressed women.
Was there an artist that made each of you feel that way?
MARTIN:Thats a hard question.
I was a fan of his when I was growing up.
I have to say, Austin has it, too.
Thats why you get that same feeling and emotion when you watch him perform.
The confidence in their innate sexuality, whatever that is.
I dont wanna compare Harry Styles or Elvis because theyre two great artists in their own right.
And it kind of constantly dances between those two things with great confidence.
They have no self-consciousness about appearing quote-unquote effeminate.
I think theres great power in that.
I dont know why women find that absolutely galvanizing.
You look at Mick Jagger, David Bowie, and you see that.
DEADLINE:Gail, can you recall a musical person that, well, had you thinking impure thoughts?
BERMAN:People ask me about how I got interested in film.
I came home from school on Long Island every day and watchedThe 4 OClock Movieon television.
And theMillion Dollar Movieon weekends.
All the Elvis movies played that channel, but the one for me wasFrom the Terrace.
When I saw Paul Newman, my heart sped up and I was like, now who is that?
DEADLINE:This awards campaign lent a note of sadness when Elvis daughter, Lisa Marie, passed away.
BERMAN:We grieved the loss of Lisa Marie in a very, very deep way.
She came into my life fairly recently.
I met her for the first time the day she came to see the movie with Baz and CM.
And while some folks had spoken to her before, she was not a part of making the movie.
She watched alone in that very large theater.
And when she came out, she first said she needed some time to process it.
We got to celebrate with her.
She was a very quiet person, I found, soft spoken and really lovely.
And she loved this movie.
It was devastating for everyone when she died.
Baz, CM and Austin attended her funeral and so did Tom and Rita.
She was so happy with what Baz had created, and her mother Priscilla and Jerry Shilling did too.
And they all they all loved this movie.
MARTIN:I know Priscilla better than her daughter Lisa Marie.
But we spent some time together and the Golden Globes was a lovely moment.
And then for me, what is devastating is just being a mother.
And I know that Lisa Marie adored her children.
I just want them to be okay.
This is a family thats been rocked by tragedy.
Austin said something really meaningful, having lost his own mother at 23.
But he said grief lives indefinitely, and it comes in waves.
You dont know when its gonna arrive.
DEADLINE:Mandy, no woman cinematographer has won the Oscar.
Few have even been nominated in what is a male-dominated business.
Who were your role models, and is this getting better for women?
I didnt even think that it would be something that not many women were involved in at the time.
And so I didnt have any female role models.
I started at the bottom of the camera department, and they were all men.
I was seeking out any women in Australia that were cinematographers.
There were a few, and they were doing documentaries and small indie stuff.
I ignored the fact that there was hardly any women.
Most of the time I was the only woman in the camera department.
Baz gave me my first job on a big, Hollywood, huge-scale movie, which wasAustralia.
And at that time, no woman had shot a film like that, at that scale.
And so he gave me that opportunity.
Ive been in this industry for more than 30 years, and its getting better.
Im the third to be nominated for an Oscar.
And the studios have made a big push to for more diversity and inclusion on film crews.
And every time Im on a movie, we have that discussion very early on.
There is a push, definite push.
The more people like you bring it up, the more it brings awareness.
DEADLINE:So what does the Oscar nomination mean to you?
This is a very, very special moment for me.
And, in terms of my career, the work Im most proud of.
And so I feel like its icing on the cake to be recognized.
