The Baz Luhrmann-directed film features long-lost footage from the singer’s 1970s Las Vegas residency
Neon has shared the first trailer for Baz Luhrmann‘s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert. The film features long-lost footage from Presley’s Las Vegas residency in the 1970s, woven together with rare 16mm footage from 1972’s Elvis on Tour and 8mm footage from the Graceland archive.
The trailer opens with footage of Presley twirling his ring and tapping his foot before a show, with a title card noting, “In 1969, Elvis returned to the stage to begin a legendary residency in Las Vegas. For 40 years, there have been rumors of lost footage. During the production of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, it was found.”
Presley himself intones, “There’s been a lot written and a lot said, but never from my side of the story” before a series of clips from the film play.
Luhrmann discovered the footage while researching his biopic film Elvis, which starred Austin Butler as the titular singer. “There has always been talk amongst Elvis’ fans, both longtime fans and newer fans brought in by our film Elvis, of missing reels and never-before-seen concert footage,” Luhrmann told Deadline in January. “During the making of Elvis, from very early on in my process I had the privilege to access the studio’s vaults deep in the salt mines of Kansas, where troves of old film negatives are stored. We were astonished by the sheer volume of unused footage from Elvis: That’s the Way It Is, the film of Elvis’ legendary 1970 Summer Festival in Las Vegas – all shot on anamorphic 35mm – and also from Elvis’s road concert film from two years later, Elvis on Tour.”
He added, “I wouldn’t call it a documentary, or a concert film; our aim here is to make something new in the Elvis canon.”
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert initially premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. It will be released in IMAX on Feb. 20 and in general theaters on Feb. 27.
