Baz Luhrmann had a triumphant return to the big screen this year with his epic biopic “Elvis.” But for fans of the movie who hope to one day see an extended four-hour cut of the film, bad news. Deadline reports that Luhrmann confirmed this week that there is no extended cut of the movie, just the usual director’s assembly cut that throws everything shot for the film together.
“There is no such thing as the four-hour cut,” Luhrmann confirmed to Deadline at the Camerimage Film Festival in Poland on Monday. “It’s a four-hour director’s assembly, and that just means we put all the stuff together.” Assembly cuts are the norm for Hollywood films: a rough version of the movie that strings together every scene shot for the film to make it easier for the editor to work it. In other words, it’s hardly a finished product, much less a version of “Elvis” that Luhrmann would send out on a theatrical roadshow.
Not that Luhrmann wants to do that anyway. “Elvis” already made $286 million at the global box office this year, making it one of 2022’s highest-grossing movies. And Luhrmann fought hard to get “Elvis” into theaters and not have its release relegated to streaming. “I said I’m gonna withdraw this film if it goes straight to streaming,” Luhrmann said during a masterclass workshop in Torun, Poland on Tuesday night. “The promise was that it wouldn’t only be in a theater, but we’d double the window of it being in the theater.” Warner Bros. made good on their promise to Luhrmann there, with “Elvis” enjoying an elongated theatrical release this summer.
“Elvis” was Luhrmann’s first film since 2013’s “The Great Gatsby.” But what does the director plan to do next? Not another film. Instead, Luhrmann plans to make a series adaptation of his 2008 film “Australia” for Disney, expanded on the small screen as a six-part limited series. After that, though, Luhrmann will get back to movies. “I will get back to moviemaking quicker than I normally do,” Luhrmann said. “I don’t know why, but maybe because I made [“Elvis”] during the pandemic, and it almost died. And we got it through the pandemic. It was the smoothest shoot we’ve ever had. It came in on time and under budget, which is rare for me, so I feel energized.”
So, is an energized Baz Luhrmann headed into a filmmaking renaissance period? Only time will tell. Watch “Elvis” on HBO Max and other streaming platforms now.
