https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/ ... 952413007/
Bob Mehr
Memphis Commercial Appeal
The celebration of what would have been Elvis Presley’s 91st birthday began Jan. 8 with an early-morning cake-cutting celebration outside the Graceland mansion and continued with a “Conversations on Elvis” panel event at the Graceland Soundstage in the afternoon.
Media personality Tom Brown returned for his 26th year hosting the talk-show format program, which featured multiple guests and presentations over the course of several hours. Those appearing including longtime Presley pal and confidante Jerry Schilling, Elvis Presley Enterprises managing partner Joel Weinshanker and Academy Award-nominated film editor Jonathan Redmond, one of the forces behind the forthcoming Baz Luhrmann-directed documentary, “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.”
The film — which was scheduled for its U.S. premiere in Memphis later on Jan. 8 and opens nationwide on Feb. 20 — is made up of previously unseen footage from the 1970s, originally shot for a pair of Presley concert documentaries for Warner Brothers, “Elvis: That’s the Way It Is” and “Elvis on Tour.” The 96-minute "EPiC" largely was crafted by Luhrmann and Redmond from some 59 hours of previously unseen footage from the Warner vaults, plus audio and visual content from the Graceland archive.
In an exclusive interview with The Commercial Appeal, Weinshanker talked about "EPiC," the 50th anniversary of Elvis' death and more.
'EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert'
Weinshanker said developing what would become “EPiC” has been a priority since he took over Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2014.
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“I've been involved with Elvis Presley Enterprises for 12 years, and for 11 of those years, I've been trying to convince Warner Brothers to go into the salt mines and pull out all of this footage,” he said. “I had a real understanding, even watching the original films, that there would be a tremendous amount of material there.”
Ultimately, it was the success of Luhrmann’s 2022 biopic, “Elvis,” and the director’s relationship with Warner that helped make the project possible. “In my first meeting with Baz at Graceland, before he even agreed to do the [biopic], I told him the story of all of this amazing footage. And Baz turned around and said, ‘Boy, I want to make a documentary out of that.’ And because of Baz's gravitas, very frankly, we were able to do it.”
In a recent interview, Luhrmann said the film allows Elvis to “sing and tell you about his life in first person, through both classic and contemporary musical prisms.”
“What I've always said is that the best person who should speak about Elvis is Elvis,” Weinshanker said. “When you see this film, that’s really what Baz did. Elvis is the storyteller, you hear about his life in his voice. This movie is just an amazing opportunity for someone to get Elvis' story from Elvis.”
Elvis hologram concert
Over the last couple years, Weinshanker has also been teasing the possibility of an Elvis hologram concert experience. He revealed that while final plans are yet to be sorted, the project is nearing the ready stage: "We're getting very close to announcing a location for an Elvis hologram.”
“Every time there's a new technology, they ask first about using Elvis with that new technology,” Weinshanker said. “Often, we say no for a long time, or maybe forever. And then sometimes we just say no until the technology gets to a place where it makes sense. The technology has finally gotten to the place where it can be an amazing experience. We feel it’s going to be great for our brand, and great for Elvis.”
50th anniversary of Elvis' death
Of course, the most significant event on the horizon is the 50th anniversary of Elvis’ death in August 2027. The commemoration of his passing will take on many forms, said Weinshanker, including what is expected to be a historic slate of programming and events at Graceland next year.
“We’re 12 months out from what will be a year-long focus,” he said. “That’s really going to be about us creating incredible storytelling and having as much of that storytelling coming from Elvis as possible. And it is a phenomenal story — it's the story of America, it’s the story of our pop culture.”
Next year will also mark 10 years since the $130 million renovation and expansion of Graceland in 2017. Weinshanker said that there are plans for further development of the Elvis Presley’s Memphis complex and other Graceland elements. EPE is eyeing 2030 as “a time where we would have something really rolling out that would be finished and be the next iteration,” said Weinshanker.
The effort to evolve Elvis Presley’s Memphis has already started, including a pair of new exhibits that debuted Jan. 8. “Our ability to constantly update and change is going to define the future for us,” said Weinshanker. “We’re lucky in that we have an incredible collection of artifacts and we’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of that material. So we’re looking forward to showing people things they’ve never seen before.”
“Ultimately,” Weinshanker added, “what we’re trying to share is this incredible story of Elvis being told by Elvis, through us. What we're going to build and how we're going to expand is really going to be based upon that.”