Baz Luhrmann forced to implement 240-minute cut in 'Elvis'

Washington [US], June 21 : Director Baz Luhrmann has said that he had to trim down and make essential cuts to his four-hour-long film 'Elvis' so that it could be released in the theatres.
According to the director, the 240-minute cut implemented in the film included scenes which showed the legendary singer, Elvis meeting with Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, reported Variety. Luhrmann admitted that the original film had a 'four-hour version' where he intended to 'lean into some of the other things'.
"...I have a four-hour version. But you have to bring it down to 2 hours 30... I would have liked to lean into some of the other things... there's lots of stuff that I shot like the relationship with the band, I had to pare down - and it's so interesting how the Colonel gets rid of them," said Luhrmann while speaking to Radio Times.
The extensive cut made in the film, also depicted Elvis' relationship with Dixie, his first girlfriend, reported Variety. Further, the trimmed cut also included how Elvis was 'caught in a trap' once in his life.
"... once he's caught in a trap, and he's discombobulated and doesn't understand... someone who's got such a hole in his heart like Elvis constantly looking and searching for love and finding it on stage but nowhere else," said 'The Great Gatsby' director.
Luhrmann further explained that the trimmed portions contained Elvis doing 'wackadoo things'. However, he realized that while making a film, he could not 'have everything in', reported Variety.
"What happens is he starts doing wackadoo things - like going down to see Nixon. I had it in there for a while but there just comes a point where you can't have everything in, so I just tried to track the spirit of the character," said the director.
Having a run-time of about 159 minutes, some critics are of the opinion that Luhrmann's "Elvis" theatrical cut was somewhat 'bloated'. They criticized Elvis' personal life was not fully explored until he was caught in a trap, reported Variety.
'Elvis' is a fizzy, delirious, impishly energized, compulsively watchable 2-hour-and-39-minute fever dream -- a spangly pinwheel of a movie that converts the Elvis saga we all carry around in our heads into a lavishly staged biopic-as-pop-opera, commented Owen Gleiberman, a film critic.
For the unversed, 'Elvis' is a biographical musical drama on the legendary singer Elvis Presley in the 1950s which is set to hit the theatres on June 24, this year. Actor Austin Butler plays the role of Elvis in the film. Apart from Butler, 'Elvis' consists of an ensemble cast of Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Dacre Montogomery, and Maggie GyllenhAall to name a few.