COVID-19: Baz Luhrmann to resume 'Elvis' shooting with Tom Hanks back in Australia
Sep 10, 2020
Washington [US], September 10 : After a gap of six months, the production of Baz Luhrmann's 'Elvis' movie, starring veteran actor Tom Hanks, will resume its filming on September 23 in Queensland, Australia.
Reported by Deadline, the production of the movie earlier was forced to shut down after the leading man Tom Hanks, who is playing the King of Rock Roll's manager Colonel Tom, contracted COVID-19.
The 'Forrest Gump' star and wife Rita Wilson were the first celebrities to reveal that they tested positive for the coronavirus in March.
Expressing his excitement in returning for the shoot, the director said: "We're back to, as Elvis liked to say, 'taking care of business!' It is a real privilege in this unprecedented global moment that Tom Hanks has been able to return to Australia to join Austin Butler and all of our extraordinary cast and crew to commence production on 'Elvis'."
The 57-year-old director, on behalf of the whole team, thanked their partners in the Queensland Government and Queensland Health for supporting them, and help set an example of "how creativity and productivity can proceed safely and responsibly in a way that protects our team and the community at large."
'The Great Gatsby' director had on earlier stated that he was committed to making 'Elvis' in Queensland.
"In fact, we're not even taking our sets down, simply locking up the creative space over the next few days," he had tweeted shortly following the movie's shutdown on March 19.
In April, Luhrmann in an exclusive interview with Deadline noted that he learned about Hanks's diagnosis days before shooting during a rehearsal.
Soon after shutting down, Luhrmann, and everyone during that rehearsal, including extras, went into quarantine for 14 days and were tested.
Hanks, and his wife Rita Wilson, who also came down with COVID-19, went into isolation and self-quarantined in Australia where they recovered before returning to the US around March 28.
The Oscar-winning actor, Hanks was quite active on social media platforms during the period of his diagnosis letting the people know what his, and wife's health updates are.
Even after completely recovering from the COVID-19, the couple appeared virtually in various talk shows and were open in sharing their experience about the diagnosis.
