Over 70 years after making his official recording debut, there’s still so much more to learn about Elvis Presley. Baz Luhrmann’s new documentary, EPiC promises to unlock the untamed, hidden side of the King of Rock and Roll via unseen footage and intimate interviews.
Luhrmann first teased details about EPiC on Instagram on May 21. By May 30th the ELVIS filmmaker revealed the film’s full name and some scant details about the project.
Now he’s shared more information via Instagram, revealing what appears to be a film title card. The filmmaker took to social media after sharing a snippet of the project at the Sony Music Vision Content Showcase.
Luhrmann wrote, “During the making of ELVIS, we went on a search for rumored unseen footage from the iconic 1970s concert films Elvis: That’s The Way It Is and Elvis on Tour. My initial thought was that we may be able to restore the unused footage (if we could find it) and use it in our Elvis feature, starring Austin Butler.”
The filmmaker revealed, “I had researchers go into the Warner Bros. film vaults buried in underground salt mines and, to the astonishment of all, we uncovered 68 boxes of film negative, as well as unseen 8mm footage. It has taken two years to restore the footage to a quality that it has never been projected at previously, while the team had to meticulously claw back sound from the many, unconventional sources that were also unearthed.”
Luhrmann added that one of the “great finds” was “unheard recordings” of Presley talking about his life and music. He said it was these clips that inspired him to create EPiC.
He explained that the new film is “not specifically a documentary nor a concert film.” The filmmaker claimed that it is rather a “journey of his life.”
It weaves “never-before-seen footage with iconic performances that have never been presented in this way, from the 1970 Vegas show, on tour in 1972 and even precious moments of the 1957 ‘gold jacket’ performance in Hawaii. Most importantly, Elvis will sing and tell you about his life in first person, through both classic and contemporary musical prisms.”
A release date for EPiC has not yet been revealed.