Lana Del Rey, Post Malone, Kacey Musgraves, and more will appear on NBC’s Christmas at Graceland, a new television special celebrating the legacy of Elvis Presley and his canon of holiday classics. The special will air live on Wednesday, November 29th, at 10:00 p.m. Et, after which it’ll be available on Peacock.
The broadcast will be the first televised concert from inside the Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, and will shine a light on how The King’s music has inspired today’s artists. Filling out the lineup will be Alanis Morissette, John Legend, Kane Brown, Lainey Wilson, and The War And Treaty.
In addition to the live music, the special will show never-before-broadcasted footage of Presley, and give viewers “an intimate look” inside his’ legendary home.
Christmas at Graceland will be executive produced by Felix Culpa, the production company of Presley’s granddaughter, Riley Keough, who...
The broadcast will be the first televised concert from inside the Graceland estate in Memphis, Tennessee, and will shine a light on how The King’s music has inspired today’s artists. Filling out the lineup will be Alanis Morissette, John Legend, Kane Brown, Lainey Wilson, and The War And Treaty.
In addition to the live music, the special will show never-before-broadcasted footage of Presley, and give viewers “an intimate look” inside his’ legendary home.
Christmas at Graceland will be executive produced by Felix Culpa, the production company of Presley’s granddaughter, Riley Keough, who...
- 11/16/2023
- by Jo Vito
- Consequence - Music
Hollywood director Sofia Coppola has revealed that singer Lana Del Rey was nearly featured on the soundtrack of the biopic ‘Priscilla’. In an interview with E! News, the filmmaker said, “We were hoping she could do a song for it, but it didn’t work out with the timing.”
Coppola, whose movie ‘Priscilla’ is currently playing in theatres, went on to add that she first learned about fans’ correlation between Del Rey and the King of Rock and Roll while filming ‘Priscilla’.
She said, “I’m learning that people really connect Lana Del Rey and Priscilla and I didn’t realise that, but I got a lot of requests with, ‘How is she gonna be a part of the movie?’”
Del Rey has been known to be a longtime fan of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and even embodied Priscilla throughout her music career, often sporting big hair and over-exaggerated eyeliner,...
Coppola, whose movie ‘Priscilla’ is currently playing in theatres, went on to add that she first learned about fans’ correlation between Del Rey and the King of Rock and Roll while filming ‘Priscilla’.
She said, “I’m learning that people really connect Lana Del Rey and Priscilla and I didn’t realise that, but I got a lot of requests with, ‘How is she gonna be a part of the movie?’”
Del Rey has been known to be a longtime fan of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and even embodied Priscilla throughout her music career, often sporting big hair and over-exaggerated eyeliner,...
- 11/5/2023
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
Hollywood director Sofia Coppola has revealed that singer Lana Del Rey was nearly featured on the soundtrack of the biopic ‘Priscilla’. In an interview with E! News, the filmmaker said, “We were hoping she could do a song for it, but it didn’t work out with the timing.”
Coppola, whose movie ‘Priscilla’ is currently playing in theatres, went on to add that she first learned about fans’ correlation between Del Rey and the King of Rock and Roll while filming ‘Priscilla’.
She said, “I’m learning that people really connect Lana Del Rey and Priscilla and I didn’t realise that, but I got a lot of requests with, ‘How is she gonna be a part of the movie?’”
Del Rey has been known to be a longtime fan of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and even embodied Priscilla throughout her music career, often sporting big hair and over-exaggerated eyeliner,...
Coppola, whose movie ‘Priscilla’ is currently playing in theatres, went on to add that she first learned about fans’ correlation between Del Rey and the King of Rock and Roll while filming ‘Priscilla’.
She said, “I’m learning that people really connect Lana Del Rey and Priscilla and I didn’t realise that, but I got a lot of requests with, ‘How is she gonna be a part of the movie?’”
Del Rey has been known to be a longtime fan of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and even embodied Priscilla throughout her music career, often sporting big hair and over-exaggerated eyeliner,...
- 11/5/2023
- by Agency News Desk
Sofia Coppola has revealed that Lana Del Rey was nearly featured on the Priscilla soundtrack.
In a recent interview with E! News, the filmmaker said, “We were hoping she could do a song for it, but it didn’t work out with the timing.”
Coppola went on to share that she first learned about fans’ correlation between Del Rey and the King of Rock and Roll while filming Priscilla. She said, “I’m learning that people really connect Lana Del Rey and Priscilla and I didn’t realize that, but I got a lot of requests with, ‘How is she gonna be a part of the movie?’”
Del Rey has been known to be a longtime fan of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and even embodied Priscilla throughout her music career, often sporting big hair and overexaggerated eyeliner, which was popular in the ’60s.
The “Young and Beautiful” singer has also...
In a recent interview with E! News, the filmmaker said, “We were hoping she could do a song for it, but it didn’t work out with the timing.”
Coppola went on to share that she first learned about fans’ correlation between Del Rey and the King of Rock and Roll while filming Priscilla. She said, “I’m learning that people really connect Lana Del Rey and Priscilla and I didn’t realize that, but I got a lot of requests with, ‘How is she gonna be a part of the movie?’”
Del Rey has been known to be a longtime fan of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and even embodied Priscilla throughout her music career, often sporting big hair and overexaggerated eyeliner, which was popular in the ’60s.
The “Young and Beautiful” singer has also...
- 11/4/2023
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Leonine Studios’ Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion has hired international doc expert Martin Pieper from public network Zdf.
The experienced exec will exit Zdf after 20 years to join the German production house on October 1 as International Producer.
Gebrueder Beetz is known for docs such as Sky’s Juan Carlos – Downfall of the King and Netflix’s first German doc-series Perfect Crime and is considered as one of mainland Europe’s top factual producers.
Pieper, who has a reputation as an expert on the international doc market, led numerous Zdf/Arte’s editorial departments, namely its Culture and Science, Thema and, most recently News/Arte units. During his time at Zdf, he worked with Gebrueder Beetz on Armenian Academy Award entry Aurora’s Sunrise and docs Gaza and The Land of the Enlightened, both of which were nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Pieper will lead international co-production activities...
The experienced exec will exit Zdf after 20 years to join the German production house on October 1 as International Producer.
Gebrueder Beetz is known for docs such as Sky’s Juan Carlos – Downfall of the King and Netflix’s first German doc-series Perfect Crime and is considered as one of mainland Europe’s top factual producers.
Pieper, who has a reputation as an expert on the international doc market, led numerous Zdf/Arte’s editorial departments, namely its Culture and Science, Thema and, most recently News/Arte units. During his time at Zdf, he worked with Gebrueder Beetz on Armenian Academy Award entry Aurora’s Sunrise and docs Gaza and The Land of the Enlightened, both of which were nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
Pieper will lead international co-production activities...
- 9/26/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s a good time to be a Steven Soderbergh fan. Last week saw the premiere of his deliciously twisty new crime thriller “Full Circle” on Max, and on July 17, the prolific director dropped a surprise web series, “Command Z,” on his Extension 765 site. The series — split into eight episodes and around an hour and 40 minutes total — is a playful and hilarious satire that sees the director back in his “Schizopolis” mode, with Michael Cera as the AI-generated ghost of an Elon Musk-esque tech guru who implements a plan for select employees to travel back in time and clean up the mess he and other titans of politics and industry made of the world. The series is deadly serious in its substance, reckoning with ambitious ethical and philosophical questions related to mankind’s most self-destructive tendencies, yet the delivery mechanism for its ideas is the most gleefully entertaining comedy Soderbergh has made in decades.
- 7/20/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
The House I Live In We've notched up two years of the Stay-at-Home Seven this month and we hope you still enjoy our weekly trawl through the listings and streaming channels. As always, thanks for reading!
The House I Live In, streaming for free on Plex
With the laughing gas ban all over the news in the UK, now seems like a good time to recommend this documentary from Eugene Jarecki, which dissects the War on Drugs. Although it is US-orientated his arguments regarding the racist and class underpinning of drug laws, which see the white and the rich much less penalised. On the subject of jail in general, he also highlights the prison-industrial complex at work as penal institutions move from punishment/rehabilitation to money-making projects, which people come to rely on to generate profit. Although the personal element of this documentary is a little laboured, his assessment of the system is detailed.
The House I Live In, streaming for free on Plex
With the laughing gas ban all over the news in the UK, now seems like a good time to recommend this documentary from Eugene Jarecki, which dissects the War on Drugs. Although it is US-orientated his arguments regarding the racist and class underpinning of drug laws, which see the white and the rich much less penalised. On the subject of jail in general, he also highlights the prison-industrial complex at work as penal institutions move from punishment/rehabilitation to money-making projects, which people come to rely on to generate profit. Although the personal element of this documentary is a little laboured, his assessment of the system is detailed.
- 3/27/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
If you are attempting to make a nuanced argument about prison and law enforcement reform online in 2022, you need to be ready for people to engage emotionally and, oftentimes, in bad faith. As a society, we need to be ready to ignore these inflammatory knuckleheads and move forward with the extraordinarily difficult task of overhauling these systems so that they truly protect and serve their citizenry.
Or you can be David Simon, who is evidently inexhaustible when it comes to combating folks who mistake dopey catchphrases for meaningful action.
There are few fiercer opponents of the war on drugs in America then Simon. From his days as a Baltimore crime reporter to his ongoing work as a creator of high-quality dramatic television like "The Wire" and "Treme," he has demonstrated time and again, in tragically human detail, how elected officials and police continue to fail their communities via a wrongheaded...
Or you can be David Simon, who is evidently inexhaustible when it comes to combating folks who mistake dopey catchphrases for meaningful action.
There are few fiercer opponents of the war on drugs in America then Simon. From his days as a Baltimore crime reporter to his ongoing work as a creator of high-quality dramatic television like "The Wire" and "Treme," he has demonstrated time and again, in tragically human detail, how elected officials and police continue to fail their communities via a wrongheaded...
- 9/29/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
‘The Black Phone’, Netflix’s ‘The Sea Beast’ also in cinemas.
Warner Bros’ Elvis is the headline act in 742 cinemas across the UK and Ireland this weekend – the latest post-pandemic title to break the 700-location barrier.
It usurps Top Gun: Maverick’s 737 screens from May as the fifth-widest opening of all time in the territory. Maverick took a sizeable £11.2m three-day opening, with £15.9m including preview days. It was up to £57.4m as of last weekend – the latest signifier of a successful post-pandemic box office recovery for blockbusters.
Elvis is the eighth post-pandemic title to open in more than 700 cinemas,...
Warner Bros’ Elvis is the headline act in 742 cinemas across the UK and Ireland this weekend – the latest post-pandemic title to break the 700-location barrier.
It usurps Top Gun: Maverick’s 737 screens from May as the fifth-widest opening of all time in the territory. Maverick took a sizeable £11.2m three-day opening, with £15.9m including preview days. It was up to £57.4m as of last weekend – the latest signifier of a successful post-pandemic box office recovery for blockbusters.
Elvis is the eighth post-pandemic title to open in more than 700 cinemas,...
- 6/24/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Beanie Mania filmmaker Yemisi Brookes, documentarian-cinematographer Christopher Frierson (Dmx: Don’t Try to Understand), director-producer Lisa Cortés (All In: The Fight For Democracy), directors Morgan Pehme and Dan Dimauro (Get Me Roger Stone), Mark Laita’s YouTube channel Soft White Underbelly and The Speed Cubers filmmaker Sue Kim have signed with Black Box Management for representation.
As it announces its new signings, Black Box has two client projects at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival: the documentary TikTok, Boom from director Shalini Kantayya, which looks at the rise and cultural influence of the ubiquitous social media app, and John Patton Ford’s thriller Emily the Criminal, starring Aubrey Plaza.
“These new signs are part of the continued expansion of the Black Box family. From the start we have always been drawn to artists and creators who are disruptive and have something new to say,” said Black Box founders Mike Dill and Lowell Shapiro in a joint statement.
As it announces its new signings, Black Box has two client projects at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival: the documentary TikTok, Boom from director Shalini Kantayya, which looks at the rise and cultural influence of the ubiquitous social media app, and John Patton Ford’s thriller Emily the Criminal, starring Aubrey Plaza.
“These new signs are part of the continued expansion of the Black Box family. From the start we have always been drawn to artists and creators who are disruptive and have something new to say,” said Black Box founders Mike Dill and Lowell Shapiro in a joint statement.
- 1/25/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Diane Weyermann, chief content officer at Participant and former director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program died Thursday of cancer in New York. She was 66.
For the last three decades, Weyermann played a seminal role in supporting the documentary community and shaping the nonfiction landscape during stints at Participant and the Sundance Institute. Oscar winning docus including Davis Guggenheim’s “An Inconvenient Truth” (2006), Laura Poitras’ “Citizenfour” (2014) and “American Factory” (2019) are among the many projects that Weyermann helped shepherd.
Weyermann joined Participant in 2005 – one year after Jeff Skoll founded the socially conscious production company. For 12 years, she was responsible for the production company’s documentary feature film and television slate. In 2017, Weyermann was promoted to president, and in 2019 named chief content officer of the L.A.-based media house, where she was responsible for Participant’s documentary, feature film and television slate.
During her tenure at Participant, Weyermann oversaw production of docus,...
For the last three decades, Weyermann played a seminal role in supporting the documentary community and shaping the nonfiction landscape during stints at Participant and the Sundance Institute. Oscar winning docus including Davis Guggenheim’s “An Inconvenient Truth” (2006), Laura Poitras’ “Citizenfour” (2014) and “American Factory” (2019) are among the many projects that Weyermann helped shepherd.
Weyermann joined Participant in 2005 – one year after Jeff Skoll founded the socially conscious production company. For 12 years, she was responsible for the production company’s documentary feature film and television slate. In 2017, Weyermann was promoted to president, and in 2019 named chief content officer of the L.A.-based media house, where she was responsible for Participant’s documentary, feature film and television slate.
During her tenure at Participant, Weyermann oversaw production of docus,...
- 10/15/2021
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The line-up includes new films by Lech Kowalski, Lucy Walker, Mads Brügger, Jørgen Leth, Alisa Kovalenko, Sophie Fiennes, Radu Ciorniciuc, Margreth Olin and Eugene Jarecki. Cph:forum, the international financing and co-production event for creative documentaries, part of the leading Nordic documentary festival Cph:dox, has announced the 35 international projects that have been selected for this year's edition, plus another eight Nordic works in progress that will be presented in the Cph:wip section. Out of 422 submissions, Cph:forum picked projects by 43 filmmakers hailing from 27 countries. 46% of the directors are women, 43% are men, and the remaining 11% are co-directing teams of men and women. 34% of the stories are told by filmmakers of colour. The line-up includes new works from established and prominent filmmakers, such as Lech Kowalski's A Little Story About an Immeasurable Problem, Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed's Cold & Warm, Mads Brügger's Double Trouble, Alisa...
In today’s Global Bulletin, Rtl Group buys out Disney’s share in Super Rtl, Japanese streaming service Meecha prepares to launch later this month and Cph:dox announces its 2021 Forum titles.
Buyout
Pan-European media giant Rtl Group’s largest business unit, Mediengruppe Rtl Deutschland, has closed an agreement with The Walt Disney Company’s Bvi Television Investments for complete ownership of German kids and family network Super Rtl, buying out the House of Mouse’s 50% share and raising Rtl’s shareholding to 100%. The transaction is now waiting for approval from the German and Austrian competition authorities.
According to Rtl, the acquisition is part of the company’s larger growth plan for its Rtl streaming platform TV Now and its strategy to consolidate its existing broadcast footprint in Europe. The deal is a further step down a path which has seen the company’s French broadcasting business M6 acquire kid’s...
Buyout
Pan-European media giant Rtl Group’s largest business unit, Mediengruppe Rtl Deutschland, has closed an agreement with The Walt Disney Company’s Bvi Television Investments for complete ownership of German kids and family network Super Rtl, buying out the House of Mouse’s 50% share and raising Rtl’s shareholding to 100%. The transaction is now waiting for approval from the German and Austrian competition authorities.
According to Rtl, the acquisition is part of the company’s larger growth plan for its Rtl streaming platform TV Now and its strategy to consolidate its existing broadcast footprint in Europe. The deal is a further step down a path which has seen the company’s French broadcasting business M6 acquire kid’s...
- 3/3/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Line-up also includes the new project from two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker.
Danish documentary festival Cph:dox has revealed the 35 projects set to be presented at Cph:forum, its financing and co-production event that will take place online-only from April 26-30.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The selection includes new projects from two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker (Waste Land), Sundance winners Mads Brügger (Cold Case Hammarskjöld) and Eugene Jarecki (The House I Live In), Berlin Crystal Bear winner Geneviève Dulude-De Celle (A Colony) and Venice Horizons winner Lech Kowalski (East Of Paradise).
Further notable filmmakers include Radu Ciorniciuc, whose Acasa,...
Danish documentary festival Cph:dox has revealed the 35 projects set to be presented at Cph:forum, its financing and co-production event that will take place online-only from April 26-30.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The selection includes new projects from two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker (Waste Land), Sundance winners Mads Brügger (Cold Case Hammarskjöld) and Eugene Jarecki (The House I Live In), Berlin Crystal Bear winner Geneviève Dulude-De Celle (A Colony) and Venice Horizons winner Lech Kowalski (East Of Paradise).
Further notable filmmakers include Radu Ciorniciuc, whose Acasa,...
- 3/3/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Some problems can’t be solved with a prescription. Attempting to do for the opioid epidemic what “Traffic” did for the war on drugs, Nicholas Jarecki’s “Crisis” sets up three separate storylines — a grieving mama with a grudge (Evangeline Lilly), an undercover DEA operative with an imminent bust (Armie Hammer) and a compromised research professor with a conscience (Gary Oldman) — and proceeds to braid them together for maximum melodrama.
It’s compelling, relevant filmmaking designed to cover all aspects of this ever-escalating national-health issue, thrown for a loop by an unforeseen crisis of its own: the very public scrutiny of Armie Hammer’s own alleged addictions. Dense but never difficult to follow, “Crisis” is crammed with screaming matches, shootouts and plenty of those bleary-eyed scenes where desperate relatives try to process the impact of drug abuse on their loved ones — which is to say, there’s no shortage of...
It’s compelling, relevant filmmaking designed to cover all aspects of this ever-escalating national-health issue, thrown for a loop by an unforeseen crisis of its own: the very public scrutiny of Armie Hammer’s own alleged addictions. Dense but never difficult to follow, “Crisis” is crammed with screaming matches, shootouts and plenty of those bleary-eyed scenes where desperate relatives try to process the impact of drug abuse on their loved ones — which is to say, there’s no shortage of...
- 2/22/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki Creates A “Trump Death Clock,” Targeting White House Over Pandemic Response
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki has created a “Trump Death Clock,” a way to highlight the number of lives he has determined to be lost because of President Donald Trump’s delayed response to the coronavirus crisis.
“Accountability needs a brand, and the National Debt Clock is a helpful precedent,” Jarecki wrote in The Washington Post on Wednesday. “It demonstrates how to plant a symbolic flag in the numbers — one that can’t be knocked over by bluster or misleading campaign videos. This pandemic is ongoing, and the lives already unnecessarily lost demand we seek more responsible crisis leadership. Just as the names of fallen soldiers are etched on memorials to remind us of the cost of war, quantifying the lives lost to the president’s delayed coronavirus response would serve a vital public function.”
Jarecki wrote that his team set up a counter to estimate the death toll “of the White House’s delayed response.
“Accountability needs a brand, and the National Debt Clock is a helpful precedent,” Jarecki wrote in The Washington Post on Wednesday. “It demonstrates how to plant a symbolic flag in the numbers — one that can’t be knocked over by bluster or misleading campaign videos. This pandemic is ongoing, and the lives already unnecessarily lost demand we seek more responsible crisis leadership. Just as the names of fallen soldiers are etched on memorials to remind us of the cost of war, quantifying the lives lost to the president’s delayed coronavirus response would serve a vital public function.”
Jarecki wrote that his team set up a counter to estimate the death toll “of the White House’s delayed response.
- 5/6/2020
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
Eugene Jarecki – two times winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize – for “Why We Fight” (2005) and “The House I Live In” (2012) – is preparing an untitled “Tuareg Project,” that he will shoot in Morocco.
The pic will be produced by Addison O’Dea (“Discovery Trvlr”), and line produced by Moroccan producer Zakaria Alaoui, of Zak Productions.
The project marks a return for Jarecki to fiction after focusing in recent years on documentaries, including his recent Elvis Presley-themed musical road trip “The King” (2017), featuring celebrity guests such as Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Lana del Rey, and Jane Fonda, which premiered at Sundance and made its international debut in Cannes.
Jarecki has written the script with his son, Jonas, based on a bestselling novel.
One of his main concerns is to avoid a post-colonial Western gaze on the subject and considers that his extensive experience in anthropological documentary filmmaking will help him achieve authenticity.
The pic will be produced by Addison O’Dea (“Discovery Trvlr”), and line produced by Moroccan producer Zakaria Alaoui, of Zak Productions.
The project marks a return for Jarecki to fiction after focusing in recent years on documentaries, including his recent Elvis Presley-themed musical road trip “The King” (2017), featuring celebrity guests such as Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Lana del Rey, and Jane Fonda, which premiered at Sundance and made its international debut in Cannes.
Jarecki has written the script with his son, Jonas, based on a bestselling novel.
One of his main concerns is to avoid a post-colonial Western gaze on the subject and considers that his extensive experience in anthropological documentary filmmaking will help him achieve authenticity.
- 12/5/2019
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
In 1989, Public Enemy broke up — just after recording their signature song, “Fight the Power,” and just before it became the musical centerpiece of Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.” The reason for their breakup, and the story of their reunion, is the subject of our latest episode “Shoot This Now” podcast, which you can listen to below or listen to right here.
Our special guest this week is Dart Adams of the “Dart Against Humanity” podcast, and the author of the Okayplayer story “In the Summer of 1989 ‘Fight the Power’ Saved Public Enemy & Almost Sank ‘Do the Right Thing.'”
We think his story could provide the basis for a different kind of hip-hop movie than we’ve ever seen before — one about how hip-hop’s most uncompromising group had to decide how to handle a crisis that threatened not only their future, but the success of “Do the Right Thing.
Our special guest this week is Dart Adams of the “Dart Against Humanity” podcast, and the author of the Okayplayer story “In the Summer of 1989 ‘Fight the Power’ Saved Public Enemy & Almost Sank ‘Do the Right Thing.'”
We think his story could provide the basis for a different kind of hip-hop movie than we’ve ever seen before — one about how hip-hop’s most uncompromising group had to decide how to handle a crisis that threatened not only their future, but the success of “Do the Right Thing.
- 7/13/2019
- by Tim Molloy
- The Wrap
This article about Ethan Hawke first appeared in the TheWrap Magazine’s Oscar Nominations Preview issue.
They knew it on the first day of rehearsal. Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Philip Ettinger and Cedric Kyles had gathered to run through the script of “First Reformed” when they all noticed something about their writer-director, Paul Schrader.
“We read through the script, and Paul was trembling,” said Hawke, who plays a minister struggling with a crisis of faith after his son is killed in Iraq. “He was trembling the way a young artist trembles with anticipation, anxiety, fear, electrical current. He’s 71 and he’s made a ton of movies, and he was trembling.
“And we all looked at each other and went, ‘Wow, this is extremely important to this man.’ And that’s the way it felt on the set. He would forget to say hello, he would forget to say goodbye.
They knew it on the first day of rehearsal. Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried, Philip Ettinger and Cedric Kyles had gathered to run through the script of “First Reformed” when they all noticed something about their writer-director, Paul Schrader.
“We read through the script, and Paul was trembling,” said Hawke, who plays a minister struggling with a crisis of faith after his son is killed in Iraq. “He was trembling the way a young artist trembles with anticipation, anxiety, fear, electrical current. He’s 71 and he’s made a ton of movies, and he was trembling.
“And we all looked at each other and went, ‘Wow, this is extremely important to this man.’ And that’s the way it felt on the set. He would forget to say hello, he would forget to say goodbye.
- 1/7/2019
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Chicago – With 2018 in the rear view mirror (finally), it’s time in this first week of 2019 to reflect on what was, with the 10 Best Films of 2018… as selected by Patrick McDonald, the Über-Critic of HollywoodChicago.com. The list includes docs, animated films and even superheroes, along with the snooty film critic fare that’s always ripe for the watching.
Last year (now switching to first person), I began breaking down the films ranked 25th through 11th, with the option to click on the highlighted titles for reviews or associated interviews… 25th - Sorry To Bother You, 24th - Leave No Trace, 23rd - Shoplifters, 22nd - BLACKKkKLANSMAN, 21st - Cold War, 20th - First Reformed, 19th - We The Animals, 18th - You Were Never Really Here, 17th - The Rider, 16th - Mary Poppins Returns, 15th - Vox Lux, 14th - Eighth Grade, 13th - Isle Of Dogs, 12th - Ballad Of Buster Scruggs,...
Last year (now switching to first person), I began breaking down the films ranked 25th through 11th, with the option to click on the highlighted titles for reviews or associated interviews… 25th - Sorry To Bother You, 24th - Leave No Trace, 23rd - Shoplifters, 22nd - BLACKKkKLANSMAN, 21st - Cold War, 20th - First Reformed, 19th - We The Animals, 18th - You Were Never Really Here, 17th - The Rider, 16th - Mary Poppins Returns, 15th - Vox Lux, 14th - Eighth Grade, 13th - Isle Of Dogs, 12th - Ballad Of Buster Scruggs,...
- 1/2/2019
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
As the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences narrowed down the Oscar contenders in nine categories on Monday, a number of hopefuls were left by the wayside. Among them was Michael Moore, whose latest film of political criticism, Fahrenheit 11/9, failed to make the documentary feature shortlist.
Also among the missing were Quincy, the Netflix documentary about Quincy Jones, directed by his daughter Rashida Jones and Alan Hicks; and Eugene Jarecki’s The King, a study of Elvis Presley and his place in America.
In the best original song category, names that failed to register included Annie Lennox, whose “Requiem for a ...
Also among the missing were Quincy, the Netflix documentary about Quincy Jones, directed by his daughter Rashida Jones and Alan Hicks; and Eugene Jarecki’s The King, a study of Elvis Presley and his place in America.
In the best original song category, names that failed to register included Annie Lennox, whose “Requiem for a ...
- 12/17/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences narrowed down the Oscar contenders in nine categories on Monday, a number of hopefuls were left by the wayside. Among them was Michael Moore, whose latest film of political criticism, Fahrenheit 11/9, failed to make the documentary feature shortlist.
Also among the missing were Quincy, the Netflix documentary about Quincy Jones, directed by his daughter Rashida Jones and Alan Hicks; and Eugene Jarecki’s The King, a study of Elvis Presley and his place in America.
In the best original song category, names that failed to register included Annie Lennox, whose “Requiem for a ...
Also among the missing were Quincy, the Netflix documentary about Quincy Jones, directed by his daughter Rashida Jones and Alan Hicks; and Eugene Jarecki’s The King, a study of Elvis Presley and his place in America.
In the best original song category, names that failed to register included Annie Lennox, whose “Requiem for a ...
- 12/17/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
It won’t exactly be on a par with Oscars nominations morning, but Monday will be one of the biggest December days in the history of the Academy Awards.
That’s because for the first time, the Academy isn’t systematically doling out the short lists of films that remain in contention. Instead, they’re dropping all the lists at once in a single press release that will trim the fields in Best Documentary Feature, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Song and six other categories.
One drop, nine categories, a total of 101 films that’ll get good news and far more that’ll be disappointed.
The strategy of dumping all the Oscars short lists at once has not been greeted with universal approval. For one thing, contenders in the different categories were used to having their individual moments in the spotlight. Music Branch voters, who are facing a pair...
That’s because for the first time, the Academy isn’t systematically doling out the short lists of films that remain in contention. Instead, they’re dropping all the lists at once in a single press release that will trim the fields in Best Documentary Feature, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Song and six other categories.
One drop, nine categories, a total of 101 films that’ll get good news and far more that’ll be disappointed.
The strategy of dumping all the Oscars short lists at once has not been greeted with universal approval. For one thing, contenders in the different categories were used to having their individual moments in the spotlight. Music Branch voters, who are facing a pair...
- 12/14/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Nothing takes you back to time and a place like the music of a particular era. That’s one big reason why music documentaries are flourishing at a time of enormous demand for high-end docu productions.
This year’s five Grammy Award nominees for best music film reflect the appetite for stories about renowned and beloved musical figures, from Whitney Houston to Itzhak Perlman to Elvis Presley to Quincy Jones. Music docus have a natural commercial appeal and a built-in core target audience, which provides a foundation for marketing efforts to spur word-of-mouth about a title.
“What’s beautiful about doing a music documentary is that it immediately transcends the borders of the docu-loving audience and the community of an artist’s fans,” said Vinnie Malhotra, Showtime’s head of documentary programming. “They’re emotional. There’s a nostalgia factor to them. At their best they give you new perspective...
This year’s five Grammy Award nominees for best music film reflect the appetite for stories about renowned and beloved musical figures, from Whitney Houston to Itzhak Perlman to Elvis Presley to Quincy Jones. Music docus have a natural commercial appeal and a built-in core target audience, which provides a foundation for marketing efforts to spur word-of-mouth about a title.
“What’s beautiful about doing a music documentary is that it immediately transcends the borders of the docu-loving audience and the community of an artist’s fans,” said Vinnie Malhotra, Showtime’s head of documentary programming. “They’re emotional. There’s a nostalgia factor to them. At their best they give you new perspective...
- 12/8/2018
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Elvis Presley may "have left the building" over four decades ago in death but he still reigns supreme in the eyes of diehard fans worldwide that continue to worship the iconic entertainer. Young and old or the famous and unknown alike cling to their memories of the proclaimed King of Rock-n-Roll that shaped the musical landscape with his brand of swagger that one time earned him the noted nickname "Elvis the pelvis". There have been countless takes on the Presley legacy through pop culture circles throughout the generations. Hence, what filmmaker could aptly approach the overly familiar subject matter of Elvis Aaron Presley from a distinctive perspective? Co-writer/director Eugene Jarecki's ("The House I Live In") The King is a bouncy and reflective sentiment about Presley's ever-lasting staple...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 12/6/2018
- Screen Anarchy
Two of the season’s most reliable groups when it comes to forecasting the eventual Academy Awards nominees for Documentary Feature have now announced the shortlists for their own programs. The International Documentary Association (Ida) and Doc NYC, one of the largest documentary film festivals in the country, both boast great track records with either nominating, awarding and/or screening major contenders for the Oscars in recent years.
Doc NYC, who announced a short list of 15 titles for their 2018 festival which runs from November 8th to 15th, has overlapped their own short list with the academy’s short list with 9 to 10 titles in each of the last five years. In addition, they’ve included 4 to 5 titles that went on to be Oscar-nominated and in the last seven years they’ve screened the documentary that won the Academy Award.
Ida is comparably prescient, having matched their award nominees with the eventual...
Doc NYC, who announced a short list of 15 titles for their 2018 festival which runs from November 8th to 15th, has overlapped their own short list with the academy’s short list with 9 to 10 titles in each of the last five years. In addition, they’ve included 4 to 5 titles that went on to be Oscar-nominated and in the last seven years they’ve screened the documentary that won the Academy Award.
Ida is comparably prescient, having matched their award nominees with the eventual...
- 10/15/2018
- by John Benutty
- Gold Derby
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
Arrivederci Saigon (Wilma Labate)
In director Wilma Labate’s Arrivederci Saigon (Goodbye Saigon), we follow four Italian women who were unknowingly sent to Vietnam for three months to stand alongside American soldiers, performing music for them nightly, under the guise of their manager sending them on a world tour. Labate immediately makes the connection between these women and the American soldiers through the factor of not having a choice in the matter. For the Americans, this was obviously the 18- and 19-year-old boys who were called through the draft to fight a war that some didn’t agree with and none understood. For Viviana, Rosella, Daniela, and...
Arrivederci Saigon (Wilma Labate)
In director Wilma Labate’s Arrivederci Saigon (Goodbye Saigon), we follow four Italian women who were unknowingly sent to Vietnam for three months to stand alongside American soldiers, performing music for them nightly, under the guise of their manager sending them on a world tour. Labate immediately makes the connection between these women and the American soldiers through the factor of not having a choice in the matter. For the Americans, this was obviously the 18- and 19-year-old boys who were called through the draft to fight a war that some didn’t agree with and none understood. For Viviana, Rosella, Daniela, and...
- 9/14/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Further openers include The Spy Who Dumped Me, The Children’s Act and A Northern Soul.
New releases led by Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman and a duo of family animations are hoping to light up the UK box office this weekend (Aug 24-26) after last weekend was dominated by holdovers.
Universal is opening BlacKkKlansman wide on over 300 screens. The film, which premiered in competition at Cannes earlier this year, stars John David Washington (son of Denzel) and Adam Driver and is based on the true story of a Southern black policeman who went undercover in the Ku Klux Klan in the late1970s.
New releases led by Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman and a duo of family animations are hoping to light up the UK box office this weekend (Aug 24-26) after last weekend was dominated by holdovers.
Universal is opening BlacKkKlansman wide on over 300 screens. The film, which premiered in competition at Cannes earlier this year, stars John David Washington (son of Denzel) and Adam Driver and is based on the true story of a Southern black policeman who went undercover in the Ku Klux Klan in the late1970s.
- 8/24/2018
- by Louise Tutt
- ScreenDaily
Chicago – Elvis Presley, besides being one of the most famous entertainers of the 20th Century, does symbolize to an extent what can happen to icons when they turn towards certain directions in a career. Director Eugene Jarecki has created an amazing documentary about Elvis called “The King,” that uses his rise and decline as a symbol for the American Dream.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
The film is part bio picture, part fan film and all about America. Jarecki borrowed Elvis’s actual Rolls Royce and put celeb admirers like Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Ashton Kutcher, Emily Lou Harris and John Hiatt inside the car to talk about the significance of the Elvis celebrity, bigger and brighter at its time than any other. The film is simply a truth about who and what America is, through one of the biggest personalities it ever produced, for better or worse.
“The King” opens in Chicago on...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
The film is part bio picture, part fan film and all about America. Jarecki borrowed Elvis’s actual Rolls Royce and put celeb admirers like Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Ashton Kutcher, Emily Lou Harris and John Hiatt inside the car to talk about the significance of the Elvis celebrity, bigger and brighter at its time than any other. The film is simply a truth about who and what America is, through one of the biggest personalities it ever produced, for better or worse.
“The King” opens in Chicago on...
- 7/20/2018
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Thirty-three people are honored with plaques at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, but only one of them, Ira Aldridge, is an African-American. At a time when the United States still held black people in slavery, Aldridge’s performances across Europe helped shatter the myth of white supremacy.
Aldridge is the subject of our latest “Shoot This Now,” where we talk about stories that should be made into movies. You can listen on Apple or on Spotify or just listen right here.
Our brilliant guest this week is author and screenwriter Andrea Chalupa, co-host of the must-listen “Gaslit Nation” podcast. Aldridge was born in 1807 in New York, and he and his parents were free. But, as Chalupa explains, he still faced the threat of becoming enslaved as he traveled the U.S.
Also Read: Was Elvis Presley Racist? Eugene Jarecki Talks to Chuck D About His Famous Lyrics in '...
Aldridge is the subject of our latest “Shoot This Now,” where we talk about stories that should be made into movies. You can listen on Apple or on Spotify or just listen right here.
Our brilliant guest this week is author and screenwriter Andrea Chalupa, co-host of the must-listen “Gaslit Nation” podcast. Aldridge was born in 1807 in New York, and he and his parents were free. But, as Chalupa explains, he still faced the threat of becoming enslaved as he traveled the U.S.
Also Read: Was Elvis Presley Racist? Eugene Jarecki Talks to Chuck D About His Famous Lyrics in '...
- 7/14/2018
- by Tim Molloy
- The Wrap
Public Enemy’s Chuck D made Elvis Presley persona non grata for many hip-hop fans when he famously rapped in “Fight the Power”: “Elvis was a hero to most/But he never meant s— to me/Straight up racist that sucker was/Simple and plain.” (Flavor Flav finished off The King with the rhyme: “Motherf— him and John Wayne.”)
In the latest episode of “Shoot This Now,” filmmaker Eugene Jarecki explains how those lines made Chuck D the most crucial person he interviewed for his new film “The King.” You can listen on Apple or right here:
Also Read: Why Angela Davis Needs a 'Forrest Gump'-Style Biopic (Podcast)
“The King” celebrates Elvis as a symbol of the American dream — but argues that America is in its Fat Elvis stage, the period of decline that Presley spent performing in Las Vegas and addicted to pills. Jarecki believes America can save itself,...
In the latest episode of “Shoot This Now,” filmmaker Eugene Jarecki explains how those lines made Chuck D the most crucial person he interviewed for his new film “The King.” You can listen on Apple or right here:
Also Read: Why Angela Davis Needs a 'Forrest Gump'-Style Biopic (Podcast)
“The King” celebrates Elvis as a symbol of the American dream — but argues that America is in its Fat Elvis stage, the period of decline that Presley spent performing in Las Vegas and addicted to pills. Jarecki believes America can save itself,...
- 7/7/2018
- by Tim Molloy
- The Wrap
Lois Vossen, longtime exec producer of PBS’ documentary series “Independent Lens,” says she wasn’t surprised when “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” began to dominate the indie box office, receiving critical acclaim and pulling in more than $8 million from theaters across the country.
“Fred Rogers is beloved, and at a time when there is so much divisiveness, when there is a film about this person who stood for inclusiveness, love, tolerance, I think people are desperately hungry,” Vossen said in an interview with TheWrap.
In her 22 years at the Independent Television Service, and her 16 years overseeing the Emmy award-winning “Independent Lens,” Vossen said she’s developed a deep understanding of the power of documentary films and public media. And as part of the “Independent Lens” team that co-presented the Fred Rogers biopic, she envisioned its potential for success long before it hit theaters.
Also Read: Ed Schultz, Former MSNBC Host,...
“Fred Rogers is beloved, and at a time when there is so much divisiveness, when there is a film about this person who stood for inclusiveness, love, tolerance, I think people are desperately hungry,” Vossen said in an interview with TheWrap.
In her 22 years at the Independent Television Service, and her 16 years overseeing the Emmy award-winning “Independent Lens,” Vossen said she’s developed a deep understanding of the power of documentary films and public media. And as part of the “Independent Lens” team that co-presented the Fred Rogers biopic, she envisioned its potential for success long before it hit theaters.
Also Read: Ed Schultz, Former MSNBC Host,...
- 7/6/2018
- by Juliette Verlaque
- The Wrap
It’s always good news when a documentary finds a major audience, and 2018 has become the summer of the documentary blockbuster. First “Rbg,” then “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” and now — perhaps — “Three Identical Strangers,” the Sundance sensation about grown-up triplets who find one another (it had a powerful limited opening this weekend). Coming up Friday: “Whitney,” a bold and beautiful exposé of the life of Whitney Houston that has the potential to be another “Amy.” Yet there is one new documentary that’s hiding, just a bit, in the shadows, and it’s one that I passionately urge you to see, because it’s a one-of-a-kind movie that leaves a deep and lasting imprint.
“The King,” directed by Eugene Jarecki, is a nonfiction chronicle of the life and career of Elvis Presley, but it’s really a documentary-meditation-essay-rhapsody, one that captures, as almost no film has, what’s happening,...
“The King,” directed by Eugene Jarecki, is a nonfiction chronicle of the life and career of Elvis Presley, but it’s really a documentary-meditation-essay-rhapsody, one that captures, as almost no film has, what’s happening,...
- 7/1/2018
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Midway through the making of “The King,” the documentary about Elvis Presley and America, director Eugene Jarecki had a chance to bring the twin obsessions of his film together in a single moment.
And he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t let Donald Trump sit in the back seat of a Rolls-Royce once owned by Elvis Presley.
Jarecki, a Peabody Award-winning documentary director whose previous films include “Why We Fight” and “The House I Live In,” had acquired Elvis’ Rolls-Royce and was driving it to key cities in the iconic singer’s career: Tupelo, Memphis, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Along the way, a variety of singers, musicians, writers, actors climbed into the car to talk about Elvis and America – with all of this happening in an election year, as Trump and Hillary Clinton waged a campaign that we glimpsed through Elvis’ windows.
Also Read:...
And he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t let Donald Trump sit in the back seat of a Rolls-Royce once owned by Elvis Presley.
Jarecki, a Peabody Award-winning documentary director whose previous films include “Why We Fight” and “The House I Live In,” had acquired Elvis’ Rolls-Royce and was driving it to key cities in the iconic singer’s career: Tupelo, Memphis, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Along the way, a variety of singers, musicians, writers, actors climbed into the car to talk about Elvis and America – with all of this happening in an election year, as Trump and Hillary Clinton waged a campaign that we glimpsed through Elvis’ windows.
Also Read:...
- 6/28/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Chicago – Elvis Presley, besides being one of the most famous entertainers of the 20th Century, does symbolize to an extent what can happen to icons when they turn towards certain directions in a career. Director Eugene Jarecki has created an amazing documentary about Elvis called “The King,” that uses his rise and decline as a symbol for the American Dream.
Elvis Presley is Everywhere in ‘The King’
Photo credit: Oscilloscope
The film is part bio picture, part fan film and all about America. Jarecki borrowed Elvis’s actual Rolls Royce and put celeb admirers like Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Ashton Kutcher, Emily Lou Harris and John Hiatt inside the car to talk about the significance of the Elvis celebrity, bigger and brighter at its time than any other. The film is simply a truth about who and what America is, through one of the biggest personalities it ever produced, for better or worse.
Elvis Presley is Everywhere in ‘The King’
Photo credit: Oscilloscope
The film is part bio picture, part fan film and all about America. Jarecki borrowed Elvis’s actual Rolls Royce and put celeb admirers like Alec Baldwin, Ethan Hawke, Ashton Kutcher, Emily Lou Harris and John Hiatt inside the car to talk about the significance of the Elvis celebrity, bigger and brighter at its time than any other. The film is simply a truth about who and what America is, through one of the biggest personalities it ever produced, for better or worse.
- 6/26/2018
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Over the weekend, a new film came out that, below the radar, manages to be one of the year’s more interesting titles. It’s a little documentary from filmmaker Eugene Jarecki called The King. Having made the film festival circuit over the past year or so, it’s a look at Elvis Presley, but also how his rise and fall is reflected in America. The movie opened on Friday, with a bit of acclaim attached to it. On a personal note, I moderated Q and A events in New York City over the weekend with Jarecki, which had the doc on my mind. As such, it’s one I want to discuss today. The documentary is a look at Elvis Presley, but also the country that made and destroyed him as well. IMDb lists the synopsis as such: “Forty years after the death of Elvis Presley, a musical road...
- 6/25/2018
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
With summer tentpoles in full thrust, specialty distributors are maintaining their seasonal role offering up alternative programming for moviegoers not dazzled by the latest studio blitz.
The final full weekend of June included at least a half dozen new limited titles, headlined by Sundance’s The King by Eugene Jarecki, which Oscilloscope opened in two Manhattan locations Friday. The documentary lorded over the pack of newcomers with a $29K gross for a solid $14,525 per theater average, easily the best among the specialties, and the third-best among all titles reporting grosses Sunday.
Magnolia Pictures took the Zellner brothers’ Damsel to three locations in its opening frame, grossing $21K. By far the ‘widest’ opener among among the group was IFC Films’ The Catcher Was a Spy, which bowed in 49 theaters, taking in $122,494 for a $2,520 PTA.
Sony Classics’ Boundaries played five locations in its first weekend, grossing $30,395, while China Lion’s Lobster Cop...
The final full weekend of June included at least a half dozen new limited titles, headlined by Sundance’s The King by Eugene Jarecki, which Oscilloscope opened in two Manhattan locations Friday. The documentary lorded over the pack of newcomers with a $29K gross for a solid $14,525 per theater average, easily the best among the specialties, and the third-best among all titles reporting grosses Sunday.
Magnolia Pictures took the Zellner brothers’ Damsel to three locations in its opening frame, grossing $21K. By far the ‘widest’ opener among among the group was IFC Films’ The Catcher Was a Spy, which bowed in 49 theaters, taking in $122,494 for a $2,520 PTA.
Sony Classics’ Boundaries played five locations in its first weekend, grossing $30,395, while China Lion’s Lobster Cop...
- 6/24/2018
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
Yet another strong documentary tops new releases this weekend: Elvis Presley biodoc “The King” (Oscilloscope) from veteran documentarian Eugene Jarecki shows future interest. That said, it won’t register the massive numbers for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” (Focus) and the continued success of “RBG” (Magnolia), two documentaries on iconic contemporary personalities that are both building continued response from audiences.
Other openings include a decent result for the Brazilian “Araby” in one theater. “Boundaries” (Sony Pictures Classics) fared less well despite some star presence in its initial two city openings.
Opening
The King (Oscilloscope) – Metacritic: 73; Festivals include: Cannes 2017, Sundance 2018
$29,050 in 2 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $14,525
The first theatrical feature since 2012 from acclaimed documentary director Eugene Jarecki opened to respectable results in two Manhattan theaters. A shorter version of last year’s Sundance premiere “Promised Land,” “The King” uses a cross-country trip in Elvis Presley’s Rolls Royce to...
Other openings include a decent result for the Brazilian “Araby” in one theater. “Boundaries” (Sony Pictures Classics) fared less well despite some star presence in its initial two city openings.
Opening
The King (Oscilloscope) – Metacritic: 73; Festivals include: Cannes 2017, Sundance 2018
$29,050 in 2 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $14,525
The first theatrical feature since 2012 from acclaimed documentary director Eugene Jarecki opened to respectable results in two Manhattan theaters. A shorter version of last year’s Sundance premiere “Promised Land,” “The King” uses a cross-country trip in Elvis Presley’s Rolls Royce to...
- 6/24/2018
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Eugene Jarecki, director of The King, goes on the road in Presley’s Roller to discuss his film on Elvis, the American dream and the era of Trump
I’m sitting in Elvis Presley’s seat in his silver 1963 Rolls-Royce, sinking into its faded but still sumptuous upholstery as we ride south on the New Jersey turnpike towards the car’s final resting place. From these windows Elvis would have watched throngs of fans on Hollywood Boulevard and gazed out across the vast deserts of Nevada. At my feet is his eight-track audiocassette, and a red telephone with speed dial buttons bearing mysterious initials: Jl, Yl, Jp, Yp – who were they, and what did Elvis want with them? The armrest folds down to reveal his lead shot glass and crystal bourbon decanter.
This custom-built Phantom V was Presley’s plaything throughout his Hollywood years in the 60s. It went with...
I’m sitting in Elvis Presley’s seat in his silver 1963 Rolls-Royce, sinking into its faded but still sumptuous upholstery as we ride south on the New Jersey turnpike towards the car’s final resting place. From these windows Elvis would have watched throngs of fans on Hollywood Boulevard and gazed out across the vast deserts of Nevada. At my feet is his eight-track audiocassette, and a red telephone with speed dial buttons bearing mysterious initials: Jl, Yl, Jp, Yp – who were they, and what did Elvis want with them? The armrest folds down to reveal his lead shot glass and crystal bourbon decanter.
This custom-built Phantom V was Presley’s plaything throughout his Hollywood years in the 60s. It went with...
- 6/24/2018
- by Ed Pilkington Photograph: Ali Smith for the Guardian
- The Guardian - Film News
We’re more than 18 months deep into the Trump era, and — for better or worse — the effect of his regime is finally starting to trickle into the movies. From massive franchise blockbusters to righteous historical biopics and even the occasional family comedy, films of all shapes and sizes have been responding to (or even inspired by) the current state of world affairs, reflecting the systemic failures that got us here, and occasionally using their light to guide us through the present darkness.
The defining cinema of the Trump era is likely still to come, but these seven films — including Eugene Jarecki’s “The King,” which opens in theaters today — provide our first indications as to how the movies might process this grim period of American history.
“BlacKkKlansman”
Spike Lee is not a particularly subtle filmmaker, but we are not living in particularly subtle times. If “BlackKklansman” is blunt even by Lee’s standards,...
The defining cinema of the Trump era is likely still to come, but these seven films — including Eugene Jarecki’s “The King,” which opens in theaters today — provide our first indications as to how the movies might process this grim period of American history.
“BlacKkKlansman”
Spike Lee is not a particularly subtle filmmaker, but we are not living in particularly subtle times. If “BlackKklansman” is blunt even by Lee’s standards,...
- 6/22/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Eugene Jarecki’s Politically Charged Elvis Doc ‘The King’ Is An Ambitious, Fascinating Mess [Review]
Just imagine the poor Elvis Presley fan settling in to watch “The King,” which is finally hitting theaters fifty years after his 1968 comeback special and a year after debuting at Cannes. She expects the usual: some celebratory interviews, the odd bit of backstage gossip, and some ripping concert footage of her beloved musical icon — much like David Bowie fans anticipated with HBO’s “The Last Five Years.” “The King” has some of that, of course.
Continue reading Eugene Jarecki’s Politically Charged Elvis Doc ‘The King’ Is An Ambitious, Fascinating Mess [Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading Eugene Jarecki’s Politically Charged Elvis Doc ‘The King’ Is An Ambitious, Fascinating Mess [Review] at The Playlist.
- 6/22/2018
- by Chris Barsanti
- The Playlist
Two very different road trip movies are among this weekend’s Specialty theatrical debuts. After its world premiere at SXSW and later festival showings in Seattle as well as Nantucket this weekend, Sony Pictures Classics is opening father-daughter journey, Boundaries by Shana Feste in New York and L.A. Oscilloscope, meanwhile, is bowing doc, The King by Eugene Jarecki in Manhattan. Jarecki takes to the road in Elvis Presley’s 1963 Rolls-Royce on a musical road trip across America, painting a portrait of the current state of the ‘American Dream.’ Cohen Media Group spearheaded fellow non-fiction title Spiral, which examines the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and the world, opening in two locations in New York and L.A. And Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska star in the Zellner brothers’ comedic Western, Damsel.
Other limited releases headed to theaters this weekend include IFC Films’ The Catcher Was a Spy with Paul Rudd,...
Other limited releases headed to theaters this weekend include IFC Films’ The Catcher Was a Spy with Paul Rudd,...
- 6/22/2018
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
There aren't many documentaries that see Elvis Presley as the bruised soul of America through fun times and bum times. In fact, there’s only one. Formerly called Promised Land, the doc – a spellbinder – is now known as The King, and filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (The House I Live In, Why We Fight) had the risky but totally riveting idea of taking Presley's 1963 Rolls-Royce Phantom V and outfitting it with cameras. The purpose being to drive the customized car cross-country to the places the King traveled, from New York to L.
- 6/20/2018
- Rollingstone.com
Eugene Jarecki didn’t set out to make Elvis Presley documentary “The King” a road-trip film, but as soon as production ramped up, he and his team realized it would be almost impossible not to. “In my mind there was always [such a] trip in the abstract,” says the director, known for poignant docs on the American condition like “Freakanomics,” “The House I Live In” and “Why We Fight.” “The King,” which premiered at Sundance and made its international debut in Cannes, will be released commercially courtesy of Oscilloscope on June 22, almost 41 years after the singer’s death.
What wound up on-screen was a movie that was not only about the rise and fall of Elvis but also a metaphor for the rise and fall of the American dream — a story that retraced the trajectory of Presley’s life, traveling through inner cities and the heartland, from Tupelo, Miss., to Memphis to Las Vegas to Beverly Hills.
What wound up on-screen was a movie that was not only about the rise and fall of Elvis but also a metaphor for the rise and fall of the American dream — a story that retraced the trajectory of Presley’s life, traveling through inner cities and the heartland, from Tupelo, Miss., to Memphis to Las Vegas to Beverly Hills.
- 6/7/2018
- by Valentina I. Valentini
- Variety Film + TV
"You have no idea how hard he hit American culture."
Oscilloscope Labs has released a trailer for their upcoming documentary film The King, which was previously known as Promised Land. This is an interesting doc as it centers on Elvis Presley and the impact he had on America. At the same time, the doc traces the rise and fall of Elvis as a metaphor for the America he left behind.
The King was directed by Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger, Why We Fight, Reagan, The House I Live In) and it looks like he made an intriguing doc that some of you might want to check out. Here's the synopsis:
Forty years after the death of Elvis Presley, two-time Sundance Grand Jury winner Eugene Jarecki’s new film takes the King’s 1963 Rolls-Royce on a musical road trip across America. From Memphis to New York, Las Vegas, and beyond,...
Oscilloscope Labs has released a trailer for their upcoming documentary film The King, which was previously known as Promised Land. This is an interesting doc as it centers on Elvis Presley and the impact he had on America. At the same time, the doc traces the rise and fall of Elvis as a metaphor for the America he left behind.
The King was directed by Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger, Why We Fight, Reagan, The House I Live In) and it looks like he made an intriguing doc that some of you might want to check out. Here's the synopsis:
Forty years after the death of Elvis Presley, two-time Sundance Grand Jury winner Eugene Jarecki’s new film takes the King’s 1963 Rolls-Royce on a musical road trip across America. From Memphis to New York, Las Vegas, and beyond,...
- 5/23/2018
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
The King, Eugene Jarecki’s newest documentary feature, first premiered one year ago, finding critical success at the Cannes Film Festival under the title Promised Land. Eight months later, a new cut screened as an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival. Finally, later this summer, The King will get a theatrical release, courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories.
The documentary recounts the famed life and career of “the king of rock” Elvis Presley as director Eugene Jarecki takes Presley’s 1963 Rolls Royce on a cross-country musical road trip across the United States. Throughout the film – which is just as much about Elvis than it is about America – fascinating and dismaying comparisons are drawn between Presley’s career and the deteriorating attitudes of American culture; exploring how we got to where we are as a country today.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “A title like Promised Land can be appreciated...
The documentary recounts the famed life and career of “the king of rock” Elvis Presley as director Eugene Jarecki takes Presley’s 1963 Rolls Royce on a cross-country musical road trip across the United States. Throughout the film – which is just as much about Elvis than it is about America – fascinating and dismaying comparisons are drawn between Presley’s career and the deteriorating attitudes of American culture; exploring how we got to where we are as a country today.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “A title like Promised Land can be appreciated...
- 5/22/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki road trips across the United States in Elvis Presley's 1963 Rolls-Royce, examining the musician's complicated legacy for the new documentary, The King.
In the film, Jarecki traces Elvis' rise and fall, using the rock pioneer's career as a metaphor for America. The new trailer teases the rosy-eyed view of Elvis with fans lining up to admire his Rolls and singing his classic songs. But it also uses the most problematic aspects of Elvis' music and career – including his drug use and thorny relationship with race and cultural...
In the film, Jarecki traces Elvis' rise and fall, using the rock pioneer's career as a metaphor for America. The new trailer teases the rosy-eyed view of Elvis with fans lining up to admire his Rolls and singing his classic songs. But it also uses the most problematic aspects of Elvis' music and career – including his drug use and thorny relationship with race and cultural...
- 5/22/2018
- Rollingstone.com
Oscilloscope Laboratories acquired Eugene Jarecki’s documentary The King ahead of its Sundance Film Festival debut this year, and now the film that takes a journey in Elvis Presley’s actual 1963 Rolls-Royce to take the pulse of America has a trailer. The pic, which discovers some hard truths, takes viewers on a road trip through the heartland opens June 22 in New York then the next week in Los Angeles ahead of a national rollout.
The logline for what becomes a cautionary tale: Forty years after the death of Elvis Presley, two-time Sundance Grand Jury winner Eugene Jarecki takes the King’s 1963 Rolls-Royce on a musical road trip across America. From Memphis to New York, Las Vegas, and beyond, the journey traces the rise and fall of Elvis...
The logline for what becomes a cautionary tale: Forty years after the death of Elvis Presley, two-time Sundance Grand Jury winner Eugene Jarecki takes the King’s 1963 Rolls-Royce on a musical road trip across America. From Memphis to New York, Las Vegas, and beyond, the journey traces the rise and fall of Elvis...
- 5/22/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
"You have no idea how hard he hit American culture." Oscilloscope Labs has released the official Us trailer for a documentary titled The King, formerly known as Promised Land when it first premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival. This doc is the latest made by Eugene Jarecki who delivers a deeply engaging, uber-intelligent, thoughtful documentary comparing Elvis Presley's rise & fall over his life to the rise & fall of America. It's a fascinating, thought-provoking, and considerably entertaining film framed around taking Elvis' 1963 Rolls Royce around the country to explore the places he frequented. I saw this film in Cannes last year and loved it, one of the most intriguing docs I've seen in a while, featuring so much intelligent discussion and discourse. A must see. Here's the new official trailer (+ poster) for Eugene Jarecki's The King, direct from YouTube: Forty years after the death ...
- 5/22/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
In his upcoming documentary “The King,” director Eugene Jarecki tackles a subject that is vast in its scope and bold in its import: the rise and fall of Elvis Presley, not as an event in itself but as a metaphor for America.
And he does so in a crazy way: by getting ahold of a Rolls Royce that Elvis once owned and driving it around the country to places that meant something to Elvis, with a succession of musicians playing music in the back seat while pundits, experts and fans weigh in on what Elvis means to them. And he did it during the presidential election of 2016, inextricably linking the fall of Elvis with the rise of Donald Trump.
When the film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival under the title “Promised Land,” TheWrap called it “big, bold and overreaching, in love with but also skeptical of its own central...
And he does so in a crazy way: by getting ahold of a Rolls Royce that Elvis once owned and driving it around the country to places that meant something to Elvis, with a succession of musicians playing music in the back seat while pundits, experts and fans weigh in on what Elvis means to them. And he did it during the presidential election of 2016, inextricably linking the fall of Elvis with the rise of Donald Trump.
When the film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival under the title “Promised Land,” TheWrap called it “big, bold and overreaching, in love with but also skeptical of its own central...
- 5/22/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
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