Austin Butler supports 'Elvis' director Baz Luhrmann at Elvis Presley concert film premiere
Four years after the release of Baz Luhrmann's Oscar-nominated film, "Elvis," the filmmaker reunited with its lead star, Austin Butler.
Butler stepped out Wednesday night at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, for the Los Angeles premiere of Luhrmann's new film, "EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert."
The duo shared a moment on the carpet and posed for photos.
The concert film features long-lost footage of Presley, which was uncovered by Luhrmann and his team in a Kansas City salt mine while he was working on "Elvis," which was released in 2022 and went on to earn eight Oscar nominations in 2023. The footage, which was 58 hours of unseen negatives found from across 65 boxes, features Presley's '70s Vegas concert footage and interviews.
In the film, Presley performs his hit songs from "Suspicious Minds" and "Can't Help Falling in Love" to covers of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by The Righteous Brothers and "Always on My Mind" by Willie Nelson.
"It was a bit mind-blowing," Luhrmann told "Good Morning America" digital about the footage, which he said finding the footage was like "Raiders of the Lost Ark." "What's incredible is that Elvis tells the story in his own words. We found 30 minutes of him just talking about his life."
In the film, Luhrmann said audiences will get to see many different sides of Elvis. From his image, to his compassion, vulnerability and more.
"You see him clowning around and making friends with all the musicians and they're always watching because you never knew what he was going to do on stage," he said. "So he'll take a folk song like 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' with Simon and Garfunkel and turn it into this incredible gospel powerhouse number."
Before the film's screening, Luhrmann addressed the audience and also shared how it took two years to find the original sound that accompanied the footage.
"We had the voice of the band, everything off there, and then having to fix some orchestrations, things like that," Luhrmann said. "But one thing we found was this tape of Elvis' voice, never before heard. And he was just so regarded and so human as he is, and he was telling his story."
Producers Matthew Gross and Jeremy Castro also shared how the footage and audio needed to be restored.
Castro said, "It was in its most rawest state. And after over eight and a half months in the studio, working on the edit, perfecting the craft, going through the process or remastering, bringing back the visuals and the music, the elevation -- you're like, this is something epic."
Also in attendance were Tallulah and Scout LaRue Willis, Janey Seymour, Dita von Teese, songwriter Mike Stoller, who co-wrote Presley's hit songs including "Hound Dog" and "Kansas City," and Presley's friend and former business partner, Jerry Schilling.
Schilling praised Luhrmann's film and told "GMA" digital, "I was touched at how Baz let Elvis present himself in his own voice."
"That is very rare that you hear Elvis talk about how he felt about his career, how he thought about life and what his aspirations were," he added. "And you get to see him as one of the great underrated producers in music history. So there's a lot in this film."
"EPiC" is available to watch in IMAX theaters now. It will only screen exclusively in IMAX during its first week before playing in other theaters on Feb. 27.
