Elvis Presley's granddaughter, actress and filmmaker Riley Keough, reacts to seeing Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic. The film, which features Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood and The Carrie Diaries star Austin Butler as the iconic crooner, is set to premiere in U.S. theaters this summer on June 24, 2022. The film will chronicle his rise to the dazzling heights of being a rocker and movie star, along with his complicated relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks). The film's ensemble cast also includes Olivia De Jonge, Dacre Montgomery, and recent The Power of the Dog Oscar nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Keough has made a name for herself that is completely separate from the legacy of Elvis. Although she had acted and modeled before 2015, she burst onto the scene that year as one of Immortan Joe's wives being smuggled out of captivity by Charlize Theron's Imperator Furiosa in George Miller's action epic Mad Max: Fury Road. Since then, she has held roles in indies including American Honey and Under the Silver Lake, as well as projects from renowned directors including Steven Soderbergh in Logan Lucky and Lars Von Trier in The House that Jack Built. She is also starring in Prime Video's upcoming '70s music biopic series Daisy Jones and the Six.

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Variety had the opportunity to speak with Keough at the Cannes Film Festival, where she is premiering her directorial debut War Pony (which she co-directed with Gina Gammell). She revealed that, while at the festival, she had the opportunity to screen Elvis with her mother Lisa Marie Presley and grandmother Priscilla Presley. She revealed that the film unearthed a lot of family trauma and she "started crying five minutes in and didn’t stop," but she felt that Butler and Luhrmann captured the essence of the real Elvis "so beautifully." Read her full quote below:

It was a very emotional experience. It’s very intense to watch when it’s your family. The first movie I ever watched in the theater and said I wanted to make movies was Moulin Rouge, I was 12. It was a real honor to know Baz was doing this movie. Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge, for the age I was at the time, were really powerful. It wasn’t like I distrusted Baz in any way, but you’re protective over your family. At the end of the day, we’re not going to tell Baz Luhrmann how to make a movie.

In the first five minutes, I could feel how much work Baz and Austin put into trying to get it right. That made me emotional immediately. I started crying five minutes in and didn’t stop. There’s a lot of family trauma and generational trauma that started around then for our family. I felt honored they worked so hard to really get his essence, to feel his essence. Austin captured that so beautifully.

Austin Butler in Elvis

While Elvis died before Keough was born, being in the room with two women who knew him more intimately than anyone else must have been an overpowering experience. Both women have also previously expressed their praise for the film, mirroring Keough's experience with the project. In fact, Priscilla Presley previously said Elvis was "a true story told brilliantly and creatively."

Considering how well Elvis has managed to impress the people in his own family, it seems destined to delight fans of the icon as well. While it may be a less harrowing experience for people who haven't known the man personally or been a part of his legacy, it seems to be expertly evoking the emotions of his personal experience. Luhrmann has certainly proved his facility with oversized emotions in the past, and there's no story bigger than that of Elvis.

Next: Does Austin Butler Really Sing In Elvis?

Source: Variety

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