Jeremy Doner: Celebs Rumors

pic.twitter.com/cjiec1Md0iTitled “Elvis,” the biographical film charts Elvis Presley’s life and career, specifically his relationship with his manager. Luhrmann co-wrote the screenplay with Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce and Jeremy Doner.

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will factor in this year’s movie awards races. 

“fizzy, delirious, impishly energized, compulsively watchable” — reviews have been mixed with one critic all shook up.IndieWire writer David Ehrlich published his review of the Austin Butler and Tom Hanks-led film Wednesday and trash-talked the flick, calling it a “nightmare” as well as “deliriously awful.”The journalist dove right into “Elvis” — out June 24 — writing that the “159-minute eyesore” is more about Hanks’ Colonel Tom Parker, the longtime manager of the “Love Me Tender” star, and less about Butler’s Elvis.He gave “Elvis” a grade of “D.”IndieWire described the Oscar winner’s character as the “Kentucky Fried Goldmember” and is “possibly the most insufferable movie character ever conceived.” The Hollywood Reporter seemed to agree, dubbing the “Forrest Gump” actor’s role as “arguably the least appealing performance of his career.”But for IndieWire’s Ehrlich, the problem seemed to lie in the pudding: the writing.“Luhrmann’s dizzying script (co-written by Sam Bromell, Jeremy Doner and Craig Pearce) frequently returns to the idea that Presley’s life was caught in the crossfire between two different Americas: One gyrating towards freedom, and the other snuffing it out,” he penned in his review.The critic also compares scenes in “Elvis” to Luhrmann’s other “sensory overload” and “swooningly electric moments” such as the fish tank sequence in his 1996 romance “Romeo + Juliet” and the wild party scene in 2013’s “The Great Gatsby.” “The hyper-romantic energy of those films helped braid the present into the past in a way that made them both feel more alive,” he wrote. “’Elvis’ discovers no such purpose.

Variety has previously reported, “Elvis” Baz Luhrmann’s drama about the rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley, starring Austin Butler (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”) and Tom Hanks, will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.Cannes confirmed the premiere on Tuesday, adding that Luhrmann, Hanks and Butler will attend the premiere screening alongside Olivia DeJonge (“The Visit”), who plays Priscilla Presley in the biopic. They also released a new image of Butler as Elvis.The film is set for North American release on June 24 through Warner Bros.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has firmed a splashy Cannes premiere for Elvis, the Baz Luhrmann-directed epic story about the relationship between Elvis Presley and his manager Colonel Tom Parker that shook up the world of rock and roll forever. No specific date yet, but the film is locked in for a Palais bow, sources said. Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood‘s Austin Butler plays Presley and Tom Hanks plays Parker, the man who discovered the singer and turned him into a world famous star, taking half his earnings for his trouble.