Elvis Tribute Artists Radio

Ladyluckmusic.com

To CBS, Howard Braunstein, Michael Jaffe, Robert Greenblatt, David Janollari, Mary Jo Slater and especially to EPE I say: I applaud you for attempting to put together a project that would have hopefully put the story of Elvis once again into the hearts and homes of a new generation. It was a wonderful idea. I implore you to continue to do this but please consult the people who were there. Don’t rely on archives from a corporation when these people are available to tell it how it really was. You have an opportunity to remove the embarrassment and blunder of the first one by producing a second part featuring the Las Vegas and early concert years. Only this time use the right consultants, tell the real story and above all use an Elvis Tribute Artist who has the gift.

I was actually disappointed that I agreed to write this review because I have been trying to forget the latest Elvis mini-series on CBS. Subconsciously, that may be why I did not have it ready for last month’s show. However, it may be a good idea to get a few things off my chest.

I have been an Elvis fan all of my life and his music and legacy have certainly been an integral part of my entertainment business and of me personally. Aside from being a fan, as a musician, singer, entertainer and Elvis tribute artist manager, I made it my business to study Elvis the singer, performer, and movie star. I had the very fortunate opportunity to see Elvis perform live twice and to have over a 25-year friendship and working relationship with some of his closest friends and musicians. I feel these friendships have acquainted me somewhat with Elvis the person.

When you are on the road with people like Joe Esposito, DJ Fontana, Ray Walker, Gordon Stoker, JD Sumner, Charlie Hodge, Myrna Smith, Estelle Brown, and others, for months at a time, year after year, in buses, planes, vans, limos, hotel lobbies, hotel bars, and coffee shops, what would you talk about?  You can’t help but gain personal knowledge about what Elvis the person was really like, and how his career really progressed.

Unfortunately the producers, writers, and directors did not seek that personal knowledge even after it was offered to them. Instead they turned to a corporate machine called EPE Inc. commonly mis-referred to as “The Estate.”

I had contacted Howard Braunstein’s office when an article first appeared in Variety Magazine about their plans over a year and a half ago. We discussed that it looked like the project was not going to get of the ground because of all the red tape they were getting from EPE.  However, I was elated when I read an industry press release much later which stated that not only did they get the green light but that EPE was actually allowing them to use Elvis’ soundtracks. I contacted them immediately with suggestions that they use Joe Esposito, DJ, Scotty and the Jordanaires as consultants for the film and that they were the ones who were there with Elvis by his side when it happened. They had the first hand knowledge that would give the most accurate accounting of how it really happened.

My next goal was to impress upon them the importance of casting the right person in order to achieve the proper respect, success and credibility. The choice for Elvis would make or break the series. That is when it was told to me that EPE had made a stipulation that they must use a bona fide actor and not an impersonator to portray Elvis. However they did say that if they found someone who was incredible they would still consider it. So I embarked on a campaign to contact every producer, executive producer, writer and casting director associated with the film both at CBS and the independent sector with recommendations for the role. But in the end they fell to the whims of EPE.
These producers and writers were Hollywood heavyweights with award winning classic works to their credit. That is another reason why it was so hard for me to believe what they allowed to come off the screen. In any other movie, we would naturally allow for some inaccuracies and Hollywood interpretations of the facts, but people know about Elvis. They know how it happened. Elvis fans are knowledgeable.  

The movie had some interesting and intriguing scenes and set ups. The camera work and angles were very good. Cameron Manheim and Randy Quaid did an excellent job of capturing the characters of Gladys and the Colonel even though the script was highly inaccurate in relation to certain real life scenarios. Rose McGowan, however,  delivered a very poor Ann Margret. It is so unfortunate that all the aspects consciously noticed by the public, mainly the casting choice for the role of Elvis, the acting, and story line, left much to be desired.

The producers held a large scale, cattle call audition for this project in November 2004. This is a common tactic used to gain publicity for the project but many of the nation’s top tribute artists were on hand to do screen tests and readings. Some others such as Trent Carlini and Ryan Pelton opted not to participate even though a tremendous amount of publicity surrounded the event. After passing up Tribute Artists such as Justin Shandor, Dean Z, Donny Edwards, and even Shawn Klush, who had portrayed a young Elvis for CBS in the past, they went with Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the Irish born actor that the producers had their eye on before the casting call ever took place. He has some nice film acting credits to his name so EPE would consider him a bona fide actor but I can tell you this, if Meyers were brought to me to audition as an impersonator I would not have hired him. As far as I am concerned, the professional tribute artists are acting in a reoccurring role every night they perform. Each has done the ultimate character study and applied it night after night in their “act”.

Meyers did successfully overcome his accent, but failed to capture the personality or persona of Elvis. The casting directors should have taken a lesson from the movie Ray and found a person or actor who has the gift of being able to capture both the look and spirit of Elvis and expose and re-expose the Elvis story to a new generation. There are a handful of tribute artists out there who possess this gift yet the producers chose to pass on them. Meyers was such a poor choice that Spin Magazine even took the time to poke fun.

Although Meyers did have dark hair, he spent the bulk of the movie with it uncombed and hanging in his face, a look Elvis wouldn’t have been seen in public with unless it was near the end of a show and he out gyrated his pompadour. The lip-syncing was the worst I have ever seen and Meyers looked very awkward and even spastic at times while attempting to move to the music (a good example is If I Can Dream in the last scene of the movie where he almost seemed autistic). That’s one thing Hollywood doesn’t seem to realize:  Elvis didn’t move because he was told to, he moved because his body became part of his musical expression. His body became possessed by the beat so to speak. He just had to move once the music started. For Elvis it was natural.  For Meyers, it was completely and obviously forced. There were so many flaws in the casting of Meyers for this part that it leads us to the question, what were they thinking?