But Nash’s work is considered by many to be the authoritative word on Parker, a former carnie who made his fortune off the King, and whose pros and cons as a very, very controlling manager continue to be debated to this day. What’s your overall feeling on the movie’s truth-ometer? Are the liberties worth it for creating an artistic picture? Does it veer off in ways that seem unnecessary? Variety spoke with her about how much rings true about both of the movie’s primary subjects, point by point. The timeline… well, what timeline? It’s all a Baz Luhrmann fever dream. The past, present and future are all shook up like a ‘50s milkshake and served with a thousand straws! Other than the tremendous pains Baz has taken to make this story seem “woke,” the liberties are essentially fair - except to Parker. Is it true, as portrayed, that Parker was consistently trying to pressure Elvis to tone down his sex appeal? In making him such an antagonist, they have robbed him of his many accomplishments with his client. Elvis took care of what Elvis did and Colonel took care of what Colonel did. He liked it that Elvis did what brought folks into the big tent. Listen, this guy was no fool! Parker loved it that Elvis was like a male striptease artist… like the bally girls on the carnivals. Was there a late ’50s concert riot in which Elvis deliberately disobeyed Parker’s orders not to move around or wiggle on stage? That sold tickets! The only time Parker got critical is when the shows began to falter with drugs or erratic behavior on stage. There were concert riots, most notably in Jacksonville, Fla., but not a concert for which Parker issued orders like that. No, all that stuff was rehearsed and rehearsed. Colonel knew what Elvis was doing and going to do. And again, he did not advise Elvis on any aspect of his performance. Headlines about how lascivious early Elvis was sold concert tickets. “Well,” Parker finally said, “Did they spell his name right?”ĭid Parker’s accent really sound like the one Tom Hanks is using in the film? When Parker crony Gabe Tucker threw a magazine piece on the Colonel’s desk that insinuated that Elvis was gay, Parker didn’t say a word until his friend stopped sputtering.
And he had what sounded like a slight lisp or speech impediment.
Turns out he didn’t have an impediment - he was just trying to wrap a Dutch tongue around the English language, Southern-style. He was also a consultant to the Hilton, where he gambled every day.ĭid Parker really have huge gambling debts he was able to pay off by committing Elvis to a single Vegas hotel for years before Presley’s death? But Baz wanted to make him seem more “other.” Or as Baz told me in an interview, “I thought it was very important that Tom present the audience with a strangeness, a sort of ‘What is going on with this guy?’”ĭid the Colonel live out his later years being sickly in casinos, as portrayed in the movie’s framing device? It sounded like a weird (Southern) regional dialect, and you would know it was Dutch only by listening for certain consonants.
#Sugar sugar archies sold 6 million copies free
Elvis never knew how many shows he played free to satisfy Parker’s enslavement to the roulette wheel and the craps table.
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