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John Carpenter, director:<\/p>\n
In dealing with Elvis, I’m bringing a lot of my own feelings to it and how I feel about him, and how I interpret the script, how I interpret his life. And in that sense, from my point, it’s a personal film. I really love Elvis a lot. I’ve always been a fan of his. I love his music. I have a strong feeling<\/em> for him, it means something to me, I care a lot about the character, I care about his story. And in some senses I feel lucky to be able to direct a film about Elvis, this kind of a film which I don’t feel is exploiting him but I feel is trying to tell his story, trying to tell a story about a man who is bigger than life which is very interesting because he really was a human being, but somewhere in his life I think he transcended that and became mythical.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I am thankful this movie exists. Carpenter’s 1979 film was the first attempt to “deal with” Elvis after his death in 1977. So many horrible details came out following Elvis’ death (as well as right before his death, with the tell-all book by the Betraying Bodyguards) and Carpenter already felt that an Act of Redress was necessary. (Same with Dave Marsh, whose spectacular 1981 book Elvis!<\/i> served a similar function.) <\/p>\n
John Carpenter’s Elvis<\/i> deals compassionately with Elvis’ rise to the top: it is an act of almost aggressive positivity. This might drive some people crazy but the surrounding context is important.<\/p>\n
Kurt Russell, as a child actor, kicked the actual Elvis’ shins in It Happened at the World’s Fair<\/i> …<\/p>\n
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