“They were a gang, and they ran off to juke joints, and they went to pentecostal tents,” the “Great Gatsby” director continued. “And see, this is the thing about young people. They absorb all kinds of things, especially someone with a big hole in their heart like Elvis, who had conditional love from his mother and was always searching and seeking and absorbing.”
According to Luhrmann, Presley “mixed” Black music with a country twang and gospel affectations. The “Moulin Rouge!” filmmaker credited the pre-production team behind “Elvis” for the thorough process.
“Homework, research, depth of research. I want to make an acknowledgment to my team. I have a research team, and we lived there. We lived in Memphis. I had a space at Graceland,” Luhrmann said. “You see, we do our homework, so I know these things to be true. His love of gospel. He said, ‘That’s the music I love.'”
Luhrmann added that Elvis “went out of his way to say, ‘I didn’t invent Rock and Roll, I just put my own spin on it.’ He said, ‘Don’t call me the King, I’m not the king.'”