Is There An Extended Version of Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Elvis’ In the Works?

While Elvis is already a long film, clocking in at 2 hours and 39 minutes, director Baz Luhrmann is revealing he’s open to the idea of releasing a four-hour version of the film. However, it won’t be releasing anytime soon.

Luhrmann, 59, has revealed there is a longer cut of the film, which stars Austin Butler as titular music legend Elvis Presley, in the works.

While he joked film fans are “at his gates with pitchforks” demanding the extended version be released, Luhrmann insists it is a complex process.

“Not now, and not probably next year. But I don’t close my mind to the idea that in the future, there might be a way of exploring another [cut].” Luhrmann states.

“I’ve got to be really careful here, because the moment I put it out there … I tell you what, all my tweets are nothing but, ‘We want the
four-hour version! We want the four-hour version!’ I think people are at my gates with pitchforks saying, ‘We want the four-hour version!’ he adds.

Baz Luhrmann Predicts Four to Six Months of Editing Needed for the Extended Cut

“But I don’t close my mind to the idea that there would be an extended cut,” Luhrmann says. “Right now, with how long it’s stayed in the theaters and how well it’s done, it’s crossed the line.

“But it’s done so well on HBO Max over the weekend, so it’s about the parent company going, ‘Wow, it’s really worth spending the money.'” he adds.

Luhrmann admits it would take around four to six months of editing before the four-hour cut is ready.

“Because it isn’t just like I’ve got it, and you just put it out there. Every minute in post-production, you have to do visual effects, grading, cutting, refining, and ADR sound, ” Luhrmann confesses. “It’s not like it’s just sitting there finished, and I can just push a
button and it comes out.”

“You’d have to get back in and work on it. To do an extended cut, you’d be working on it for another four or six months something,” he adds. “I’m not closed to it, but not now. I’m a little bit on the tired side.” 

In June, Luhrmann confirmed there is a longer Elvis cut around, following the movie’s release.

“I mean, I have a four-hour version, actually. I do. But you have to bring it down to 2 hours 30.” Luhrmann had said.

The filmmaker also admitted he would’ve like to have included more about Elvis’ romance with his first girlfriend, Dixie, as well as his
relationship with his band in the motion picture. The film does highlight Elvis’ childhood, but focuses more on his rise to stardom as well as his relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks.

“I would have liked to lean into some of the other things more – there’s so much more,” Luhrmann says. “I mean, there’s lots of stuff that I shot like the relationship with the band, I had to pare [that] down – and it’s so interesting how the Colonel [Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks] gets rid of them.”

“The relationship with his first girlfriend, Dixie, you know. And later on how… once he’s caught in a trap, and he’s discombobulated and
doesn’t understand … someone who’s got such a hole in his heart like Elvis constantly looking and searching for love and finding it on stage but nowhere else.” he adds.

Would you watch a 4-hour version of Elvis? What would you hope to see in an extended cut? Sound off in our comment section below.