Throughout decades, many actors have had the opportunity to portray the King of Rock and Roll on-screen with the most recent being Jacob Elordi in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. However, for some fans, Kurt Russell will always be the actor who embodied the pop star best. The actor, who made his movie debut as a boy who kicked Presley in the leg in the 1963 film It Happened at the World’s Fair, played the King of Rock and Roll in John Carpenter’s Television film, Elvis.
The movie was received very well and landed three Primetime Emmy nominations as well. However, preparing to play one of the biggest names in the industry took efforts from its lead star, as the director later shared in an interview that they had to glue the Death Proof star’s ears for the film.
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Kurt Russell Had to Glue His Ears to Play Elvis Presley
Kurt Russell and John Carpenter have collaborated on several movies. However, their professional relationship and friendship took off when the two first worked on the 1979 Television film following the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.
The 75-year-old filmmaker has shared that while auditioning for the movie, he was left with two actors, one who looked exactly like the late pop star but couldn’t act, and the other actor was “somebody named Kurt Russell.” He shared that Russell had the essence of Elvis Presley
While he was impressed with his audition, the renowned director shared that there was one problem with his appearance. “The biggest problem with his physical appearance were his ears,” he shared in an interview before adding, “They’re like cab doors sticking out.” As a solution, they decided to gue his ears to make his appearance more convincing.
“So we had to tape [his ears] down against him. It was unbelievable,” he shared. The trick seemingly worked as the actor not only looked the part but earned praise for his performance, along with an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special.
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John Carpenter Praised Kurt Russell For His Performance
Talking about one of the most special scenes from the 1979 Television film, John Carpenter shared that Kurt Russell made an incredible effort on his part, specifically for the concert footage. The filmmaker even claimed that Russell became Elvis Presley during those sequences. He said,
“It was an incredible effort on his part. He became Elvis up there and he’s has a tin ear he can’t sing he can’t do anything lip syncing away, lip-syncing his heart out and literally he was that performer. He became that guy.”
The Christine director shared that the whole concert footage was shot in two days, and the lead star of his film gave his best when it came to those sequences. However, Russell was not the biggest fan of the crying scenes, as the filmmaker shared that he was annoyed while filming the funeral scene.
