WALK THE ELVIS
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[00:00:00] Jerome: And then as he's recovering now, right? He sees all those letters. And what's interesting is that earlier in the film, the wife said, you see all those damn letters? They're all from chicks. Why don't throw their panties at you? You know what I mean? Which by the way, and Elvis, the chicks were throwing, they're literal panties at Elvis.
And the one guy's like, is that a woman's undergarment I just saw
[00:00:28] Chris: right. You are listening to the Silver Screen Happy Hour. I'm your host, Chris Wigand, along with my brother Jerome, who is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, and a screenwriter. Uh, this is the show where we pair Tasty Drinks to go with a couple of movies. I'm really excited to share with you the movies, uh, that we discussed and, uh, have you jump into our conversation.
I just wanted to give you a heads up. There was a little bit of technical difficulties we had and thankfully due to my, uh, [00:01:00] improving editing skills, um, I don't even know if you'll be able to tell. I don't think you'll be able to tell where it froze up and we had to cut it off and start over, um, somewhere in the middle of the podcast, but I think it's listenable.
There's a little background noise, my brother's end, but, uh, it all works. I just wanted to throw that out there. But anyways, let me get the film real going and we will, uh, jump into the conversation.
So, uh, Jerome, what uh, movies are we talking about today and what are we gonna start with?
[00:01:39] Jerome: We are doing a Memphis location double feature about music. We are doing Elvis, the 2022 film that is up for a gaggle of Oscars. Um, anyone listening to this recording, the Oscars, the nominations have come out, but the awards have [00:02:00] not yet.
So we're in that, that sweet spot in between.
[00:02:03] Chris: And while we're, while you're talking about Elvis, I'm gonna pour my beer. I'm drinking Oberon, which is, uh, in a midsummer's night dream. Uh, Oberon is the, what is it? The king of the ferries. And we're gonna be, and we're gonna be discussing the king of rock and roll.
So I was just grasping for straws and I was looking for a beer that we had in the house. So I made it work. It's all true. I mean,
[00:02:32] Jerome: you know. 20 years ago. I could have made a joke there, but I'm not going there now. Yeah.
[00:02:38] Chris: Thank you. I appreciate that. Um,
[00:02:41] Jerome: but like, nevermind. Anyway, anyway, the other film we're doing is the 2005 Walk the Line, uh, about Johnny Cash.
So obviously two great singers. What I found was interesting right off the bat [00:03:00] in the beginning of both films, although it's not mentioned in Elvis at all, it's hinted, but it's not mentioned. It's mentioned and walked the line. Did they start it out together? Yeah, they started out together with ~Fa,~ Sam Phillips and his recordings in, in, uh, Memphis
[00:03:13] Chris: Sun. Is it Sun Studios or?
[00:03:15] Jerome: Yeah. Sun Studios. And, uh, that's kind of where they got their start. And they actually did like touring together.
[00:03:21] Chris: Yeah. And well, yeah. And walked the line That was part of the movie where Elvis was in the scene, a couple of scenes or something. Right.
[00:03:27] Jerome: Um, yeah. He's actually a major part.
[00:03:29] Chris: Right, right.
[00:03:29] Jerome: But they don't mention Johnny Cash at all. Mm-hmm. In the film, Elvis. Mm-hmm. Um, so those are the two films we're talking about today. Uh, comparing and contrasting two biopics, which you'll find in script structure. It is a little different, but not really as far as the stuff that we talk about a lot.
Um, but we're gonna start with Elvis, cuz I got some shit I gotta get off my chest, so,
[00:03:54] Chris: hold on. Wait first, wait, wait, wait. What? What are you drinking? Oh, okay. We already talked about what I'm drinking. So first thing [00:04:00] first.
[00:04:00] Jerome: First things first. So in honor of Johnny Cash, who throughout the film they show him drinking beer. I am also sticking with beer today, but it's my regular, uh, cheap ass light saber blue light bud light rather.
[00:04:13] Chris: At least I had the king of fairies to go with the King of rock.
[00:04:15] Jerome: Yes, yes. Right, right. I have nothing to go with this. My Bud Light and the tall blue can worked well with the blue light saber when we did Star Wars.
Yeah. I don't have anything cool to tie in today. I, I was gonna get a whiskey, uh, but I just didn't have time. I didn't have time to pick out a nice new bottle of something. So I'm just going with beer today in the, uh, honor of Johnny Cash. Um, I, I guess I could pop some pills on Johnny Cash, but it wouldn't be the same.
[00:04:42] Chris: The recording. We gotta keep this recording tight and, uh, we start popping pills. We'll go, we'll go all night.
[00:04:49] Jerome: It just wouldn't work. It just wouldn't work at all. So, um, anyway, so we're gonna kick it over to Elvis now. I am conflicted big time because I'm gonna, I'm [00:05:00] gonna say something that people rarely say.
I loved the film, I had problems with the script. Mm-hmm. Normally if a film isn't written well, the film sucks. Yeah. But Baz Luhrmann who directed it and uh, we'll get to the writing credits in a second cuz that's part of the fucking problem. Um. But Baz Luhrmann's, I love Baz Luhrmann's films fantastic. I loved Romeo and Juliet, great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge.
Like he, he's a great visual filmmaker, great visual director, and he gets great performances out of his actors. Um, you know, uh, Nicole Kidman might the best I think I've ever seen her was Moulin Rouge. Um, you know, uh, Claire Danes, as young as she was probably Romeo and Juliet's the best movie I ever saw her in. Um,
[00:05:52] Chris: that was a great one.
[00:05:53] Jerome: So he gets really good performances out of his, his actors, uh, and visually. His films are amazing. [00:06:00] Elvis on that level was fantastic. I think it was a great film. I don't know if it's the front runner right now for best picture. It's, I think it's the front runner for best actor. Um, So I, I know that it's the front runner in a lot of categories, and I, it,
[00:06:16] Chris: I hope it's not for best picture, um, because I, I agree that like, I, so the first time I watched Elvis, I fell asleep and I'm not, you know, partially though I was in my bed watching it and, you know, I get up at 3:30 in the morning.
It's not hard for me to fall asleep watching a film, but, you know, if it, if it's good enough, usually it'll keep my attention. But, Something about the way it, it jumped around. Um, I don't know. It was beautiful. I thought they did a great job with like, the directing. It was, I thought a lot of the directing, like with, uh, cinematography and the Yeah.
The, the media they used with, uh, the screenshots and the split screen and how they did [00:07:00] that a bunch of times was really cool. I liked it.
[00:07:02] Jerome: Yeah. Yep. But it, it, it actually gave me, uh, I had some flashbacks of Moneyball mm-hmm. Where Moneyball does a good example of mixing real life footage with, uh, the film that they're shooting.
Right. Particularly, uh, those that have seen the movie Money Ball, the, the Climactic game at the end with the home run. It's intercut the real live TV footage from 2002 mixed in with mm-hmm. You know, footage that they shot. Right. And it's done so great. And it's beautiful. And there's a, a couple of shots like that in, in Elvis where they use the real footage of Elvis.
Yeah. And they sort of intercut it in with the movie that they're shooting. I thought it was a, a fun watch. I didn't fall asleep at all. It was entertaining. I actually thought it was, it was well paced. Uh, the editing was great again, visually. Um, and up until I [00:08:00] just saw it for the first time a few nights ago mm-hmm.
To prepare for this podcast. I hadn't seen it in the theater. I regret now not seeing it in the theater. Um, but up until a few nights ago, I had pretty much penciled in, uh, Brendan Frazier for Best Actor in the Whale. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That movie was Dark Man. But I really think Austin Butler did an amazing job, man.
He had his, uh, I mean, um, the mo the shaking with the gyrating. Yeah. He had the moves down. It's not just the makeup with the hair and everything, although that was spot on, but he even had mannerisms down. Right. You know what I mean? Like just the way that bottom lip would, would. Would, would pout down a little bit.
He really had that Elvis shit down. Like he,
[00:08:46] Chris: no, I think it's, yeah, I think he's a strong contender for best actor.
[00:08:50] Jerome: I mean, he, he was amazing. I, and, and this is an important part for, you know, a guy like Austin Butler's not a huge name. Right? He will be now. Mm-hmm. [00:09:00] Um, but he's not a, he wasn't a huge name at the time this was made, but there's one thing that he does have, uh, is screen presence.
[00:09:08] Chris: Right.
[00:09:08] Jerome: And, and thankfully they picked the right guy to play Elvis because if you're gonna play Elvis Presley, you better damn well have screen presence. Right? Right. And he does every scene that he's in, every shot, every frame that he's in, he owns the screen.
[00:09:23] Chris: Something else that I noticed with this, with this guy, he, so I've seen really good, like young Elvis impersonators, really good old fat Elvis impersonators, but he, I thought he nailed each era. Really well. So like the young one, I mean, they even showed at some points where there was like flashbacks to when he was young from previous scenes in the movie. Yeah. To, to where he was at at that moment in the movie. And it's like, holy shit. He really did look a, like a much younger guy and then a much older guy.
And it was, you know, of course makeup and everything, but [00:10:00] the way he kind of carried himself and, and performed and he just did such a good job. It was crazy.
[00:10:07] Jerome: Yeah. You know, and they do, uh, they're, this is. Completely unrelated, but I, I had that same feeling when I saw Broke Back Mountain where, uh, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal's characters age over 20 years. And it, it's so subtle. You know what I mean? Like, it's just, it's a mustache here. It's a couple of gray hairs there, but you see them aging. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean, on screen. And Austin Butler does a great job of that. Again, a lot of it's makeup, but,
[00:10:36] Chris: well, I didn't even notice it until they did the flashback. I think it was so subtle.
[00:10:41] Jerome: Yeah.
[00:10:41] Chris: That when they did the flashback, I was like, oh crap. You know, these big sideburns and the little bit of weighty gained it really, I noticed it when I saw the flashback, so, yeah.
[00:10:52] Jerome: Yep. Yep. And, um, particularly the ending, because they intercut a lot of the real life when he did that.
Uh, Unchained melody, [00:11:00] right? Yeah. On piano. Yeah. What's interesting about that is, They use Unchained Melody in the trailer. It's the end of the trailer. And of course it ends this film and people get the idea, they hear him sing it and they're like, oh wow. Uh, the Righteous Brothers covered in Elvis song, and it's actually the other way around.
The Righteous Brothers is created. That song, Elvis, Elvis covered them. Right. Um, and a little interesting tie to covering, uh, when we get to walk the line, you'd be, uh, amazed to know how much Johnny Cash actually covered other people's songs too. Yeah. Um, but um, so anyway, so, so the film itself was enjoyable for me.
I won't. Throw anything at the TV if it wins. Best picture. I don't have a particular favorite. You remember? Uh, I haven't seen them all yet. Mm-hmm. But, you know, you know me. Anyone that's listening to this podcast tell you, there's always that one film that I love that nobody else does that I think should win.
And it doesn't. It [00:12:00] never does. It rarely does. I shouldn't say never. It rarely does. I don't know what my favorite film was from last year. I really don't. I think I was most moved by the whale, but I don't know. You know, I can't say that there's that one that I'm, you know, I didn't have a Midsummer this year.
Yeah. You know, I didn't have a a a a Bird Man or a Silence of the Lambs. I didn't have one of those this year where it's, I'm just like, I'm all in on this movie, and then this is the movie that you know is better than everything else. I don't care what you show me. Mm-hmm. I didn't have that yet. Now I haven't seen them all, but.
I wouldn't be mad right now if Elvis wins. It was a fun movie for me. It was. It was very well done. But now let me get to the script, which is why we're here, which is what we like to talk about. Now, I'll give you guys a dead giveaway. If you know that a script is in trouble, you have to look no further than the credits.
Mm. Okay. And what's [00:13:00] odd about this is that director is one of the writers. Yeah. So you would think, you would think that Baz Luhrmann's script, like he would tell the studio, this is the movie I'm making, but no, he apparently. All right, so here's how the, here's how the credits laid out. It's, it's an unbelievable, uh, seven credits over five people.
[00:13:23] Chris: Oh my God.
[00:13:24] Jerome: Um, scratch that. Four people, four people. Two, maybe six or seven credits. Two, four or seven. I don't know. We'll do the math in a minute. So Jeremy Doner and Baz Luhrmann wrote the original script, like they're the ones that wrote the script, right? Mm-hmm. Taking whatever, um, adaptations from book. I don't even think it was based on a book.
I think they just, they just wrote a screenplay. Mm-hmm. And so they write the script, they get story by credit. So when you get story by credit, that means that the script was then changed again. Mm-hmm. Right? And, [00:14:00] and here's the funny part. So it's story by Baz Luhrmann, the director and Jeremy Doner. Then the screenplay credits are Boleman and Sam Bromell and Baz Luhrmann and Greg Pearce.
Mm. And. Jeffrey Domer again, or Jeremy Don. Wow. Jeremy Doner again. Which means that the original script that they had, they then changed it. They brought in, he brought in another writer, which means the studio was like, we're not happy, bring in another writer. So he brings in another writer, they do another rewrite enough to where, uh, one of the Sam Broel gets SAG credit or SAG WGA credit.
Right. As a union, I get credit on screen fine. They're not happy with that either. Mm-hmm. So the studio comes back and says, Now, this sucks. Gimme another rewrite. This is the fucking director, by the way. But you would think at some point he would say, [00:15:00] look, this is my film. Dammit. Yeah. Right? But they're like, no, no, no, no.
We, we need more rewrite. So then Craig Pearce comes in and they rewrite it again.
[00:15:07] Chris: Do you think, do you think that was Studio influence? The studio to be, the studio is looking at the, the, the, uh, what do you call it? The, the dailies going, uh,
[00:15:18] Jerome: well, I don't know if it got, if they did all this shit during the shoot, that's even worse if they did.
Right. Because that, that's a, that's a clear cut. This is a disaster film when you're bringing writers in while you're shooting. Right.
[00:15:33] Chris: Well, they had so much money wrapped into this with the, the names that were asso, well, not all the names, but there were some big names. There were some, there were some, uh, recognizable actors that were in this movie.
[00:15:46] Jerome: Yes.
[00:15:46] Chris: So,
[00:15:46] Jerome: yes, but I. I think that all this stuff was being hashed out in pre-production. Mm-hmm. Like, did they, I don't, I wouldn't take Baz Luhrmann as somebody that would try to write a [00:16:00] movie as he's shooting it. Yeah. He's, he's so much more talented than that. He's a way better filmmaker than that. He's not a rookie. That's a novice move. That is a novice move. And I wouldn't, I wouldn't think, and if that happened, that people that are listening, like it was a real shit show. He doesn't really know. But, uh, I'd like to think,
[00:16:19] Chris: if you know, please message us. Please email us and we'd love to talk
[00:16:23] Jerome: If you were on this set, or if you're Baz Luhrmann himself, write us and say, you would not believe what the studio made me do while I was shooting this fucking thing.
But anyway, so
[00:16:33] Chris: if that's the case, I gotta say he did an amazing job with me.
[00:16:37] Jerome: He did. Well, again, the finished product is, is a great film. Right. It's really fun. Um, so despite the screenwriting mishaps, and again, if anyone's like, well, tell us what screenwriting or mishaps. Okay. So, uh, having all these writers, here's the problem.
Whose story is it?
[00:16:53] Chris: Well, yeah, I texted you and asked you, is it that Tom Hanks is the lead in a movie about Elvis? [00:17:00]
[00:17:00] Jerome: Right. And, and again, and I text you back saying that would be fine if it was his story from start to finish.
[00:17:07] Chris: Right, right.
[00:17:07] Jerome: But so like, like three quarters in, or two thirds in, it stops being about Parker and it's all in on Elvis.
Yeah. And it's like, wait a sec. And, and then there's a few scenes with Parker. Yeah. But it's really not about him. At some point it just stops being about him. Yeah. And he's narrating the thing for God's sake. And, and then it starts being about him later again. Yeah. And then the end, it's like, and then the ending is all Elvis, except for one shot of Parker dying.
Yeah. Like, you know, just in case you forgot who the lead was, we'll throw in a shot of the guy dying, but the whole ending is about Elvis. It's like, alright, so whose fucking story is this? Right. I mean, I mean, I, I would think that it's an Elvis story, so, uh, so you know, when you look, think about screenwriting structure, you think, okay, so if Parker is the lead.[00:18:00]
Then what are his tangible and spiritual goals that we always talk about? What is it he wants and what is it he learns? Like what does he learn on this journey? Cuz he doesn't learn a goddamn thing. No, he doesn't learn a thing. Right. Like to the day he dies, he keeps saying in the narration, I did nothing wrong. I,
[00:18:17] Chris: in fact, still, anyway, there's, there's a lot about him that's still a mystery, right? Because they,
[00:18:24] Jerome: they allude
[00:18:25] Chris: Yeah.
[00:18:25] Jerome: But they do not close the deal.
[00:18:27] Chris: Right, right. Absolutely right. Actually, I was rewatching it today with our mom and dad and, um, mostly mom, dad just kinda walked in and started talking about it.
He watched it on, on an airplane, I think going to see you. Um, but. Or coming home from seeing you.
[00:18:43] Jerome: Right. Mom hadn't seen it.
[00:18:44] Chris: Mom hadn't seen it. But um, but yeah, there my dad was like, or dad? My dad. Your dad? Who's dad? My dad. Okay. Dad. Dad. I guess I was talking to the audience. Um, he [00:19:00] said something like, like there were like rumors that maybe he was, uh, what was his name?
Um, they called him the Colonel.
[00:19:09] Jerome: Colonel Parker.
[00:19:10] Chris: Colonel Parker. Um, who controlled Elvis's life basically, uh, professional life.
[00:19:16] Jerome: Tom Parker was his name. They called him Colonel. Yeah. And, and at some point, at some point, I'm sorry, not to cut you off real quick. Yeah. But at some point near the end, Elvis starts referring to him as Admiral.
Like he got fucking promoted somehow from, well, from Colonel to Admiral.
[00:19:32] Chris: He, he was annoyed with him, I think, cuz he even called him Colonel Sanders at one time.
[00:19:38] Jerome: But, okay, go ahead. Go ahead. So you were talking to mom and dad about it?
[00:19:41] Chris: So, yeah, dad, dad mentioned, and I don't know if this was like popular rumor in pop culture at the time because I had never really paid attention to this story growing up.
I just knew Elvis the icon and I didn't really know any of the backstory about his manager and stuff, but, Dad said, uh, something [00:20:00] like, uh, you know, there's, there's speculation that maybe he was a Nazi or something during, during the war, or maybe a Nazi sympathizer. Cuz there's a lot of mystery about where he was really from.
He had that accent that mm-hmm. And, and it came out in the movie that he didn't have proper papers to travel, uh, in and out of the United States. And he claimed he was from the States. Yeah. But he didn't, he couldn't prove it. And so,
[00:20:27] Jerome: and he had an accent.
[00:20:28] Chris: And he had an accent. So he wasn't born here. What?
So it was a, a lot of, so I, I would like to actually just go down a rabbit hole at some point and, you know, look into that. But it wasn't discu. It wasn't You're right though, in the movie they didn't close it. They didn't
[00:20:42] Jerome: Right, right. They set it up. Yeah. They allude to all this shit and then they don't close the deal.
[00:20:47] Chris: Right.
[00:20:49] Jerome: And, um, here, just for the listeners.
[00:20:53] Chris: Oh, that was for me too.
[00:20:55] Jerome: Yeah, that was good. Um, so. So there's that problem. [00:21:00] Um, and like I said about, I wanna say around, uh, halfway through right now, so again, if you start talking about tangible spiritual goals, I tend to think it's Elvis, right? Because he's the one that really goes on a journey.
Parker doesn't, but Parker's narrating the whole thing. Yeah. So you think, well, then it's his story, but it's really Elvis's story, right? I mean, come on. It's a biopic about Elvis.
[00:21:25] Chris: It's called, it's not Elvis.
[00:21:26] Jerome: Right? It's, it's not called Parker. It's not called the Colonel. It's not a biopic about Tom Parker.
Right. Right. It's a biopic about Elvis, and sure enough, it has so many opportunities to be that movie. Right. You know, when they start, um, when they show him as a child and he goes to that gospel revival tent, you know? Yeah. And he starts doing the shaking and everything. Yeah. And, and I went back and looked at it again the other last night.
Because I was looking to see what the, uh, preacher said to him. Mm-hmm. Because remember we looked for that, that theme, right. The first five minutes or whatever. [00:22:00] And I was hoping somebody said something along the lines, uh, the best I could make out was the, the preacher says a kid tries to grab him and pull him back, and the preacher stops him and says, uh, he's got the spirit.
Right. Or something like that. Yeah. So, so if you look at what, I mean, if you look at the whole film, what is it really saying? What is the journey that Elvis goes through? What is his biggest obstacle? Right? Mm-hmm. His biggest obstacle, to me anyway, over a damn near three hour film is that so many people tried to keep him from being who he really was.
[00:22:35] Chris: Right?
[00:22:35] Jerome: Right. They didn't want him gyrating. Right. They didn't want him shaking his, his ass and his legs and all that. Yeah. Right. That it was the Satan, Satan himself coming through rock and roll. Yeah. Um,
[00:22:46] Chris: race played a huge theme in the movie. I mean, oh,
[00:22:49] Jerome: ah, of course, obviously, right? Like he. Yeah, he's coming from Well, and I was,
[00:22:54] Chris: it's funny cuz just watching it with mom, I was like, man, really just letting it sink, sink [00:23:00] in.
Everyone knows this, that, you know, Elvis was the bridge that brought us rock and roll from the blues, um, from the, you know, the black music culture. He bridged it because, yeah. And, and I'm like, it's, it's, it's, I think I even said this to mom, it's funny watching this on this side of history, the, the idea that it was such a scandalous thing, right.
For white people to listen to black music.
[00:23:27] Jerome: Exactly. And, and
[00:23:28] Chris: I'm like, because I grew up with rock and roll, which is heavily influenced by black, you know, blues music. Yeah. I mean, we wouldn't have rock and roll with that s
[00:23:38] Jerome: but even look at, but even look at r and b today, like white people listening to black music isn't a thing anymore.
Or I mean, it isn't scandalous. Well, yeah. You know, it is, it isn't a big deal. All white people listen to black music. Right. You know, so it's like, it's not, it's, it's. It's so common now for artists to just be artists. It doesn't matter what the color of their skin is, but back [00:24:00] then,
[00:24:00] Chris: oh my gosh, yeah.
[00:24:01] Jerome: Elvis singing Black Gospel music and bringing it to white kids, terrified the shit out of white America.
They were like, what? No, no. You know what I mean?
[00:24:12] Chris: And this movie did a great job like capturing that, right? Yes. Capturing the horror on these white conservative parents and stuff
[00:24:21] Jerome: and to, to a point. Well, there's two things. There's a two-prong effect. One of it for the men, it was racism. Right. It was right.
They're trying to make us listen to black music. For the women, it was, I feel the devil in me. Even Tom Parker says at one point, he goes, I knew I had a hit when I saw that girl's eyes, she would've eaten him alive. He was the forbidden fruit. He actually says those words. Right. He was the forbidden fruit.
Yep. So, and you And they showed that girl and she's freaking out. Yeah. She's like, I was like, oh my gosh. See? Yeah. She's just losing it at this concert. And it wasn't even a concert. They were in like a [00:25:00] somebody's gym or something. Like it wasn't even that big of an amphitheater.
[00:25:02] Chris: I think she might have climaxed.
[00:25:04] Jerome: Yeah, I think she did. And that was the whole point. He was like, I knew then I had my meal ticket. And that's because he just got out there and started gyrating and shaking his ass. And these girls lost their minds. Yeah. So for the women, and particularly the fathers of these women, it was Satan is coming out in rock and roll.
Yeah. And they're making our kids do sexual things. Right. Like, here we go. Wasn't that loud? He's bringing, he's bringing sex out. And it was that, that was the big deal for the Oh, okay. Yeah. I'll stop. So that happens. Sorry, I poured that one a little heavy. Yeah. Oh, oh yeah. There you go. There you go.
[00:25:51] Chris: King of the fairies, I guess. I'm going, I'm gonna choke [00:26:00] on this.
[00:26:02] Jerome: That, that, that king of the ferries is thick. Mm-hmm. I can see it from here. Yeah. That's thick.
[00:26:08] Chris: Honestly. Oberon one of my favorite summer beers and I'm drinking it in the winter. There you go.
[00:26:14] Jerome: So, uh, so lemme get back to poor Elvis. Mm-hmm. So, um, so again, if you were going with any sort of a screenwriting structure, it's gotta be from Elvis's point of view.
Yeah. Unfortunately, the movie's narrated by Parker, so you don't really know who the hell's story it is. Mm-hmm. Right. But it's, but if you follow sort of that three act structure, uh, the rise, the fall, the redemption, and, you know, the turning points, it's, it's obvious to me the first turning point is when they're on, I wanna say the Ferris wheel and, and, uh, And Parker pitches him to be full-time.
Right? Right. Like, he was only supposed to go down to Florida for four days, uh, to check out the touring. He's still with Sam [00:27:00] Phillips at this point. They only mention it, but they don't mention Johnny Cash at all. But he's part of that touring company. Right. Uh, on that Ferris wheel, Parker convinces him, come with me full time and we will leave all this crap.
We will leave this, this carnival shit that I got going on. You leave Sam Phillips and we'll go off together. And, and I mean, the very next scene is a montage where he signs with RCA records. Right. He buys the house at Graceland, you know what I mean? Like all that. And you know, like, okay, we're now in act two, because Act two is supposed to be the flip side of Act one.
Mm-hmm. Act one. He was just a guy Right. Playing music. And, and now here we are in Act two, and now he's, he's, he's he's big shit now, right? Yeah. Um, In the midpoint scene, uh, he becomes a Hollywood star, which he says several times throughout the film, this is all I ever wanted. Right. So as you near the midpoint scene, he joins the army, right?
Mm-hmm. [00:28:00] And, uh, his mother dies. Yep. And Priscilla comes into the picture. So when all those things culminate, and then right when he gets outta the army, Parker has him signed up for some Hollywood films. Mm-hmm. Right? And that's when he says that's all he ever wanted was to be a Hollywood star. So he gets what he wants right at the midpoint scene, which is what we always say happens to the lead on their journey.
Right. So it switched to Elvis being the lead. Right. So now Elvis is the lead, which again, I think Elvis is the lead the whole time. Yeah. But they're lying to me.
[00:28:32] Chris: Yeah. The way they wrote it just sucked.
[00:28:33] Jerome: Right? Yeah, exactly. And, and again, we always say the second part of Act two, everything starts to go to shit.
Some bad things start happening. Uh, Martin Luther King is killed. Yep. Right. Um, Bobby Kennedy. Uh, Ken. Yeah, Bobby Kennedy is killed. Um, there's a, there's a great scene though, where he realizes that, uh, Parker's not taking him anywhere now. Right. So he recruits those guys. He's on the [00:29:00] Hollywood sign, remember he's sitting on the Hollywood sign and he recruits, those other dudes decide to save his, his career.
And they do that The Christmas special. Yeah. Right.
[00:29:08] Chris: Well, hold on once again. The, when, when, uh, Martin Luther King Jr. Died and Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, um, I remember a part where, um, his manager was just trying to be like, okay, let's, you know, let's move on and yeah,
[00:29:21] Jerome: let's do the Christmas special
[00:29:22] Chris: Elvis. And Elvis was like, we gotta respond to this. Yeah. And then he's like, well, this isn't about you. And he's like, it's all about me. It's, you know, it's about, because race has had played such a, it happened, it happened in Memphis, you know. Yeah. Martin Luther King. Yep. Um, being assassinated in Memphis. Um, You know, and yeah.
So it was, I thought they played all that really well, the way they did that.
[00:29:46] Jerome: Yeah. Yeah. So Elvis defies his manager. He comes out and he does the protest song. Yeah. Right. Um, and then, you know, Priscilla tries to get him to leave Parker. Yeah. And what does he do? He gets [00:30:00] conned into staying with Parker and signing that huge deal with the international, the new casino, hotel, whatever.
Um, and it's just, it's like, it's, it's obvious that, that this is his story. Because as you get to the end of this Act two and you approach the all is lost, which is, to me, it's a combination of, you know, uh, Priscilla leaves him, right? Mm-hmm. It's, it's, that's the, the main thing. Um, and then the other guy tells.
Elvis, the truth about Parker, that he might be a Nazi sympathizer. Right. He might be a Nazi. He passes out in the hallway because he's like the one guy I looked at my whole life to carry me through this might be the worst guy. The world. Yeah. In the world. Yeah. And he is taking all my money, so obviously everything goes to shit.
And then, um, but then he stays on with them. Yeah. And again, this is to me is a writing flaw because they built it up like he's supposed to learn something on this journey. Right. And for Elvis to turn around and hug it out [00:31:00] with this guy and say, yeah, let, let's stay together. Yeah. Like what?
[00:31:07] Chris: I know. It, it either makes Elvis to be like a, a very weak person.
[00:31:13] Jerome: Right.
[00:31:13] Chris: You know, or,
[00:31:14] Jerome: or stupid. Or stupid.
[00:31:15] Chris: Or stupid. And, and I think probably, uh, what's the colonel, what's his name? Um,
[00:31:21] Jerome: Tom Parker.
[00:31:22] Chris: Tom Parker. I think he was a master manipulator. So, so, you know, and, but they, but, but the way they played it, it, it just kind of made Elvis look weak.
[00:31:32] Jerome: Well, and again, they, they fucked up how the structure was.
Now, again, if you wanted to make it Tom Parker's story fine, but then in the voiceovers he keeps saying, I did nothing wrong. Right, right, right. I didn't do anything wrong. I was just his manager. Mm-hmm. If you really wanted to play that up, you could have played it to where he was like, and I got him to come back to me and I got him to do this, and I got him to do that.
He didn't wanna do [00:32:00] that stupid hound dog thing with the tuxedo, but I made him do it. You know what I mean? You could have made him the villain from day one. Right, right, right. And, and, and him be that master manipulator. But instead they, they, they, Portrayed him like, oh, I didn't do anything wrong. I was okay.
I was the manager. You, he even says at the beginning, what's he saying? The first half hour? Or, I don't know where it was. You wouldn't have Elvis Presley if it wasn't for me. Right.
[00:32:25] Chris: Well, like, like you said though, I mean, if they would've just made it about the colonel made a movie about the colonel and had Elvis sort of, you know, the support for that story.
Um, cuz the, the way the movie started, I wrote down, I mean, it starts with the colonel. What? Having nightmares and saying, um, that they, they think the colonel killed Elvis. Right. They think I killed Elvis. He said, right, right. And that's how it started. It, it, yeah. You know, that was the opening scene of the movie with him.
Yeah. And so, anyways,
[00:32:56] Jerome: The, the, the, the parts of that movie that moved me the most [00:33:00] is the kid at the beginning when he is in the gospel revival tent. Yeah. And then how that translates to him on stage. Yeah, yeah. As an adult. Yeah. Those are the funnest parts of the movie. Right. You know, and to me it gets killed with all this shitty writing mixed in with, with Parker.
And I get Parker's a major part of the story, but. They, it's almost like they couldn't figure out what story they wanted to tell. Right. Right. So, uh, I don't even know if it's one of the Oscar nominations for screenplay. I would hope not. Right, right. Um, but who the hell knows at this point?
[00:33:31] Chris: There's a couple of actors ~I, I wanted a shout out to, or, uh, ~I know that a couple of my kids would definitely enjoy if they hadn't seen it.
Um, I know my daughter, Kaitlynn, would love to know that Yola plays a part in this movie. She's a, a modern, uh, Blues singer, um, African, well, she's not African American. I think she's British, but she's black, um, blues singer. I discovered her on like NPR or something. I, I couldn't believe this woman's voice.
And I, I turned Kaitlynn onto her. But, uh, she, she [00:34:00] has a few, few, uh, great scenes where she's singing. Um, and then the guy that played Billy in Stranger Things, he's, he's in it. Not a huge role, but I, I recognized him. He was the longhaired, uh, brother in one of the Stranger Things, uh, se uh, seasons. Who, who was he in?
Elvis. So I remember he was like in the studio and I can't remember his, his, uh, name, uh, what his role was. So I think he was okay. Um, I don't know. He might have been, uh, behind the, behind the glass while they were recording or something, but, gotcha. Yeah.
[00:34:36] Jerome: So, uh, Elvis has got eight Oscar nominations, and I wanna say I, I, I can support all eight of 'em.
All right, so here we go. So we talked about, uh, except for best picture, right, we know that it's, it's one of the best films of the year. It's nominated, uh, best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling, right? We can accept that, right? We're good with that. [00:35:00] Best sound, we're good with that. Best performance by an actor and a leading role.
Austin Butler. Obviously we're all in, right? We, we can accept that. Um, best achievement and cinematography. Right? Yes. Okay. We got that. Best achievement and costume design. Katherine Martin, who's already got four Oscars for, uh, similar awards. Also a producer on this film. Baz Luhrmann's wife I might add. Um, she's up for best costume design.
Okay. Can accept that best achievement in film editing. Okay. And the last one, of course, Katherine Martin's in on this one too. Best Achievement in Production Design. So as you notice Yeah. Not nominated for screenplay. Yeah. Yep. So, uh, we're sitting here bashing I know. Uh, the writing and, and for rightfully so we're sitting here, we obviously, we got a lot of problems with the scripts and we're obviously not the only ones.
Right, right. Right. Because it [00:36:00] did not get nominated for screenplay. And that's a telling thing for a movie to have eight Oscar nominations, a front runner for best picture and best actor. And it can't get a writing nomination. I mean, Uh, what does that remind you of? Uh, I'll, I'll tell you what it reminds me of.
Remember Titanic, which had a flood of nominations, including, uh, Kate Winslet for best actress and of course, best Picture and best director, right. Couldn't score writing a nomination. Why? Because the writing sucked in that movie, right. I mean, is a great spectacle film, but the writing sucked. And that's, that's, you know, so I feel like we're, we're having the kind of the same thing here.
Um, but I'm happy with just about all its other No, I, I'm happy with all of his other nominations. Yeah, me too. Um, and I, I gotta tell you, like I said, I already said it once, but I'll say it again. A couple nights ago I had Brendan Frazier in as best actor for the Whale. Mm-hmm. Um, we haven't really talked about the whale and any of these podcasts yet.[00:37:00]
Moving film, sad film, and he's fantastic. It's, it's like a comeback performance for him, but, Yeah. When I watched this film, I remember thinking, shit, man, we got a new best actor. Like, I mean, he was amazing. Yeah. I really loved what he did. And it's not, see, I, I'm not gonna use the word impersonation. First of all, actors hate it, so I won't use it because to me, it wasn't an impersonation.
It was sort of like an an, an imagining of Elvis. Right. Um, it's, it's his take as an actor. It was his take on the imagining of Elvis. And, and I thought he nailed it. I mean, from, from the real life footage I've always seen of Elvis. Uh, again, his peak was before my time. He died two years after I was born.
So I never saw him live, but I saw a lot of footage that I saw, and I've seen movies that he was in. Mm-hmm. [00:38:00] Uh, he just really had his mannerisms down. Yeah. You know? Yeah. The way he talked, the way he moved. I, I thought, I thought all of that was fantastic and, uh, and you know, it's, it's worthy of the nominations.
You ready to skip on over to, uh, Mr. Cash?
[00:38:16] Chris: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So it's funny because I, I thought we'd spend more time on, on, uh, Walk The Line because I like it infinitely greater than Elvis. Um, is a, is a film. I just love Walk the Line. It's been like, how many, what year did that come out? Because I remember seeing it at the theater on Thanksgiving weekend, I think
[00:38:37] Jerome: 2005.
[00:38:37] Chris: Yeah. In Kalamazoo
[00:38:39] Jerome: and Reese Witherspoon wins best actress. Um, it, it was nominated, I believe for Best Picture and Best Director did not win. That was the year. Um, that was, oh man, that was the year. People still regret to this day. Um, Brokeback Mountain won best. Director Ang Lee, but Crash one best picture.
Wow. [00:39:00] Yeah. Um, to bring things full circle, Brendan Frazier's in crash. But anyway, but anyway. Um, and that was the one that nowadays, all these years later, when people look at the, the big Oscar Flubs mm-hmm. The misses, right. The, the big mistakes. Um, They always point to that ear, they always say Broke back should have won Best picture.
Mm. You know, uh, crash Won Best screenplay in best Picture. And it, and it, and it probably shouldn't have. I enjoyed Crash. I thought it was, I thought it was a good film. Um, but yeah. Brokeback is better now than it was then, if that makes any sense. Mm-hmm. Like when you watch it, when you watch it, at the time you watch, this is an important film, this is a story to tell.
It was so amazingly shot that they could just, could not give it, not give it Best Director. Right. Mm-hmm. Like Ang Lee's directing was amazing. Uh, walk the Line kind of got pushed aside cuz it was kind of a crash versus broke back kind of a year. Mm. Um, [00:40:00] although Reece wins her Oscar for it, she won best actress for that film.
Yeah. So it, it did get recognized. And of course Joaquin Phoenix was nominated. He didn't win. He, he doesn't get his Oscar until Joker. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Um, But, but he was phenomenal. And here's an interesting point of that. Both, both Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix sang their own songs in the film.
[00:40:21] Chris: Yeah. That blew my mind.
[00:40:23] Jerome: That is not, uh, cuts of the real life singers. Right. Cut into the movie.
[00:40:28] Chris: Like, like in Bohemian Rhapsody, where they kind of splice together. Yeah. Um, you know, uh, what's his name? God, it, I, the second beer's going in my head.
[00:40:39] Jerome: Well, Rami Malek is the actor.
[00:40:40] Chris: Yeah. Rami Malek. Yeah, that's what I was trying to remember.
Rami Malek, uh, they, if I remember correctly, they kind of synced his voice, um, right. Didn't they do that? They were, they synced the, the original recordings with his voice.
[00:40:55] Jerome: But here's the thing, here's where I'm gonna defend Bohemian Rhapsody a little bit. Freddie [00:41:00] Mercury. Had such a unique voice Yeah.
That you can't really duplicate it. Right. Like, like not to take anything away from Joaquin Phoenix, but Johnny Cash's voice that gravelly sort of like, you know what I mean? Like, I suppose if I worked with a coach long enough Yeah. I might be able to sing, you know what I mean?
[00:41:18] Chris: You could find Johnny Cash's range, right. You, you can't find Freddy Murphy.
[00:41:24] Jerome: Fred Mercury's range was, uh, was range was out of this world. Like you couldn't, I mean, they even mentioned in the movie how he had two extra teeth when he was born, like his, that's why he's got that overbite. Yeah. And, and people told him to get those teeth removed so that his overbite would go away.
And he's like, no, it's gonna fuck up my sound. Like, like that was how he got his voice. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's very, very difficult to, to. Mimic that. So I'm gonna give a little bit of love to boom mean Rhapsody. I understand why Yeah. Rami Malek couldn't exactly sing his own songs, but it is worth noting that [00:42:00] both Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix did the lyric, did the, uh, the singing of the songs in Walk the Line.
[00:42:07] Chris: And they sounded this, that soundtrack was phenomenal. Oh, it was great. It was great. Oh, I forgot. We, we were gonna talk about something before we jumped ahead and I forgot the sound. Uh, so let's jump back really quick. Oh, that sound, so there was something going on with the sound that I noted that I forgot to mention.
Um, and it was, I just remember in the beginning, like when Elvis started performing and the, and the girls were losing their minds, right? So they did something with the sound during that scene, and I don't know if you remember it, but they, they played, uh, it what sounded like to me, electric guitars, And that electric guitars that mimicked the shrieks of females.
[00:42:47] Jerome: Okay. Yeah.
[00:42:48] Chris: And so go, if you, if you go back and listen to it, I was like, oh my God, the way they're doing this, it sounds like there's an electric guitar, like shrieking, like those women were shrieking, [00:43:00] but there were no electric guitars on stage. They were all playing acoustic guitars. Right. If I remember correctly.
I mean, I could be, I, I could be wrong, but I remember thinking, oh my, so it was really cool though. And there was another scene, um, where they were, they went back to Memphis and, um, like the, the blues community and the, the black community was all, they're all, he like, uh, Elvis went back to, to their, and, and he was going back, but they, you could hear this, the beat of like modern day rap playing.
Which wouldn't have existed at that time.
[00:43:36] Jerome: Right? No, that's, did you remember that? Yes. Yes. That was really cool. I was like, that was a great scene. Well, and, and you know what funny that reminded me of, uh, again, when ~Boaz~ Baz Lehrman did, uh, Moulin Rouge mm-hmm. Moulin Rouge was a period piece, but it was littered with films from, with songs from our time.
Yeah. Right. And it was like, kind of in like, just infusing. Yeah. [00:44:00] He did the same thing with Romeo and Juliet. This is a Shakespeare movie. Yeah. That sort of took place, like almost present day in a world that isn't ours. Right, right. Sort of like a multiverse. And it's all current rock songs, like current songs, you know what I mean?
Yeah. Um, but the, he's great with me. I'll give him that.
[00:44:15] Chris: The unique thing, the unique, the unique thing about Elvis though. Is when he did it with the Elvis's song on stage with the girls shrieking. Mm-hmm. It showed the, the viewer where this new brand of music called Rock and Roll, where it was gonna go with this shrieking of the electric guitar.
Yeah. Also where the blues was going to lead with hip hop. Yeah. It was really cool. I was like, wow, that really? Yeah, it was really, it was subtle, but it was very noticeable to me.
[00:44:45] Jerome: I'd have, I'd have to look at the other nominees for Best Sound. I guarantee you all Quiet on the Western Front is probably nominated.
Um, but I wouldn't be,
[00:44:53] Chris: that was a great movie.
[00:44:54] Jerome: I wouldn't be surprised if Elvis wins, you know, uh, V my wife, for those that are listening, my wife [00:45:00] and I, we watched that like couple weeks back. I didn't know if I told you alls quiet we Ko on the West front. Yeah, yeah. We, we watch because it's on Netflix. So we, uh, so we did watch that watch preparation for the Oscars.
[00:45:10] Chris: Do you watch it in German?
[00:45:11] Jerome: I, well, it, it's, yeah, it's in German.
[00:45:15] Chris: Yeah. Well you can watch it in English, but it's dubbed over in English.
[00:45:20] Jerome: No, I think we watched the German version. Yeah. Good. Um, I think funny, funny know what? I, I, I can't even tell you because
[00:45:27] Chris: it's done so well. I know. It just pulls you into the story, right?
[00:45:31] Jerome: It was pulled so in, I can't even tell you which version we watched. Yeah, that's cool. But, but, uh, yeah. No, I, I, I enjoyed it very much. Um. And, and I told, uh, the, you know, my, my wife plus her heart, she's not big into movies. Yeah. And, and I told her, I said, this is, I said, this is the war equivalent to A Star Is Born.
It's a movie they remake every now and again. You know, there's been, there's been like three versions of it, you know, like every 40 years or so they remake it [00:46:00] again. Yeah. Um, but, but anyway. Let's get back to Walk the line here. Yeah. Walk the line. So infinitely better script. Mm-hmm. Okay. Mm-hmm. Again, it was up for Best Picture.
Didn't win up for Best Director James Mangled wrote and directed the script. I love this guy. First of all, for anyone. I guarantee you've seen his films. You don't even realize it. He did Cop Land. He did Logan. Like he's, uh, in fact he was nominated for Logan. Mm-hmm. He did Ford versus Ferrari. Like he's done lot.
[00:46:27] Chris: That was good movie.
[00:46:27] Jerome: A lot. Yeah. He's done a lot of films that you probably didn't even realize were his. He did Walk the Line. I had seen it in the theater. But that was, you know, what is that, 20 years ago, almost 18 years ago. God, long time ago. God. God, I know. 2005. So almost 20 years ago. About 18 years ago.
So I don't really, I didn't really remember, and I had to revisit it for this podcast. Mm-hmm. So it was only the second time I'd seen it. And I remember when I saw it the first time, I liked it, but I wasn't looking for screenwriting structure when I saw it 18 years ago. Right. You know what I mean? Right. I was just watching a movie [00:47:00] in the theater when I watched it this time, right off the bat, I wrote down the opening image.
I wrote down opening image, Folsome Prison. He puts his thumb on the saw blade. Right. Right. Yeah. And, and. And I, I did obviously the first time I saw it, I didn't note the significance of that until later. Right, right. Until, until several scenes later now to go back and revisit and you're like, oh. I was like, oh yeah, of course.
And, and, and right off the bat, you get this sense that this, see, this is the beauty in the screenwriting here is it all ties back. Right. Everything, everything circles back. If you wanted to pick out a theme, the, the best one I caught was when his brother has already had the accident and he's dying on the, on the hospital bed.
He tells he, he looks at Johnny Young, Johnny Cash, and he says, do you hear them angels? Do you hear, do you hear them? Mm-hmm. That to me is sort of, uh, it ties in a little bit to the tangible and spiritual goals because [00:48:00] I. Again, with a beautifully written script. Johnny Cash, what he wants. Right. And what he needs are very similar, but they're different.
He wants to marry June Carter. He mentions it throughout the film. I've asked you to marry me 40 times. You keep saying no. Right? Yeah, yeah.
[00:48:18] Chris: And he was infatuated with her when he was a little kid listening to her on the radio.
[00:48:21] Jerome: You're right, she had the, the Carter family was a radio phenomenon, right?
They, they were radio celebrities. They did radio, uh, songs. And he, so as a child, he was already like, I wanna be like that. You know what I mean? And he says to his brother, I wanna say, he says to his brother too, before the accident, when he's listening to him on the radio and the dad's screaming from the other room, turn that radio off, go to bed.
He says, doesn't she sound like an angel? Right? Mm-hmm. So, so it all ties into what he wants and what he, what his spiritual goal, the journey that he has to go on. And I didn't have to go far to, to think about this. [00:49:00] He wants to marry her, but his spiritual goal is he has to earn her love. Mm-hmm. Right?
Where it's different to just take Right. You just take what you want, you know? Um, he can't take what he wants. She's too strong of a personality. He's tried several times. He's willing to cheat on his wife several times in this movie to be with June Carter, and every time she spurs her, his advances, she does sleep with him.
But she really, when it comes to marriage, she's like, no, no, because why? He's a pill popper, he drinks, you know what I mean? Like, he's a mess. Yeah, he's a mess. It's not until the end when he cleans himself up and he finally gets her out on the stage again for that last duet together. And he proposes to her on the stage, which by the way happened in real life.
That's not one of those film dramatizations. He did [00:50:00] ask her to marry him on stage. Mm-hmm. And, and at that point, when she looks at him, she realizes this is not the Johnny Cash that I liked but could never be with because he was a drunk. Mm-hmm. This is a different Johnny Cash. He has earned her love at that point.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right? And, and yeah. And, and again, it follows all the basic script structures. The first turning point is where he, he signs with Mr. Phillips, right. And, uh, Sam Phillips. And he goes off on this tour and he meets June Carter for the first time. That's the first turning point, because now he's in a whole new film.
Right. It's totally different from Act one. Act one was, I'm, I, you know, I'm a working man. I get outta the Air Force. I did, I serve my country, and now I just wanna write music, but I can't make money, right. Music and support my wife and kids, so I have to get a real job. And I hate it. And I sing [00:51:00] songs on my porch with my, with my two mechanics as, as guys that are playing instruments.
And she even says at one point, she's like, you don't have a band. She's like, it's you. And two Mechanics can't even play songs. Um, that's what his wife, not June Carter, but that's what his wife tells him. So, you know, he, he goes through all this stuff and, and there's a little bit of a double bump. And I'll tell you what the double bump is.
This is actually a thing in screenwriting. It happens in Star Wars as well. Um, it's not enough for one thing to happen to push the actor into act two. Sometimes it needs a second thing, right? So if you think about Star Wars, I'll give you an example. Uh, Obi-Wan and R2-D2, playing that video, playing the hologram of Princess Leia saying, help me, obiwan Kenobi, you're my only help.
And Obi-Wan says, Hey man, you gotta come with me. We have an adventure to go on. That's not enough. Yeah. Right. Luke says, I can't go with you. Are you nuts? I got shit to do. You know what I mean? [00:52:00] Like, I, I can't do this. Yeah. So he rejects it. The double bump is finding out that Uncle Owen and Aunt Brewer are dead.
[00:52:08] Chris: It's finding out he ain't got nothing to do anymore.
[00:52:10] Jerome: Right. At that point, he says, well, shit, my chores are done. I guess I'll go with you now since I have no farm anymore. Right. So, yeah. So it takes a second bump and, and it kind of happens in Walk the Line as well, because he meets Sam Phillips. Right. And you would think that that's it.
But just meeting Sam Phillips and trying to play songs for him isn't enough because Sam Phillips says, he even tells him, you're not, you're not gonna make it. On just this gospel stuff, right? You got, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta sing from your heart. You gotta, you gotta, you know, earn again. You, you gotta earn it.
And that's the theme throughout the thing. It's earning June Carter's love and it's earning the audience, because in the beginning he's not [00:53:00] earning it right. He's just trying to do it, but he's not singing from the hurt, he's not earning audience love yet. You know what I mean? So, uh, so the double bump is, uh, meeting Sam Phillips and, and, and playing for him isn't enough.
He's gotta to get Catapult, truly. He's gotta meet June Carter and he meets her in person. And that's, and that's where it starts. And that's where Elvis comes in, which is interesting because they mention it and walk the line. They don't mention it in Elvis at all, but they mention it and walk the line that he's there, he's there with them on this, the Sam Phillips tour, um, the midpoint scene is, is interesting, um, because it, it's, there's a couple of scenes right in the middle of the film that you would think, what do we always say?
The midpoint, you get what you want, but you don't really, cuz it all falls apart. Right?
[00:53:53] Chris: Yeah. And it was at what The music awards, uh, was that, was that?
[00:53:57] Jerome: No, I actually had before that it's their first duet [00:54:00] together. I. Oh yeah. Where he gets her up and says, we're gonna do Times a waste. And she's like, that's the song I deal with my ex-husband.
And he's like, no, no, no, we're gonna do it right now. June, just sing. So they start singing. He's got what he wanted. Right? Or at least he thought he did. I got June. Yeah, right. I got her out here. She's dueting with me, which is all, you know, he wanted since he was a child. And what happens after that? Like she even storms off the stage.
It's a big fight, right? Yeah. He gets drunk, he gets drunk and then, and then, uh, and then yeah, the award show where he's such a dick, right? Like, hey, June, so it was right after, is your third marriage now you what I mean? She's like, what the fuck you asshole. You know what I mean? And then he offers her a job and she takes it like, you know, so, uh, so they go back to doing the duet thing again.
[00:54:50] Chris: So, And I'll note that he wrote, walked the line right in that, somewhere around that midpoint scene too, because she's, which is interesting,
[00:54:58] Jerome: she says to him, yeah, she says to him, you can't [00:55:00] walk the line with me. And she walks off. And you know that, that's actually a funny scene, by the way, when he is on the stage with all those guys and she starts chucking beer bottles at them and he's all, we surrender.
We surrender. That's actually a funny scene. Cause he's drunk off his ass. Yeah. But but the whole second half is that downfall, is that, you know, right. The, the, the, where everything goes to shit. He collapses on stage where he ods, you know what I mean? They have to cancel the tour. Um, you know, there's, there's all this shit.
There's the, oh my god, there's the, the scene with his dad, you know, with the, with the tractor and all that.
[00:55:39] Chris: Yep. Well, and the, so there's a couple things I wanted to point out that one of the reasons I think I love this movie so much, like you've already kinda laid out the, I guess the textbook structure for writing a good screenplay.
All these things are there, but it's layered too. So, like in the, one of the opening [00:56:00] scenes in the movie, um, uh, young Johnny Cash is talking to his brother. And, um, he, remember they're in bed and he's like asking brother, why he so good? Yeah. Why so? Why are you so good? You know, because he, and he's like, I, I can, you know, you memorize all the stories in scripture.
And he's like, yeah, but you can sing. You, you know, all the hymns, you know, he is like, and he's comparing himself to his brother though. Yeah. Oh yeah. In that, in, in that scene. And his brother said to him, you can't help nobody if you can't tell them the right story. And that, that, that stuck with me. I was like, okay.
So like Johnny, I. He's that's gonna come to play later. Right. Um, because he goes to help prisoners, right. And by telling the right stories. Right.
[00:56:44] Jerome: So here, so that's probably a better theme. I liked my angels one, but that's actually probably a better theme because that really ties into what I was gonna get at, right?
So he, so you get to the end of, of act two, it's the all is lost is the detox, right? Like his, [00:57:00] his mm-hmm. Everybody walks out on him except June, which is interesting because this is a great line in the movie.
[00:57:06] Chris: And June's parents, right?
[00:57:07] Jerome: June's parents, which is amazing how, how loving this family is. Right?
This guy is a fucking train wreck. Right.
[00:57:14] Chris: Running off drug dealers with a shotgun. Yeah. Mama had a shotgun too, right?
[00:57:18] Jerome: Like, like that. Exactly. He's an absolute train wreck. But the Carter family brings him in. Yeah. It's not just June, it's the whole family. It's like we're gonna band together like we've always done, and we're gonna take care of him when that, yeah, that drug guy tries to come and sell him drunk.
They chase him off with a shotgun, but there's a great line when everything's going to shit and he's trying to get the tractor outside. He's drunk off his ass and the whole family is left. The dad's left. Everyone's just leaving him, right? Like this is the worst possible thing that could happen. And she says, they tell her, you gotta go down there.
And she goes, if I go down there, I'm not coming back. And the mother looks at her and goes, [00:58:00] honey, you're already down there. Like, you know what I mean? Like, he's already a part of you, you know what I mean? Like, you, you already care enough about him, so just help him because he needs your help and, and he's not going anywhere.
You're not going anywhere. You know that you're not gonna get in his car and drive off with us. You wanna stay because that's your nature to help him, right? Yeah. Um, and then yes, dur, he goes through that insufferable detox, right? Mm-hmm. Which, which is, you know, you always see these detox moments in films, you know, where the guy's sweating like crazy and he's gotta get all the chemicals out of his system.
And, and it's like the worst point of anyone's life, I'm sure, right? We've seen it in clean and sober. We've seen it in basketball diaries. The detox scenes are never good. They're never good. They're always the worst part of anyone's life. And then as he's recovering now, right? He sees all those letters, Yeah.
Yeah. And what's interesting is that earlier in the film, the [00:59:00] wife said, you see all those damn letters? They're all from chicks. Why don't throw their panties at you? You know what I mean? Which by the way, right, in Elvis, the chicks were throwing their literal panties at Elvis. And the one guy's like, is that a woman's undergarment I just saw?
So, right. So she's jealous because she thinks they're all from girls, right. When he actually starts to open these letters. And that is your jump to act three, right? Right. Because he realizes now my place, my place in the world. And the next shot, and I'm in the next damn shot, which is so perfect, is he's walking in into the recording, uh, the offices and he's an all black, we're in black with the black sunglasses.
He is now officially the man in black. And, and he gets up there and, and I love, and they said this earlier in the film, actually, his wife said it to him, but they say it again here. It's almost like, uh, like, uh,
[00:59:56] Chris: You look like you're going to a funeral.
[00:59:57] Jerome: Yeah. And he goes, maybe I am. Right. So [01:00:00] he said that earlier and then he says it again in that part.
And then, um, it's, it's, oh my God, the, the way it ends is so beautiful with the Folsom Prism and prison, and it's just like, like I said, the real climax, the Folsom prison is, is kinda like where he fulfills his destiny in a way, right? Yeah, yeah. But it's not until that very end scene where he gets June out on the stage and he proposes to her and she says yes.
Yeah. The way he's holding her up after that, she like jumps kind of into his arms and he's holding her and there's like a still shot of that. And then it does the epilogue where, you know, they, they went on for another 35 years of being married and recording songs together and, and then she died and he died four months later.
Right. You know what I mean? Like Yeah. I mean, there's two ways to look at it. You could say, I can't believe he cheated on his wife. I can't believe, you know, he was with his wife for so long when he really wanted to be with June Carter. But then you look at it [01:01:00] and you're like, once he left his wife, they got divorced and he married June.
They were together for 35 years. Like, yeah. You know what I mean?
[01:01:09] Chris: I know. I, I remember the first time I saw it, I did feel bad for his wife. Cause I was like, well she really, and she, it sucks cuz she's, you know, she stuck with us for a long time. Time
[01:01:17] Jerome: and she was tortured the whole time, right?
[01:01:19] Chris: Yeah. She was tortured. So It did, it sucked. But I mean, it is, it's reality. I mean, this, this was real life and it, it's what happened and I just thought they did a great, I thought the movie did, the whole story, just a beautiful bit of justice. You know,
[01:01:34] Jerome: and you can argue that there's a, a, a little subplot there about trying to please his old man.
His old man never. Yeah. His old man says at the beginning, God took the wrong son.
[01:01:43] Chris: Right. Wait, I wrote that down to Yeah.
[01:01:45] Jerome: When, when his brother died, it was like, what? What? Oh, the,
[01:01:47] Chris: he said the devil did this. What a, he took the wrong son. Yeah.
[01:01:50] Jerome: What a horrible thing to say to your kid. Right? Like, right. And he's just a dick of a dad.
And even at the point where he sa, where he's sobered up at that big [01:02:00] downfall with the tractor, that whole tractor scene, he tells him, he tells him, he says, I quit drinking a long time ago. I know who I am. You know what I mean? Like mm-hmm. Right. I've made peace with myself. And he starts blasting his son right in front of everyone.
He tells Johnny, he's like, you buy this big house, nothing in it. Right? You make all this money, nothing. You think you're a big shot. You're nothing. You know what I mean? Like, he just starts trash and his dad's sober at this point, and he's still is not getting his approval. And that's why the final scene closes the book on that one where he's, uh, the kids have the, the can with the string.
And he is like, I don't know how it worked. And he goes, they wanna talk to their grandpa, talk to him. You know what I mean? Like, and at that moment you kind of get a sense that, that him and the dad have, have eased their pain, so to speak. You know what I mean? Like yeah. There, there's a forgiveness there.
And what I love, what what Mangold does is he doesn't oversell it. There's no big hug it out moment with him and the [01:03:00] dad. Right, right. Because it's not, it's not their movie. It's not their, it's not their, uh, journey that needs to be fixed. Right. So he just has that closing up scene. And that's enough beautifully edited, beautifully acted.
I can't even state that enough how well acted it is. Um, right. And, you know, it's just, I I, a fantastic film came out in a, in a, in a rough year. Like I said, when you got, when you gotta go up against, Brokeback, and of course Crash wins. Best picture that, that's tough. Um, you know, it, it's hard to think what year would've been good for it.
Maybe the year before. I don't know. But yeah, walk the Line I think was a better, it's certainly a better written film than Elvis. Um, and probably a better film all the way around. Um, but I would say so. But again, I wouldn't even be mad if Elvis wins a bunch of Oscars this year, cuz the, the movie Elvis was fun.
Baz Luhrmann, I, you know, I posted on Facebook that I was watching Elvis and a buddy of mine posted cuz I, I [01:04:00] mentioned Baz Luhrman in, in my post. Mm-hmm. And he commented, a buddy of mine commented and said, oh, it's not a Baz Luhrman type of film, or something like that, or, or it doesn't feel like Baz. And I didn't respond.
Because I was busy at the time, but, but I can respond now. I disagree. I think Baz Luhrman is all over this film. All the things I love about Baz Luhrmann is in this film, if you look at the damn poster, it looks like Moulin Rouge, like it's, it's very much Baz Luhrmann. And, and that's what I love about it. I think they struggled greatly with the script.
And I think, like I said, I don't know the ins and outs. It could have been the studio. It could have been just, you know, I don't, I don't know what happened, but when you have four different, five different writers spread out over four or five different writing credits, that's a problem. That doesn't it, you know?
It doesn't, it doesn't, it, it shows that there's obviously something wasn't working. Right. Yeah. But the performances were great. It was a spectacle of a film. You know, I might, again, I [01:05:00] might watch it again tonight just because I love, I love, uh, Austin Butler's, uh, onstage performances, you know? Uh, and I, and I love watching those women when he is doing all his shit and they're like losing it, like, just absolutely losing in their minds.
Yeah. One girl jumps up and screams, and her, I think it's her dad or her boyfriend, and somebody's like, sit down, sit down. What are you doing? Like, what are you doing? Sit down. Like just, and you know, and that's, and that's the one part of Parker's dialogue, uh, voiceover. That's funny. Is that he's like, at that moment I knew he's like, because yeah.
I mean, it's just, uh, yeah. So they're both great. Walk the Line is a great film. Elvis was a good film, very fun. Uh, I troubled script, but Walk the Line was beautifully written.
[01:05:55] Chris: Yeah. So, yeah, again, I, I can't even comment on the other movies that are up for best actor [01:06:00] either. So I, I'm kind of with you. I, I'll, I'll be happy if it wins a bunch of awards, you know, but, uh, I mean, I'm, I'm like you though. I'm glad it's now wasn't even nominated for Screenplay though.
[01:06:11] Jerome: One thing I was gonna say was, is, um, about biopic, we, I mentioned earlier about biopics writing biopic. Here's the thing about biopics. They, they all kind of, uh, there's a very similar theme you get with Biopics, right? It's their beginning, how they started.
Mm-hmm. Their rise, right, their great rise, and then the fall, whatever it is. Bohemian Rhapsody had the same thing, right? He got too big, too famous, and then the downfall was all his, you know, partying and crazy lifestyle and the whole, you know, I am the solo, you know, I'm a solo guy. Like, you guys aren't nothing without me.
You know, you, you gotta get that where a lot of these guys. Piss off their band. Right? Like, so you see, you get the, how they started, their rise, their fall, and then of course a [01:07:00] redemption at the end, right? Biopics, particularly with singers, all kind of follow the same lineage, right? And these two films do their best to do that.
I just think, uh, you know, I Walk the Line, does it better as far as screenwriting structure? Um, yeah. And, you know, I, I don't know. I really loved Reese Witherspoon in this film too. Like, it's, yeah. You know, and if that's gonna segue, I believe you mentioned about a Six Degrees where you wanted the wives, right?
So Yeah. Yeah. Let do, so the wives, so we're talking about June Carter Cash and Priscilla Presley, but I can't, yes. And I don't remember, what's the actress's name that plays Priscilla? Uh, Olivia DeJonge. But I can't use the films. Right. I can't use Walk the Line. Right. And I can't use. Elvis. So, yeah. Um, with the exception of Olivia DeJonge, who hasn't had a lot of films under her belt, this is actually relatively easy.
[01:08:00] Um, she was in a film called Josie and Jack.
[01:08:03] Chris: Never seen it.
[01:08:04] Jerome: Nobody has, sorry, Olivia. Hard facts. Hard facts. Sorry. Nobody's seen it. But, uh, William Fickner is in it, and you know him, he's been in a lot of movies. He was in Heat, he was in, uh, uh, well, the Perfect Storm, which is the, the link I'm going to, right, okay. Yeah, yeah. So he's in the Perfect Storm with Mark Wahlberg. Oh, yeah.
Right. And anyone listening right now probably already knows, they're already yelling it out. Mark Wahlberg famously was in a movie called Fear with Reese Witherspoon. Right. Who of course played June Carter. Oh, that was easy. So that's only three connections. Yeah, that, geez. So Josie and Jack, perfect storm and fear.
That's three connections. Yeah. I knew Reese would probably make it easier for you, so, but Olivia was tough. Yeah. And, and you know, no offense, Olivia, you gotta get out there more. You gotta, you gotta, she did a good job.
[01:08:57] Chris: She's done with Tom Hanks now, so.
[01:08:59] Jerome: Yeah. [01:09:00] Yeah. She's in with Yeah. And again, right. I don't use the movies that we talk about.
Yeah. Um, I did when we first started doing this podcast. Right. Right. Couple years ago. But now we kind of make that as a rule. I can't use the movies that we talk about. Yeah. If I use Tom Hanks, I could probably be done well a lot quicker. So, um, yeah. So, yeah, so there's that. Um, anything else you wanna add on this one?
Not really. I, I, I mean, I just loved, I loved, this was a fun one because I, I already, when we mentioned it, I love Walk the Line. It's one of my favorite films. And, uh, and I had watched Elvis even though I forgot that I fell asleep during it until I was rewatching it. And I was like, oh yeah. So that kind of, yeah, it made sense when you started explaining your problems with it that maybe why I fell asleep.
But, but no, I, I think it was just, I was tired because it is a good film and I, I, you know, I don't wanna crap all over it just cuz I was tired, you know. But it did have its problems. And [01:10:00] notably, Tom Hanks did not get a nomination for a best supporting actor. And it, it, that's interesting because first of all, Tom Hanks gets nominated for everything.
Right? If Tom Hanks takes a beautiful dump, they're gonna nominate him. Right? He gets nominated for, he's like the Meryl Streep. Right? Right.
[01:10:16] Chris: Maybe, maybe the Academy didn't wanna nominate two guys wearing fat suits.
[01:10:21] Jerome: Well, let's leave Brendan Frazier out of this. All right. But, but no, I, I, but here's what I was gonna say. What I was gonna get was not gonna be about fat suits at all. What I was gonna say was, um, Tom Hanks' performance is, uh, it's almost confused. Yeah. Like, that's the word I'm gonna use. Like he, I think I could tell that even Tom Hanks as the actor.
Had trouble trying to identify whose movie is this and what [01:11:00] role am I playing and what is my drive, you know what I mean? When you watch him in Castaway Yeah. Just to, just to name a movie, right? Like it, there's, there's no mixed feelings or mixed emotions. And I'm not talking about, oh, well Parker was the bad guy.
That's why there was mixed in, but I dunno, I'm talking about, uh, motivation, an actor's motivation. Right? Right. You, you know, cast away saving private Ryan even frigging big, like there's no, you know what I mean? Like, he, he, he knows who he is, right? And he brings all the life out of those characters because he knows those characters like the back of his hand.
I don't wanna say Tom Hanks phoned this one in, but, but I gotta imagine he read the various versions of the script and was like, man, this is some muddled shit I'm dealing with here. Right. Like, you know, and, and thankfully Baz on set was probably like, all right, you know what? Forget all those damn, you know, we got like four versions of the script.
Let me just [01:12:00] direct you and we'll try to get something out of this.
[01:12:02] Chris: Well, we've said it before. I mean, just look at Star Wars. You have some fantastic actors dealing with a horrible script, right? Right. Many times.
Well, careful, careful, careful dialogue. Don't use horrible script. And Star Wars in the same sentence with me.
Horrible dialogue, I should say.
[01:12:19] Jerome: Okay. So George is not a good dialogue writer. I hate sand. That was his high point or low point, however you wanna talk about, right? But anyway, yes, of course. Uh, Anakin hates sand. Okay. So, um, yeah, so I don't know. What do you think? Yeah. Is this it? I I'm gonna wrap it up.
[01:12:40] Chris: I say we bring this soon in for a landing. I think we went over two or over an hour anyways, but, uh, it's okay. It's fun. We had a couple drinks. We talked to movies. That's a good night.
[01:12:50] Jerome: Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely.
[01:12:53] Chris: Or morning, whenever you're listening.
[01:12:54] Jerome: If, if you, if you haven't seen them, go see, walk the Line or revisit it if you, if you haven't seen it or if you [01:13:00] have seen it.
But it's been so long, like me, I saw it opening week and I totally, for, it's been 18 years and I forgot a lot about it. I enjoy going back and revisiting it. Right. And check out Elvis. It is a fun movie. Yeah. And I won't be mad if it wins a shit load of Oscars. I'm just glad it wasn't nominated for screenplay.
[01:13:18] Chris: I would also recommend watch it with someone who remembers. When it happened, Elvis. So watch it Elvis with your mom or your grandma or somebody. Yeah. Um, because it's fun. It was fun watching it today with mom because she's like, she was cracking up watching those girls lose it over Elvis, you know,
[01:13:36] Jerome: because she was one of 'em.
[01:13:37] Chris: She was one of them, right?
Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Anyway. That's awesome. So that's my pro tip. Watch it with an old person. Yeah. Sorry mom. Yeah. I called you old.
[01:13:51] Jerome: You're gonna hear about it. You're gonna hear about it. Yeah. Um, uh, as, as, uh, as we always do, uh, write us. Let us [01:14:00] know if you have thoughts. Uh, if you wanna argue and complain and say you don't know what the hell you're talking about.
Elvis was a wonderful script. Yeah. Or whatever.
[01:14:07] Chris: And, and please share this podcast with your movie Loving Friends, especially if you know, they, they enjoyed, uh, one of these two movies. So anyway, I think we, uh, should call this a wrap. What do you say?
[01:14:20] Jerome: I believe it, it is a wrap.
[01:14:24] Chris: Well, that's where we landed the plane on this one.
I just want to thank you for listening. Uh, you can email us at Silver screen happy hour gmail.com. Just search silver screen, happy hour on Facebook, Instagram, uh, Twitter. You'll be able to find us on those socials. And I just wanna thank you again for listening. So please share this with your moving loving friends.
And, uh, until next time, I'm Chris Wiegand.[01:15:00]