Elvis Presley was ‘deeply dissatisfied’ with Hollywood: doc

By 1968, Elvis Presley had starred in more than thirty Hollywood films, but the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll was disillusioned after his dreams of becoming the next James Dean or Marlon Brando were derailed.

Jason Hehir’s new Netflix documentary, “Return of the King: The Fall & Rise of Elvis Presley,” explores the singer’s personal dissatisfaction and iconic comeback. It features behind-the-scenes clips and new interviews with the late star’s ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, and his closest confidant/business partner, Jerry Schilling, among others.

“I’ve seen just about every documentary about Elvis Presley, and I haven’t seen many that explore his journey in the 1960s,” Hehir told Fox News Digital. “I was interested in his decision to play in front of a live audience for the first time in seven years… And 1968 was the biggest crossroads in Elvis’ life. It made sense to take a deep dive.”

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In the film, you can hear Presley describe how frustrated he was with making musicals to make money instead of taking on more serious roles.

“Hollywood’s image of me was wrong, and I knew it, and there was nothing I could do about it,” Presley said. “I didn’t know what to do. I just felt obligated to do things I didn’t fully believe in.”

“They couldn’t have paid me any amount of money in the world to make me feel like I had any satisfaction inside,” Presley added.

Presley’s career in Hollywood had fallen so low that the Grammy winner sings the children’s tune “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” in the 1967 film “Double Trouble.”

“That to me is a crime,” Priscilla, 79, said in the film as she watched the scene.

“It’s a crime,” she emphasized. “To put him in that situation and sing that song. It made him a laughing stock. And he knew that.’

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Hehir said Presley felt so defeated and trapped by his film career that he sometimes became “physically ill.”

“He was deeply dissatisfied. He couldn’t get out of bed,” Hehir said. “Many… don’t realize how disappointed he was… He took these movie roles and seemingly just took the easy way out and cashed huge checks. But it wasn’t his ambition as an artist. It always had been.” That was a frustration for him. He couldn’t even get out of bed because he was so hungry for an artistic challenge.”

“Hollywood’s image of me was wrong, and I knew it, and there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t know what to do. I just felt obligated to do things I didn’t fully believe in.”

–Elvis Presley

“It shed light on what was really important to him: performing,” Hehir continued. “And I think the frustration of not being in front of a live audience for seven years and instead just being on film sets and making more and more mediocre films – a light bulb went off over his head. doing something for himself, not for his management. Not for the movie audience. He wanted to get back to the Elvis he wanted to be.”

The former teen idol was eager to reclaim his throne. Ready to revive his career, he agreed to star in a historic one-hour broadcast to air on NBC. But when it came time to perform, Presley – at age 33 – was insecure.

“He almost didn’t leave his dressing room,” Hehir explained. “He was terrified of being in front of an audience again, and he always had terrible stage fright. This goes back to the days of Ed Sullivan and the early days of his career. He always had tremendous anxiety about going out and but once he got there was, he felt the most comfortable there in the world, on a stage with a microphone in his hand.

“But he was so scared that the special as we know it almost didn’t happen because he refused to leave his dressing room,” Hehir continued. “… He didn’t want to do it. If (director) Steve Binder hadn’t gone in and convinced him to come out, we might not be having this conversation.”

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For the special, Presley famously channeled Brando. Inspired by the actor’s role in 1953’s ‘The Wild One’ Presley wore a black leather suit. Presley had to show the world that he still had it.

“He hadn’t performed in seven years… so many things had changed since he became the man who could captivate the audience,” Hehir said. “He used to have screaming teenage girls, but those teenage girls were now mothers.

“…Elvis had been the snarling rebel before he entered the army, and by the time 1968 came around he was a family-friendly performer who sang ballads and songs that were merely about the plots of his films… Ten Years rather, Elvis was the talk. But the music scene had changed so much that he wasn’t even part of the conversation anymore.”

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“He thought, ‘They liked me then, but will they like me now?’” Hehir added.

The special revived a career that many critics thought was long gone. After it aired, Presley immersed herself in touring. He too found solace in singing gospel music which, according to Hehir, ‘satisfied his soul’.

“His musical roots were based on gospel,” Hehir explained. “When he was younger, he learned to perform in churches and heard preachers singing. He sang with choirs… That’s where his heart always lay. That was the safest place for him to be. the most joy. In 1967 he was at a low point, both creatively and spiritually.

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“…Priscilla said she would hear him singing gospel music and playing the piano by himself in the middle of the night,” Hehir said. “That piano is still in Graceland. Gospel is where he sought comfort… It brought him joy.”

Presley died in 1977 at the age of 42. Hehir said he wanted his documentary to focus on “the pinnacle of his career as an artist”.

“You see Elvis jamming with his friends – he preferred to do that behind closed doors,” Hehir said. “I wanted to give a glimpse of that, a look into the man himself… All the documentaries I’ve seen about Elvis always end on a sad note. I didn’t want to end on a sad note. This was an opportunity for us to to end triumphantly.”

“We still don’t know what kind of actor Elvis could have become,” Hehir reflected. ‘His film career just dried up. It was so mismanaged that he never got the chance to develop as an actor and demonstrate any kind of acting skills… But I think he also realized what he really loved.”