For two and a half hours, “Elvis” is dominated by Austin Butler’s performance as the iconic singer-songwriter. But the ending to filmmaker Baz Luhrmann’s splashy biopic hard cuts to the real Elvis Presley in one of his last performances ever, and for Luhrmann and editor Jonathan Redmond, this “gut punch” was the exact right way to conclude this epic story.
Back in 2018, the editing process for the film began – before even a frame of the movie had been shot. Indeed, Luhrmann and his team started by putting together a reel using existing materials to give a sense of what “Elvis” would feel like.