‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’ Interview: Baz Luhrmann

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‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’ director Baz Luhrmann.

Releasing exclusively on IMAX February 20th before being released theatrically on February 27th is the new film ‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert‘, which was directed by Baz Luhrmann (‘Elvis’) and utilizes never-before-seen audio and video of Elvis Presley.

“Elvis sings and tells his story like never before.”

Release Date: Feb 27, 2026

Run Time: 1 hr 38 min

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Baz Luhrmann about his work on ‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’, why it’s not a documentary or concert film, discovering the lost footage and restoring the sound, and why fans need to see the movie on IMAX.

‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’ director Baz Luhrmann. Photo: Neon.

Moviefone: To begin with, you’ve said that this movie is “not a documentary. It’s not a concert film. It’s something new.” Can you talk about that and what you set out to create with this project?

Baz Luhrmann: Well, not new for newness’ sake, but because of the material we had, we had to find a way of binding this ’70s concert, this 16-millimeter footage of him on tour, and this 8-millimeter footage, and then we found this audiotape of him just talking about his life for 40 minutes. We went, “You know, let’s just get out of the way. Let’s let Elvis tell his story without talking heads.” Because you know with Elvis, bless his socks, but there’s always a lot of documentaries made where people talk about how great he is. He sings over 70 songs in it. This allowed him to guide us through his life through words and music. I think it gives you an intimacy that you don’t often get.

Elvis Presley in ‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’. Photo: Neon.

MF: Can you talk about discovering this lost footage and the process of restoring the sound?

BL: So, it was an accident, really, because Ernst Jorgensen, who’s kind of the scientist of all things Elvis, told us about this maybe missing real, and that it is very hard to get to because they’re buried in salt mines in Kansas City. They do that to protect the footage from moisture. I thought, maybe I can use some of that. I had the money so the guys go down and they start kicking the door in, like ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ style. They’re 61 reels of footage. 35mm, 16mm, some missing, and some mislabeled. So, we brought it back to Warner Bros., and honestly, it smelt very much like vinegar, which meant it was decomposing. So, first thing was to save it, scan it, and then the great Peter Jackson with his team helped us bring it back to IMAX quality, which, just to say, there’s no AI in this. This is just making the film as beautiful as possible, but there was no sound. Now we did find a mag tape, so you do have the original sound of voice and band, sometimes damaged orchestra, and sometimes not the best miking on ‘Sweet Inspirations’. So, this tape we found of Elvis just talking about his life motivated us to let that be our guiding light. It took two years to find the sound, two years to sink it by eye. We had a great guy who just sat in a room for two years (sinking it). Then we had to have these themes and then we reduced the themes down and we wanted it to be specific. We wanted to make sure that it was at a length that we could bring it to the highest possible quality. It was always like, “What would Elvis do?” What Elvis would do would want to be presented on the biggest screen in the best possible quality.

Elvis Presley in ‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’. Photo: Neon.

MF: Finally, why is it important for Elvis fans to see this movie on IMAX?

BL: I’ve just recently been seeing it on the IMAXs with audiences and they truly react like they’re at a concert. That’s what (Editor) Jon (Redmond) and I wished for, to give Elvis the tour that he never had.

Elvis Presley in ‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’. Photo: Neon.

What is the plot of ‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’?

Long-lost footage from Elvis Presely’s legendary Las Vegas residency in the 1970s woven together with rare 16mm footage from ‘Elvis on Tour‘, and 8mm from the Graceland archive, plus recordings of Elvis telling “his side of the story” rediscovered during Baz Luhrmann’s research for his 2022 film, ‘Elvis’.