He could turn down scripts. ', Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic. "But he had no other client than Elvis Presley, and he lacked the imagination to see just how truly a greater social force Elvis could have been.". Read Next: Super Mario Bros. Movie Officially Smashes $1 Billion Globally, Shonka Dukureh as Big Mama Thornton in Elvis, Helping Elvis Presley, right, cut a straight furrow is his business manager and confidant, Colonel Tom Parker of Madison, Tenn. on January 7, 1957. That led to a colossal shouting match afterwards with Parker and talk of firing and quitting on both their parts, with Colonel ultimately presenting a bill that the Presleys could not pay. Country radio stations said Elvis sounded too Black to play, and the stations that played rhythm and blues said he sounded too much like a hillbilly. He said, Dont worry, Ill fill it in later! [Laughs.] That's the standard trope that goes along with Colonel Tom Parker. Tom Hanks has built a reputation for disappearing into his roles. In 1963, Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's audacious manager who had gotten his start selling candy apples in carnivals, read in the paper that Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidential. During the interview, Hanks talked about the way Parker was a promoter and not a manager, why Elvis never fired him, and how he prepares for a really emotional scene. And I would love to make a movie about that guy. But before that he did have another big hit with a cover of one of your tunes, the ballad Love Me. Although Elvis sang it more seriously, It was surprising to read in your memoir that you had originally written Love Me as a country parody song a spoof of a subservient hillbilly who doesnt put up any objections to his lover treating him like garbage. We did some that were not quite so successful. Did Parker talk of things in carnival or carnie or conman terms as much as he does in this movie? In the end, playing Parker required Hanks to spend an average of five hours per day in the make-up chair. We had a few run-ins with the Colonel. King and Little Richard later. I Want to Be Free had a kind of special meaning, because we wanted to get out of the goddamn hotel room! The actor has proven time and again that he's up to the challenge of playing a real-world personality and the role of Elvis and the Colonel is no different. So then we had to perform it for her, as I played the piano and Jerry sang. All I can say is that he must like losing money. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. He sells! And I thought, wow, thats the most money Ill ever see at one time! He never went to Elvis and said, "What would you like to do? They hurl a litany of accusations at Presley's former manager he took too much of Elvis' money, he mismanaged Elvis' movie career, he pressured Elvis to work when he was in poor health, he even tried to . Here's why Colonel Tom Parker is so controversial. Mike Stoller plays the pianist in the film Jailhouse Rock with Elvis Presley. The actor has talked about the project, what drew him to it, and how he felt about the overall story. Within 30 minutes of their first meeting, Hanks was hooked. Tom Hank's Col Tom Parker accent . Anyway, what do I know about production? Finally, Tom Hanks wasn't nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Luhrmann hasnt really given him his due by a long shot. Snow had a big ego and resented the fact that Elvis quickly became the draw on his shows, not Snow. I remember we went out it probably took about 15 minutes and we came back in and performed it for them. One thing he did with me was to say, I want you to remember this. And then he launched into this carny double-speak that sounded kind of like pig Latin. Colonel Tom Parker, as played by Tom Hanks in Elvis, was the controversial manager of singer Elvis Presley (played by Austin Butler) with a mysterious past who had a key role in both The King's success and downfall. Randy Newman was brought in and did an exquisite chart fabulous and we produced it out here. Was the Variety review of the New York show, or was it the out-of-town tryout in L.A.? You had your first R&B No. We did Procol Harum [in 1975]. Presley had other ways of making money that they could fall back on. No, all that stuff was rehearsed and rehearsed. Elvis also stars Helen Thomson as Elviss mother, Gladys, Richard Roxburgh as Elviss father, Vernon, Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley, Luke Bracey as Jerry Schilling, Natasha Bassett as Dixie Locke, David Wenham as Hank Snow, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as B.B. I was a fan while my friends and peers were not. Oh, sure. Theyre doing it in Connecticut now; a young lady who was in the show in London is directing it. He. But once Elvis was onstage, controlling the music, he did what he wanted. Or were there things he did right that he merits credit for? Colonel Parker is the devil to many Elvis Presley fans. Elviss first manager, Bob Neal, told me that he had a heck of a time getting stations to play Elviss first single. Then she was hired on as Elvis' tour secretary and traveled . "It's possible to be driven mad by it," the actor says. Anything else to say about the Parker characterization? And I don't think it had been done the most righteous justice in order to capture why Elvis was this bend in the river of American culture. First of all, have you seen the Elvis movie? And he pretty much disappeared after we started talking and telling him what to do or suggesting this and that; he just took off. Interview with Colonel Tom Parker | Elvis Presley's Manager | 1987 'Elvis' Fact or Fiction: Colonel Tom Parker Biographer on What's Real And when you first buy it, you love listening to it. Also pictured: Scotty Moore, Judy Tyler, Bill Black, Mickey Shaughnessy and D.J. That can be found in detail in two Parker biographies published in recent years Colonel Tom Parkerby James Dickerson (2001) andThe Colonelby Alanna Nash (2003). But Im very proud of its success, nevertheless. In addition, he revealed his dream project, which would be about Dean Reed, who was an American actor and singer that decided to become a communist behind the Iron Curtain. It's like you have a record, you have an album by your favorite artist. What turned Colonels head, though, was a report from his old friend Oscar Davis, who went to Memphis in October 1954 to advance an Arnold appearance at Ellis Auditorium, and saw how Elvis packed a local dive, the Eagles Nest, night after night with screaming women. And then we hit it off with Elvis, very easily. Hanks and his wife, actress Rita Wilson, had dinner with their friend Priscilla Presley in the hopes of getting a better take on the man he was playing. [Leslie Uggams released a version a year earlier.] They went motorcycle riding together in Nashville. And there certainly would've been no Elvis without Colonel Tom Parker.' He wanted Elvis to go not to Special Services, where the army was happy to put him, but to serve his time as any other soldier. Luhrmann describes another story in the aftermath of Presley's death where the Colonel immediately called RCA and instructed them to produce more records, knowing demand would skyrocket. The Tom Hanks Tom Parker portrayal is certainly one of the highlights of the movie, giving audiences something they aren't used to seeing from the actor. And, yeah, she was very difficult to work with, and very wonderful. I think that these days these days meaning going back a couple of decades writers and performers have gotten very hip to protecting their stuff, much more so than we were. Everybody's very familiar with it. In the memoir you worked on with Jerry and David Ritz some years back, Ritz quotes you as saying: Variety called it a loser. Finally they asked her to do Joey Bishops show, and she said, Ill do it if I can do this song. She did, and boom, everybody responded. Theres a story behind you two trying to cajole Thornton into singing it a certain way, which she didnt take kindly to it at first? You could never have predicted the longevity of Smokey Joes Caf, surely. During the interview, Hanks talked about the way Parker was a promoter and not a manager, why Elvis never fired him, and how he prepares for a really emotional scene. However, Parker claimed that his issue with overseas performances was over security issues, as well as poor venues not suitable for the star's stature. Not a singer-songwriter, Elvis' rep suffered because to do both became prerequisite after the Beatles. But the most fun we ever had in the studio working was with the Coasters. I mean like ridiculously handsome guy who also happened to be a third-rate singer and a second-rate actor who just happened to become very, very, very, very famous for a record in Chile. Tom Hanks is playing Elvis Presley manager "Colonel Tom" Parker in the upcoming Baz Luhrmann film, and to get a better idea of the infamous character, the actor had dinner with Priscilla. Check the list of the 10 top box office stars Elvis is right there. As you can see in the trailers, Elvis is about the complicated relationship between Colonel Tom Parker (Hanks) and Elvis Presley (Austin Butler). Elvis and the Colonel worked to change his overall image in the wake of the backlash from his critics, who frequently deemed him offensive. Capitol didnt want to release it, because it didnt have a back beat. Yeah, they liked us a lot. I don't know what he sounds like. There is the legend of an afternoon where you and Leiber cranked out four classic Elvis film songs in just a few hours Jailhouse Rock, Treat Me Nice, I Want to Be Free and (Youre So Square) Baby I Dont Care pretty much because someone trapped you in a hotel suite and compelled you to be prolific. The Colonel was upset with us because we got friendly with Elvis, and he didnt like that. So far as the wider world knew, the Colonel was Thomas Andrew Parker, born in Huntingdon, West Virginia, some time shortly after 1900. Eddy Arnold, whom Parker had built into a household name, had fired him as his manager over failing to honor their exclusive contract, though Parker continued to book him. Acclaimed author of several books about Elvis including the recently re-issued, 'The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley' (Interview by Kees Mouwen, Nigel Patterson and Paul Belard. Elvis would never have been so crass as to have fired Colonel from the stage. I thought you guys did such a great job. Look you got a product, you sell it, explained Parker. Watch what Tom Hanks had to say in the player above, or you can read our conversation below. Is it true you two were largely responsible for producer credits starting to be added to records in the mid-50s? With B.B. About Elvis' Movies In 1964 Interview. Which I thought was weird, at the time. He then did the unthinkable, convincing Elvis' father, Vernon, to sign over control of Elvis' movie and singing "career" to him. Baz Luhrmann is much like Colonel Parker. You and Jerry started producing more things that you didnt write, including some rock albums of the 70s that people dont associate with you because they arent the old-school Leiber-Stoller sound like Stealers Wheel and Stuck in the Middle With You..
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