Why Baz Luhrmann Didn’t Cast Harry Styles in ‘Elvis’ | THR News - video Dailymotion

“The real issue with Harry is, he's Harry Styles. He's already an icon," admits Baz Luhrmann.

Transcript

00:00Harry Styles is so hot right now, but not hot enough to play Elvis?

00:05With Harry's effortless style, great hair, adoring fanbase and growing list of movie

00:10credits, you would think you would be a natural to play Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's

00:14new biopic, Elvis.

00:16Well, no.

00:17The Australian director thought audiences would struggle to see past the British pop

00:20star, telling Fitzy and Whippa, the breakfast radio team at Sydney's Nova,

00:24Harry is a really talented actor, I would work on something with him, but the real issue

00:29with Harry is, he's Harry Styles, he's already an icon.

00:33And an icon he is, Harry's third studio album, Harry's House is number one on the Billboard

00:37200, and its lead single, As It Was, landed atop the Billboard Hot 100 for the fifth week

00:42in a row.

00:43But there's nothing but respect between Luhrmann and Styles, with the director saying,

00:47Harry and I came to a place, genuinely I mean, he was just desperate to put on the suit and

00:52explore.

00:53He's such a great spirit and I have nothing but great things to say about Harry Styles.

00:57And as for Austin Butler, who nabbed the role of the King of Rock and Roll, the thing about

01:00Aus was that he will tell you himself, I didn't pick him, it's as if he was drawn like the

01:05role drew them in because he was almost born to play.

01:08Baz Luhrmann's Elvis arrives in theaters on June 24th.

01:11For more on this, head to THR.com.

01:14This is The Hollywood Reporter News.