Daily Times

Director Baz Luhrmann has announced several prominent Australian stars will join the cast of his Elvis Presley biopic.

Richard Roxburgh, Helen Thomson, David Wenham and Dacre Montgomery have joined the previously announced Austin Butler – playing the lead role – and Tom Hanks, who will portray Presley’s manager Colonel Tom Parker.

Roxburgh, who worked with Luhrmann on 2001’s Moulin Rouge!, will play Presley’s father, Vernon, while Thomson has been cast as the singer’s mother, Gladys.

She is reportedly replacing Maggie Gyllenhaal, who left the film after shooting was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Wenham will play country music singer Hank Snow and Stranger Things star Montgomery will play TV director Steve Binder.

Luhrmann said: “Elvis was surrounded by an extraordinary array of rich personalities, and we are very fortunate to pull together a tremendous ensemble to tell this story.”

The biopic will chronicle the life and times of Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. He died aged 42 in 1977 following one of the most influential careers in popular music.

Production, which is taking place in Luhrmann’s native Australia, was paused earlier this year due to the pandemic.

Hanks tested positive for Covid-19 while Down Under in March, becoming one of the first celebrities to go public with a diagnosis.