Career-Spanning Elvis Presley Documentary Heading to HBO
HBO is putting the finishing touches on a two-part, three-hour documentary dedicated to the life and music of Elvis Presley.
Director Thom Zimny will helm the project based on a script by Alan Light; Zimny previously worked with HBO on a pair of Bruce Springsteen documentaries, 2015’s The Ties That Bind and 2010’s The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Deadline reports that the documentary, which tracks Presley’s life from childhood to his final Jungle Room recording sessions in 1976, was made with the complete cooperation of the Presley estate.
The still-untitled film will also feature “unprecedented access to Graceland archives,” never-before-soon photos, footage from inside Presley’s homes and new interviews with musicians, producers, engineers and directors that worked with “the King.”
“The producers came to HBO and Sony with the idea for a film drawing upon very rare footage that captures Elvis’ musicianship in a new and exciting way,” said president of HBO miniseries Kary Antholis said in a statement. “The artistry on display in that footage reminded us of the great work by Jon Landau and Thom Zimny on HBO films documenting the studio artistry of Bruce Springsteen, and we are thrilled to have them at the helm to lend their unique cinematic perspectives to this iconic, complex and singular artist.”
No broadcast date for the Presley documentary has been announced.
2016 has seen a wave of Presley-related releases, including a massive 60-disc box set featuring every album he recorded between 1956 and 1977. Presley’s final recordings were also compiled for the reissue Way Down in the Jungle Room.