Baz Luhrmann Tipped To Direct Elvis Presley Biopic

Forget the ballroom – Baz Luhrmann is set to get strictly rock and/or roll up in here.

The polarising director with a flair for excessively showy, big-budget romps – Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby among them – is reportedly in talks with Warner Bros. to direct a biopic based on the life of one Elvis Presley. You may have heard of him at some stage. Good hair. Nice voice. Army of impersonators.

While Warner Bros. has so far declined to comment, word is spreading that the one-time King of Rock'n'Roll and hip-thrust enthusiast is due to be the subject of a biopic to be written by Fifty Shades of Grey scribe Kelly Marcel (who also penned Saving Mr. Banks, to be totally fair).

According to reports, the film will be produced by BermanBraun co-founder Gail Berman (House, Arrested Development, 24, Family Guy), with an executive producer credit going to Andrew Mittman of Whalerock Industries, and WB executive Courtenay Valenti set to oversee the production.

Details remain scarce on the biopic itself – there's no indication of casting, time frame, or which period of Presley's life it plans to cover (if not the whole thing) – and there has been no word on whether Luhrmann and co. are planning on going all-out meta with this and doing a biopic specifically about the period that Presley comically attempted to act in films … but let's be honest – you'd watch that movie.

Still, fans of Presley's music can at least rest assured that they won't be stiffed on that front, as WB hold the musical rights to his entire iconic catalogue, which - if nothing else - at least means the soundtrack should be pretty good.