Elvis Biopic To Recommence Filming As Tom Hanks Returns To Australia

UPDATE: It has been confirmed that principal photography on Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis will recommence on September 23.

“We’re back to, as Elvis liked to say, ‘taking care of business!’” Luhrmann said.

“It is a real privilege in this unprecedented global moment that Tom Hanks has been able to return to Australia to join Austin Butler and all of our extraordinary cast and crew to commence production on Elvis. 

“I cannot emphasize enough how lucky we feel in the current climate that the state of Queensland, and Queenslanders in general, have been so supportive of this film. 

“We thank our partners in the Queensland Government and Queensland Health for their extremely diligent process, so that we can be an example how creativity and productivity can proceed safely and responsibly in a way that protects our team and the community at large. 

“We are all excited to start working with Tom Hanks when he is out of quarantine in two weeks.”

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Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic is set to recommence filming on the Gold Coast, with news that star Tom Hanks has returned to Australia for the production.

Back in March, it was revealed that production had been suspended just weeks after it started, following news that Hanks and Rita Wilson had both tested positive for coronavirus.

As 7 News reports, Hanks landed at Coolangatta airport last night on a private jet before beginning a two-week quarantine.

At the time the production was halted, Luhrmann noted: "Please know that this is in now way a reflection our commitment to making the movie here in Queensland. In fact we are not even taking our sets down, simply locking up the creative space.

“All going well we have a passionate conviction to be back here on the Gold Coast, picking up where we left off as soon as the time is right.”

With US actor Austin Butler starring as the late music icon, the as-yet-untitled film will follow "the seminal legend’s growth from dirt poor singer to global icon, seen through the prism of his complex relationship over two decades with manager Colonel Tom Parker", who is played by Hanks.

Other names to appear in the biopic include Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rufus Sewell, UK singer Yola and Australia's own Olivia DeJonge.