Hanks set to return for Elvis red carpet
HOLLYWOOD superstar Tom Hanks will return to Queensland and walk the red carpet at the Australian premiere of Elvis.
While he was at first expected to miss the Gold Coast event, it was announced on Wednesday that the Academy Award-winning actor, who plays Elvis’ manager Colonel Tom Parker, will now join his co-stars, Austin Butler and Olivia Dejonge, on the red carpet on June 4 alongside filmmaker Baz Luhrmann.
The event will follow the world premiere of Elvis at Festival de Cannes in late May and a London press tour.
Hanks attracted global attention when he and wife Rita Wilson contracted Covid-19 during preproduction of the film in early 2020 and spent time in hospital on the Gold Coast.
They were among the first highprofile names to test positive during the initial outbreak of the virus.
Elvis was subsequently shut down for a number of months, during which Hanks returned to the US before resuming filming on the Gold Coast later that year.
Hanks, Butler and Dejonge will walk the red carpet at Event Cinemas Pacific Fair on June 4 before introducing the film.
They will be joined by many of the film’s 95 Australian cast members, who will then celebrate at a glamorous private after-party featuring surprise musical guests.
“There’s simply no way we could premiere this film anywhere else in Australia but the Gold Coast; or as we have come to know it, the Goldie,” Luhrmann said when the premiere was announced last month.
“My entire creative team, our families and I have developed a true love of and deep relationship with the emerging energy and creative spirit of the Goldie.
“The many artists and friends whom we have met along the way have made us think of it as a new creative home.”
The cast will then jet to Sydney for a screening in the Harbour City the following day, co-presented by Vivid Sydney.
Elvis was filmed at Village Roadshow Studios and on location on the Gold Coast with support from the Queensland government and the federal government’s Producer Offset program.