New ‘Elvis’ Footage Shows Singer Become a ‘God’ During Iconic July 4 Memphis Performance

“Elvis” director Baz Luhrmann and star Austin Butler were both on hand at CinemaCon during Warner Bros.’ presentation on Tuesday, and they presented an extended new look at the film in which Elvis becomes a “god.”

The footage that debuted was an entirely new trailer along with an extended sequence from the film, in which Butler’s Elvis performs at Russwood Park in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 4, 1956. The concert was formative in his career is once he was warned not to even lift a finger, only for him to famously disobey it. The concert made such a stir that it also broke the color barrier that was established to attempt to segregate the crowd, and he was escorted out in a frenzy.

“In that moment, Elvis the man was sacrificed, and Elvis the God was born. He had no idea what he had done,” Tom Hanks says as Colonel Tom Parker in the clip.

Luhrmann also described the film in more detail and said it’s not truly a “biopic” but a film about America in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, all of it seen through the lens of Hanks’ character, Tom Parker, who served as Presley’s manager.

“You will hear the classics, you will still see the story of Elvis…but we’ve also translated the story for a younger audience,” Luhrmann told the CinemaCon crowd. “If it feels a little like a superhero film, it is… He comes from dirt, and in a few blinding moments, he flies so high, finds his kryptonite…”

“Elvis” hits theaters June 24 from Warner Bros after it first premieres at the Cannes Film Festival.