How ‘Elvis’ Composer Wove in the King’s Vocals With Austin Butler’s Performance
variety.comJazz Tangcay Artisans EditorWhile Austin Butler’s performance in Baz Lurhmann’s “Elvis” is visually captivating, the music experience is immersive.
The film needs to be seen, but it demands to be heard.Composer Elliott Wheeler worked closely with music editor Jamieson Shaw, as the film dances between Butler’s vocals, Elvis Presley’s voice and newly recorded versions of the King’s classics like Kacey Musgraves’ rendition of “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”Wheeler says Butler recorded every single line of each performance seen in the film, and Presley’s voice was then mixed in when needed.
Wheeler explains, “If we did end up using Elvis takes, we ended up slicing [parts of] Austin’s performance. We used a lot of the breaths, grunts and body movements that are Austin, and we’d switch back to Elvis.” Though it is primarily Butler’s vocals that audiences will be hearing, the latter half of the film has more of Presley’s voice incorporated.
Wheeler clarifies, “Austin performs everything up until 1968 where he is in black leather. Everything after that was Elvis, and that was partly to do with the fidelity of the stems — the stereo recordings sourced from mixes of multiple individual tracks, such as drums, vocals and bass — in this case, we were using vocal stems.”Wheeler continues, “Because we could isolate all the other stems, we would work out where every breath came.” Furthermore, Wheeler worked with movement coach Polly Bennett to look at how Presley’s body movement impacted his vocal singing.
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