HANKS FAMILY LINK TO HOLLYWOOD’S
ELVIS AND BUDDY BIG-SCREEN BIOPICS
Two major rock’n’roll movies are being brought
to the big screen by Hollywood studios in 2021
- with a distinctly family-centric coincidence.
After the pandemic aff ected its fi lming
schedule, director Baz Luhrmann has now
resumed work on Elvis, due for release on
5 November 2021 with Tom Hanks in the role of
Colonel Tom Parker. Austin Butler, best known
for his appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s Once
Upon A Time In Hollywood, will take on the title
role of Presley in the biopic, which focuses on
the relationship between the rock’n’roll icon and
his controversial manager.
Principal photography began in January 2020,
but was halted in March when Hanks and his wife
Rita Wilson tested positive for Covid-19.
Hanks gave an insight into the movie during
an appearance on The Late
Show With Stephen
Colbert, with the actor
remarking that Elvis’
manager was “both a
genius and a scoundrel”.
Hanks added:
“He was a very
disciplined
man, but also
a guy who
you might
want to check
your wallet
to make sure
you still have
all those fi ves
and tens.”
The actor also revealed his wife had organised
a dinner for him with Priscilla Presley, who went
on to defend Parker: “I was expecting to hear
stories about the distrust she had for Colonel
Tom Parker over these many years [but] she
said, ‘No. He was a wonderful man, and I wish he
was alive today. He took really great care of us.
He was a scoundrel in his way’.”
Meanwhile, Tom Hanks’ son Colin will take on
the part of Buddy Holly’s manager Norman Petty
in the movie Clear Lake. The fi lm will trace the
birth of rock’n’roll in the 50s, alongside the civil
rights movement. Hip-hop star Nelly will play
Chuck Berry. Diane Guerrero, who played Maritza
Ramos in Orange Is The New Black, will star as
Holly’s widow, María Elena Holly. Irish actor
Ruairi O’Connor will take the title role.
“We looked at hundreds of audition
tapes for the Buddy Holly role,
but Ruairi’s audition really
stood out,” producer Rick
French explained. “He’s a
terrifi c young actor and a very
accomplished musician.”
Clear Lake is named
after the Iowa town
where Holly was
killed in the
notorious plane
crash on 3 February
1959 that also
claimed the lives of
Ritchie Valens, the
Big Bopper and pilot
Roger Peterson.OBITUARY
STAN KESLER
1928-
The Sun Studios alumni, producer and
songwriter has died aged 92.
After learning to play mandolin and
guitar as a child, Stan Kesler added steel
guitar to his CV while in the US Marine
Corps. Later, the Mississippi-born
musician rose to prominence with the
Snearly Ranch Boys.
Supplying self-penned material for the
band, some of his songs were recorded
by other artists including Elvis, who
released a version of I’m Left, You’re
Right, She’s Gone in 1954 and I Forgot To
Remember To Forget the following year.
Presley’s recording of the former,
a co-write by Kesler and Bill Taylor, was
released as a single by Sun Records and
reached No.5 on the country chart.
Presley’s version of I Forgot To
Remember To Forget, written by Kesler
with Charlie Feathers, made No.1 on the
country chart in early 1956.
Kesler became a regular session
musician at Sun and played on material
by Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison. He also
featured as bassist on Jerry Lee Lewis’
Great Balls Of Fire single in 1957. In the
mid-60s, Kesler produced the hit single
Wooly Bully and several subsequent
successful songs by Sam The Sham And
The Pharaohs.
In 1978, Kesler returned to work at
Sun Studio as an engineer, later forming
a touring group, the Sun Rhythm Section,
which featured among others, guitarists
Paul Burlison and Sonny Burgess,
drummer DJ Fontana and keyboardist
Jerry Lee ‘Smoochy’ Smith of The
Mar-Keys. Kesler retired to Tennessee in
the early 90s.
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