Elvis Presley‘s daughter, Lisa Marie, threw her wholehearted support behind the 2022 feature film Elvis. She publicly applauded director Baz Luhrmann and star, Austin Butler for how her father was portrayed. Lisa Marie was so supportive of the movie she allowed its stars privileged access to Graceland, her father’s home. The cast was allowed to party in one of Graceland’s most sacred spaces to celebrate its premiere. Here are the details.
Lisa Marie Presley made Graceland accessible to ‘Elvis’ cast
Elvis producer Gail Berman shared her experiences working with Lisa Marie Presley so that the feature film would have a level of accuracy demanded by the King of Rock and Roll’s fans. Berman told The Hollywood Reporter, “[Lisa Marie] decided, completely independent of us, that she wanted to be supportive of it, Austin and Baz, and she opened up her home at Graceland to us.”
However, by opening up Graceland to the film’s production team, Lisa Marie ended a long-standing tradition within the household. She allowed a private event to take place within the home.
“Not only did we do a Memphis premiere at Graceland,” Berman explained. “But she threw a private event for us, a barbecue at Graceland where she opened up the Jungle Room to us to have a cocktail party. Apparently, that hadn’t been done in many, many years.”
Graceland may be a living museum dedicated to Elvis Presley. However, it is, first and foremost, the Presley family’s private home.
Therefore, typically only members of the Presley family are allowed within the home’s restricted areas. But Lisa Marie broke that rule to celebrate Elvis with the film’s cast and production.
What members of the ‘Elvis’ cast were allowed in Graceland’s most private spaces?
Lisa Marie Presley was so invested in the feature film Elvis that she allowed two members of the film’s cast and production, Austin Butler and producer and director Baz Luhrmann, to enter Graceland’s most private spaces. These areas include the upstairs rooms, sealed off from the public.
“We got so close so fast,” Butler admitted during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. His appearance came just over two weeks after Lisa Marie Presley’s unexpected death on Jan. 12.
The actor recalled when Lisa Marie invited him to see Elvis’ bedroom and showed him the king’s slippers. “His bedroom is a place that most people never get to see. Up there, he’s not Elvis. He’s just dad. To hear those stories — I’ll treasure that forever.”
Elvis director Baz Luhrmann was also allowed into the King of Rock and Roll’s bedroom to portray the space in the film accurately. He was given 20 minutes to memorize its contents without taking photographs.
Why are the rooms in Graceland roped off to visitors?
Elvis Presley’s Graceland attracts almost half a million visitors per year. The home in the Whitefern section of Memphis, Tennessee, is a living museum to the King
However, its rooms are roped off to visitors to keep the rooms clean and their contents intact. Tours can access these areas via the home’s hallways, where visitors can look inside the rooms without walking inside.
A rope and guard also stand at the bottom of Graceland’s center hallway, blocking access to upstairs. The upstairs rooms include Elvis and Lisa Marie Presley’s bedrooms, a dressing room, a bathroom, an office, and a play area for his only daughter.
Elvis’ private space is perfectly preserved. It has remained as it was on Aug. 16, 1977, when Elvis died in his master bathroom, attached to his bedroom.
