Lana Del Rey has the full support of Priscilla Presley after a report from Radar Online claimed the songstress is eager to play Elvis Presley’s ex-wife in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming movie documenting the life of the late icon.
“Lana feels it’s a role she was born to play,” an insider told the outlet. “She has her agent badgering Baz for months now, hoping to get her cast. Lana looks just like Priscilla and has decided there’s no way she won’t get the part.”
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While Luhrmann is reportedly “nervous” about the casting due to Del Rey’s lack of experience acting, Presley told The Blast outside of LAX this week of the news, “I like Lana.”
PopCulture.com has reached out to Del Rey’s team for a comment.
Luhrmann’s film, starring actor Austin Butler as the late artist and Tom Hanks as Presley’s longtime manager, Colonel Tom Parker, will “trace Presley’s elevation to a level of stardom and celebrity matched only by The Beatles, set against an evolving cultural landscape and loss of innocence in America.”
“I knew I couldn’t make this film if the casting wasn’t absolutely right, and we searched thoroughly for an actor with the ability to evoke the singular natural movement and vocal qualities of this peerless star, but also the inner vulnerability of the artist,” the director said in a statement to Deadline.
“Throughout the casting process, it was an honor for me to encounter such a vast array of talent. I had heard about Austin Butler from his stand-out role opposite Denzel Washington in The Iceman Cometh on Broadway, and through a journey of extensive screen testing and music and performance workshops, I knew unequivocally that I had found someone who could embody the spirit of one of the world’s most iconic musical figures.”
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