Introduction:
Elvis Presley had one major missed opportunity in his career — but there’s a way the late singer can still have his dream fulfilled posthumously.
At the Los Angeles premiere of EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert on Feb. 18, those close to the late rock n’ roll star’s story reflected on a prominent regret Presley had about his career: never going on a world tour. However, the concert documentary’s director and Presley’s former manager tell PEOPLE there’s still a way to honor the iconic singer’s wishes nearly 50 years after his death.
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert gives audiences a look at Presley’s extended Las Vegas residency in the 1970s via long-buried footage, alongside clips from the Graceland archives that promise to tell “his side of the story,” per the documentary’s synopsis.
Presley’s longtime friend and manager Jerry Schilling tells PEOPLE that Presley was a pioneering force: in music, of course, but also in the residency show structure. His sustained popularity during his extended Las Vegas residency in the ’70s was a testament to his success as an artist, he notes.
“He had no boundaries, whether it’s where he got his music from early rhythm and blues, gospel, country, all of that. He just loved performing, went out and did what he did, which was brilliant,” Schilling says.
Still, he adds, his friend grew to feel creatively unfulfilled in Las Vegas. It wasn’t the city itself, Schilling clarifies, but by the early to mid 1970s, Presley began itching to perform outside of his home country.
“I think it was his frustration of just doing Vegas and not going to England, not going to Japan, all of that. He still loved performing there, but he needed to do all these other things as well,” Schilling says.
Baz Luhrmann, director of the new concert documentary, shares a similar sentiment. Presley’s Las Vegas show was “giant,” he says, because the artist created the set with international venues in mind.
“What’s extraordinary is he’d come out of the period where he was in the movies, and he said, ‘I’m going to prove what I can do,’ ” Luhrmann tells PEOPLE of Presley’s late-’60s reinvention. “And so he created a giant show thinking that he would go to England with the show, go to Japan with the show, go on tour.”
“But he did a tour in America,” Luhrmann adds. “Then he did it again and again and again. He didn’t realize why. It was like he was like a bird hitting his head against the glass wall.”
One beautiful thing about his documentary is that EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert has drummed up excitement and anticipation all over the world, just as Presley, who died in 1977 at age 42, wanted to do when he was alive.
“This is actually the world tour that Elvis never had, and I think that’s so wonderful,” Luhrmann says.
“I’ve seen audiences already jumping up and down in England, so he’s kind of playing England. He’s going to play Japan,” he adds. “He’s going to play countries all over the world this weekend on IMax, and audiences are actually acting like they’re at a concert.”
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert debuts in IMAX theaters on Feb. 20 before reaching audiences worldwide on Feb. 27.