The wonder of view

Director Baz Luhrmann on bringing the real Elvis Presley to life

- BY MARC BAKER

Elvis Presley was one of the greatest ever live performers, but in a newly unearthed audio tape the King of Rock 'n' Roll reveals he was too nervous to sing in public as a child.

Speaking candidly about a traumatic experience in his home town of Tupelo, the icon says: "I was about eight and my aunt entered me into a talent show. I had no music and I had glasses and came fifth. It destroyed my ego completely.

"I would sing in church with my mother and father but I would never sing in public. I was very shy about it."

It is just one of the many amazing revelations in director and Elvis superfan Baz Luhrmann's new documentary that opens in IMAX cinemas tomorrow.

Baz discovered the recording in a trove of incredible video footage while researching his 2022 movie Elvis, starring Austin Butler. The archive had been hidden away for 50 years.

The Moulin Rouge visionary, 63, tells us: "This film was a complete accident. While I was making the biopic I heard from someone who said to me there were mythical lost reels I might be able to use.

"Elvis fans got wind of it and it was like, 'release the footage' - like, the Elvis files. I had the money to go and look for them. So I sent a guy to the salt mines in Kansas where they keep all of the MGM footage.