303 | Jason Hehir (Return of the King: The Fall & Rise of Elvis Presley)

My Summer Lair Chapter #303: Is Which Eras Of Elvis’ Life Fascinate You?

One of the many intriguing experiences of pop culture I adore is it’s all connected.

I did not watch Priscilla a 2023 biopic written and directed by Sofia Coppola.

I did watch Elvis a 2022 biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann. Austin Butler was a decent Elvis while Tom Hanks played Colonel Tom Parker. Elvis’ notorious manager.

And here…Baz Luhrmann is one of the talking heads in Jason Hehir’s Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley.

Also in Return of the King?

Bruce Springsteen; a massive Elvis fan.

I’d just recommended his recently released Hulu special Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band post-TIFF. And who directed that special?

Thom Zimny.

Who in turn directed Elvis Presley: The Searcher (2018) a captivating 2-part HBO documentary highlighting the development of Elvis Presley’s musical artistry. (Priscilla’s comment about Elvis as “a searcher” is what sparked the docuseries name.)

It’s all connected.

Elvis died on August 16, 1977 and yet impressively the ripples of his life continue to spread out.

I sat down with director Jason Hehir to talk about his 2024 Elvis doc. Jason is the director who gifted us The Last Dance. The famous Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls dynasty docuseries we all watched during the pandemic.

(Return of the King concludes with a title card that reads in part: “The ‘68 Comeback Special aired on December 3, 1968 on NBC: 42% of the American television audience watched.” You gotta figure The Last Dance released during a pandemic lockdown, on Netflix (which is worldwide) secured a similar captive audience. That Jordan docuseries was one of the last things we all watched together. Surreal.)

So…in a way think of Hehir’s Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley as Elvis’ Last Dance. (Aw, man I have a multitude of dense emotions. Jordan and Elvis…)

See? It’s all connected.

Well…except I can’t explain Conan O’Brien in this Elvis doc. That I don’t have an suitable connection for. So, maybe it’s not all connected.

I asked Jason about that, though: What’s up with Conan O’Brien?!

Elvis is fresh. Present tense.

Jason’s magnificent IMDb includes Andre the Giant for HBO (2018). Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage, and Reckoning for HBO (2023) as well. The Fab Five for ESPN Films (2011).

I highly recommend them all…big fan.

This was a treat; I can’t believe I got to talk to the dude. I really was All Shook Up.

Still, he’s a household name because of The Last Dance. And in this conversation with Jason I draw parallels with Jordan and The Last Dance with Elvis and Return of the King.

Jordan and Elvis are icons. You had to see them, though…that was the magic.

I talk to Jason about growing up in Boston and attending a Catholic Church because typically Catholic Churches have stained glass windows…the Church immortalizes their saints and icons in those windows.

In pop culture we don’t have stained glass windows but we have docs like The Last Dance and Return of the King.

Documentaries are how we immortalize our icons.

And even though it’s like asking a magician how he pulled off a magic trick I ask Jason to explain his fascination with these massive cultural icons.

Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley streams on Netflix starting on November 13, 2024. #SetTheVCR

Elvis is hope. Present tense.

Jason Hehir @ W • T • F

Host Sammy Younan

Recorded: Monday November 4, 2024 at 2:30 pm (EST)

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