The legacy of Elvis Presley is often reduced to gaudy iconography and tales of excess,

the white jumpsuit, Las Vegas, drugs.

So what happens when Baselurman, notable author of God and Excess, takes on the man, the

myth, the legend?

Well, you get the dizzying nearly three hour long biopic Elvis.

Justin Butler stars as the King of Rock and Roll, but just as central to this story is

Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis's shady long time manager, played by Tom Hanks.

I'm Stephen Thompson.

And I'm Aisha Harris.

And today we're talking about Elvis, on pop-culture happy hour from NPR.

Joining me and Stephen today is NPR Political Reporter Daniel Kurtzleben.

Welcome back, Daniel.

Hey, thank you.

And also joining us is Vulture TV critic Roxana Hadadi.

Welcome back to you to Roxana.

Thank you guys.

I'm very excited to talk with you all about this movie.

I'm sure, I'm sure a lot of thoughts will be shared.

Plotwise, Elvis is pretty standard biopic stuff.

It traces his origins in the deep south, through to international super-stardom, and up to

his early demise at the age of 42.

Austin Butler plays Presley in his teenage and adult years.

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