ERIC BANA IS ELVIS!?

As odd as that may sound, one would never have thought of Eric Bana as Chopper either – but look how that turned out. The film in question is Elvis & Nixon, a dramatization of the infamous hand shake and general weirdness between the undisputed King of Rock and Roll and the sweaty US President at the White House circa 1970 (yet kept a secret until 1972), when Elvis decided he wanted to be a “Federal Agent-at-Large” in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and decided to go straight to the top to ask. A six-page letter was drafted, sent to Nixon (who was surely baffled and thought the publicity couldn’t do any harm) and then an audience was granted with His Majesty. Of course Elvis arrived bearing gifts in the shape of family snapshots and an aptly chosen Colt .45.

The always-engaging Danny Huston (The Proposition, Ivansxtc) will play the disgraced Richard Nixon, and the director’s chair will be filled by the first-time rear end of The Princess Bride star, Cary Elwes (who’s also lending vocal talents to Zemekis’ Yellow Submarine re-make, as ‘George’ no less.).

However this isn’t the first interpretation of the odd coupling, there’s also 1997’s ‘Elvis Meets Nixon’, a TV movie directed by frequent John Landis collaborator, Alan Arkush (Rock’n’Roll High School, Deathsport, Moonlighting). Although this version was far more tongue-in-cheek that what we expect from Elwes’ offering… or is it?

No exact shoot date has been announced, but reports indicate the film will be made in LA and Louisiana sometime in 2012.