Before he took on the role of "King Henry VIII" in Showtime's
The Tudors, Jonathan Rhys Meyers played a King of a different sort in the CBS-aired
Elvis: The Miniseries. Hundreds of Elvis fans and impersonators tried out for the lead role in this Golden-Globe-winning (and Emmy-nominated) 2005 production, made in co-operation with the Presley estate. But even though he wasn't in the audition line, Rhys Meyers was given the job in what many people feel is the best version of the life story of The King of Rock 'N' Roll. And it's the only one to use actual master recordings of Elvis' hits! Randy Quaid (
Christmas Vacation, Independence Day) played Colonel Tom Parker, Antonia Bernath (
Holby City) played Priscilla Presley, Robert Patrick (
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The X-Files) and Camryn Manheim (
The Practice, Ghost Whisperer) played parents Vernon and Gladys Presley, and Rose McGowan (
Charmed, Grindhouse) played Ann-Margret.
Starz Home Entertainment (formerly Anchor Bay) has announced the
August 14th release of
Elvis: The Miniseries on DVD. The feature is 173 minutes long, and presented in anamorphic widescreen. For those of you with a home theater setup, there is a Dolby 5.1 Surround track, but if you don't have that yet then there's also a Dolby 2.0 Stereo track as well. And if you can't use either one, then you'll be happy to know that this release is closed captioned for the hearing impaired. Look for Deleted Scenes as a nice extra, plus a collectible 12-page booklet included inside. Cost is $26.97 SRP, but you can
pre-order it from Amazon for $19.99. Here's the cover art, which is a special "black velvet" outer packaging. Inside of that is the disc case which has a top half which is red, and on the bottom half is a great picture of Rhys Meyers as young Elvis, with his guitar slung over his back.
