2016 Tribeca Film Festival: ‘Elvis & Nixon’ Interviews
Until February 1971, President Richard Nixon had meetings in the Oval Office unrecorded, unable to be called upon by him and his staff as well as those that came after him. One of those such meetings included the December 21, 1970 meeting he had with the king, Elvis Presley.
In a bizarre twist of actual historic events, Elvis Presley wanted a meeting with Richard Nixon in the hopes of becoming a “Federal Agent at Large” and carrying an official Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge. His wife Priscilla wrote that “the narc badge represented some kind of ultimate power to him . . . With the federal narcotics badge, he could legally enter any country both wearing guns and carrying any drugs he wished.” Well don’t we wish the same!
Liza Johnson directs this comedy, which stars Kevin Spacey as Richard Nixon and Michael Shannon as Elvis Presley. Also in the film include Colin Hanks as Nixon’s aide Egil Krogh, Evan Peters as Dwight Chapin, Alex Pettyfer as Jerry Schilling, Elvis’ best friend turned manager, and Johnny Knoxville as Sonny, Elvis’ security.
At the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival premiere of the film, we had the chance to interview some of the cast members, as well as Joey Sagal, one of the writers, and Michael Kelly, whom we asked about season five House of Cards. You can check out our interviews with them below, as well as the trailer for the must watch film.