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VLife

International Hotel

Although there are some photographs of Elvis’s suite and
Baz was lucky enough to visit what was left of it in Vegas
before the suite was completely renovated in 2018, there
were limited visual references for this set.
Of course we leaned heavily on the plans and drawings
of the hotel to deduce as much as possible of what the
structure of the room might have been, however Baz was
clear that Elvis’s suite needed to represent the gilded cage
that Vegas was in Elvis’s life story. He described to us a
luxurious sarcophagus that underlined Elvis’s loneliness,
isolation and withdrawal from the world. This brief was
the basis for the eventual design of the room.
In the script, there were two other hotel room-based sets
at the International. One, which eventually didn’t make
the movie, was Jerry Schilling’s hotel room and the other
was Colonel Tom Parker’s suite, which did.
My team and I came to the conclusion that, as with most
hotels, the International Hotel rooms were repetitions of
each other and using portions of the bigger set, Elvis’s
suite, we could repaint, redress and refurnish to create the
other two. This allowed us to economise on the most
expensive item in the set which were the enormous plate
glass windows that loomed over the Vegas landscape.
For Elvis’s suite we drew on Regency-style architectural
details from Graceland and also incorporated a sunken
lounge into the television area using as reference a sunken
lounge we believe was originally in the lobby of his suite.
For the Colonel’s suite very few substantiated images
exist. However, there are written descriptions of the
Colonel insisting that the International redecorate his
suite in his favourite colour, blue. The Colonel had a
lifelong love for and obsession with elephants and you’ll
see these used as decorative motifs throughout the set.
We also revisit his Snowmen’s League banner, prominently
displayed behind his desk. He was very proud of his ability
to snow people; that is, to convince people to do things
they didn’t want to and unburden them of their funds.
Parker started a Snowmen’s League to celebrate these
traits; the credo was “Free to get in, a fortune to leave”.
In Elvis’s suite, we looked to dark colours, heavy drapes
and painted the ceiling navy blue to match it to the carpet.
The heavy, rich draperies and dark furnishings underlined
the sarcophagus-like nature of the room. For the Colonel’s
suite we leaned into Americana and carnival-barker
tchotchkes and promotional posters. One of the most
successful set elements was the combination of navy and
gold. This overall darkness created a hermetically sealed
space that was suffocating and felt impossible to escape.
The richness of the dressing in the Colonel’s suite was
a tour de force by set decorator Bev Dunn. It’s a perfect
example as to how objects can enhance an audience’s
understanding of character through the collection of
their trinkets and treasures.
THESE PAGES the It’s possible to feel and understand
decadent textures Colonel Parker’s history from
and tones of the carnival barker to promoter on
immersive sunken lounge
in Elvis’s suite on the top of the world just from the
International Hotel set. artefacts in his suite. ››

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