Elvis Presley: The Searcher
Elvis Presley: The Searcher is a 2018 television documentary film produced by HBO Documentary Films about the life of American singer Elvis Presley, highlighting the development of his musical artistry. Co-edited, co-produced, and directed by Thom Zimny, the documentary premiered at the 2018 South by Southwest Film Festival in two parts on March 14 and 15, 2018, before airing on HBO in its entirety on April 14. Production. In 2014, Priscilla Presley, the ex-wife of American musician Elvis Presley, began discussing with the singer's close friend Jerry Schilling the prospect of an  honest telling of Elvis' story through his music. The two soon approached HBO Miniseries president Kary Antholis with their plan, which he ardently agreed to, enough so that he and the network reached out to producer Jon Landau to jumpstart the project. Landau brought in Thom Zimny as the director, having worked together for nearly two decades on Bruce Springsteen documentaries. Landau thought of the title "Elvis Presley: The Searcher" upon hearing Priscilla's comment about Elvis as "a searcher". Marketing. The photo of Elvis Presley used as the documentary's key image is from a test shoot for his  1960 film "Flaming Star", in which he wore brown contact lenses to assess if it was a better fit for his role as a half-Native American character, as Elvis had naturally blue eyes; this plan was discarded, however, when they began shooting the film. The test shoot photo was chosen to represent "The Searcher" for its "unearthly quality".