Back in the mid-1950s, Elvis Presley was discovered by illegal immigrant and former carnival man, Colonel Tom Parker, real name Andreas van Kuijk. The businessman managed The King for his entire career until his death in 1977. He made Elvis a huge star yet also stifled his creativity by keeping him in repetitive, mainly poor movies and prevented him from touring outside of North America and Hawaii.

Tom Hanks plays The Colonel in the Elvis movie, looking back on his life with The King.

At a Cannes Film Festival press conference, the Oscar winner said: “Was he a cheap crook that played fast and loose? Yeah, when it comes down to that, but I worked that all out to everyone’s satisfaction. He was a man who brought joy to everything he did — along with a bit of larceny.”

Parker is very much the villain of Baz Luhrmann’s biopic, but that’s not what interested the star in portraying him.

Hanks called The Colonel a “mercurial and brilliant man who at the same time lined his own pockets.”

And added: “There would have been no Elvis without Colonel Tom Parker; there would have been no Colonel Tom Parker without Elvis. A symbiotic relationship.”

Elvis hits cinemas on June 24, 2022.