Posted on Tue, Mar. 15, 2005 Rhys Meyers latest to follow in The King's path He'll play the young Elvis Presley in a CBS miniseries set to air in May. BY ED BARK Dallas Morning News NEW ORLEANS - Just 21 days old on the day Elvis Presley died, high-intensity Irishman Jonathan Rhys Meyers is the latest ascender to The King's throne. So here he is onstage at the Scottish Rite Temple on Carondelet Street, where Masons usually call the tune. Preparing to replicate Elvis' first national TV performance, on the Jan. 28, 1956, edition of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey's Stage Show, Rhys Meyers revs himself by furiously wriggling his hands near his hips. "Well, since my baby left me, I found a new place to dwell... "Guitar in hand, he slams into "Heartbreak Hotel," deftly matching his lips and gyrations with a piped-in recording of Elvis' one-and-only original. A couple of dozen extras whoop and squeal on cue to help prime the kid's pump during a taxing regimen of start-and-stop musical mimicry. It's another day in the life of CBS' four-hour "Elvis," scheduled to wrap this month after a nearly two-month shoot. Director James Sadwith, with the acclaimed 1992 CBS miniseries "Sinatra" to his credit, then will have just two months to meet a May 8 premiere date. Camryn Manheim and Randy Quaid also star as Presley's beloved mother, Gladys, and his controversial manager, Col. Tom Parker. The production covers Elvis from ages 18 to 33, when he made his now-fabled 1968 "comeback" appearance via an NBC special. So there could, of course, be a sequel, particularly if Part 1 of "Elvis" somehow holds its own against ABC's "Desperate Housewives." "They'd have to pay me a helluva lot of money, baby!" Rhys Meyers, 27, says with a laugh during a break from filming. "I'd become Vegas Elvis then! I'd get my own Colonel on it!" Then he downshifts. "I don't know. Let's see how this one works first. I don't think it's an option right now. I'd have difficulty putting on that weight, first of all. I'd have difficulty taking it off, too." Many others have gone before him, including pacesetter Kurt Russell in ABC's 1979 version of "Elvis." Don Johnson then gave it a go in 1981's "Elvis and the Beauty Queen," and Dale Midkiff starred in 1988's "Elvis and Me." The CBS treatment is the first to use Presley's master recordings rather than sound-alike vocals from the likes of veteran Elvis impersonator Ronnie McDowell. It's also being made with the "full cooperation and participation of the Elvis Presley Estate," which isn't necessarily a plus. ABC's 1990 weekly series "Elvis," which also dramatized his early years, likewise had the full blessing of Priscilla Presley. But largely favorable reviews weren't enough to save it from a quick cancellation. Its star, Michael St. Gerard, hasn't had a screen credit since 1994's "Replikator." As a kid in Dublin, Rhys Meyers was "aware of Elvis Presley's music, but it wasn't something I was particularly into until I got this role. A lot of people my age, they get duped into thinking Elvis Presley was this guy in a jumpsuit on a Vegas stage who was very overweight and sweating profusely and then died in the bathroom. This is what you hear when you're a kid. But I now know he once was a young artist whose medium hadn't really been invented yet." Quaid, a Houston native who "grew up with cousins with the ducktails emulating Elvis," rejected an earlier offer to play Col. Parker. He's more comfortable with this script and also newly determined to just say no to lunkhead roles such as "Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure" and the Fox sitcom "The Grubbs," which never aired. "I love comedy, but I'm just kind of over it right now," says Quaid, who received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Lyndon Johnson in 1987's "LBJ: The Early Years." home | new | the man | lisa marie | priscilla & others | fun | clothes | photos | records | movies | concerts | gifts | web | guide | e-cards | today | facts Click here for more info on the book The Girls' Guide to Elvis Click here to check out sister book The Girls' Guide to Country Click here to check out the latest sister book The Ultimate Guide to Chick Flicks