For his role as the shape-shifting, Schwarzenegger-slashing android assassin in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," actor Robert Patrick is guaranteed a prominent place in the modern movie hall of fame.
But as entertainment icons go, even the T-1000 can't compare with the character Patrick portrays in the new comic murder mystery, "Lonely Street."
The film's title, which alludes to the lyrics of "Heartbreak Hotel," is the tip-off: In "Lonely Street," Patrick portrays Elvis Presley.
In this case, however, Elvis is a 75-year-old man preparing a surprise comeback after faking his death, hiding out in Albuquerque for three decades (as a reclusive millionaire named "Mr. Aaron"), and giving up prescription drugs and fried peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches for smoothies, wheat-grass shooters and tai chi.
"This is a man that's sure of himself," said Patrick, 50, of his onscreen interpretation of Elvis. "He's confident, he knows who he is, he's got a sense of humor about himself. It's kind of what we all wish would have happened if Elvis had stayed alive. He's making protein drinks and he's a fit man."
He also unwittingly launches a murder investigation when he hires New Mexico-via-Mississippi private eye Bubba Mabry (Jay Mohr, one of the film's producers) to protect him from a zealous tabloid reporter.
To become a gray-haired and somewhat wrinkly but still handsome, easily recognizable and convincing Elvis, Patrick had to spend about five hours in the makeup chair to begin each of his five days of shooting. (The makeup was developed by the famous team of Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff, known for their work in "Alien" and "X-Men" movies.) Despite this ordeal, Patrick was eager to star in "Lonely Street" because he wanted to restore "dignity" to Elvis, and not parody or mock the singer, who died on Aug. 16, 1977, at the age of 42.
"That's the most important reason why I did the movie," said Patrick, who shot a scene as Elvis with Mohr several years ago as a teaser to help the producers raise money for the film. "I didn't want to play into any stereotypes. I wanted to do it as a tribute to him.
"I was born in Atlanta, Georgia, I was raised in the South, and I remember Elvis Presley and the impact he had on the people I knew," said Patrick (who said he was speaking on the phone from "my car in a parking lot in Hollywood, California").
"So I felt like I wanted to do it in a way that honored the man, and I also felt like we had a unique opportunity to portray him as what he would have evolved into as a human being, not necessarily where he ended, stuck in time in the '70s."
Said Peter Ettinger, the film's writer and director: "Robert and I were very much on the same page about not wanting it to be too outlandish -- to make it an interpretation of Elvis rather than an imitation."
Often cast as a steely-eyed tough guy in such films as "The Marine" and "Die Hard 2," Patrick already had a professional relationship, so to speak, with Elvis and other Sun Records artists. He portrayed Elvis' father, Vernon Presley, in the 2005 CBS miniseries "Elvis" (with Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Presley); and he was Johnny Cash's daddy, Ray Cash, in 2005's "Walk the Line." (Somebody please cast Patrick in movies about Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, so he can wrap up Sun's entire Million Dollar Quartet.)
The production of "Walk the Line" brought Patrick to Memphis for 15 weeks.
"I really got to immerse myself in the whole Memphis life," he said.
Did he visit Graceland while he was here?
"Hell, yeah. I've done Graceland like three times, and that was before I even knew I was gonna play Elvis.
"I love Elvis, the whole Elvis story, who he is, where he came from. I mean, I've been to his (childhood) house in Tupelo, I've been to his teenage residence in Memphis, that (Lauderdale Courts) public housing apartment. I mean, he was so frickin' cool."
Patrick said he eats barbecue at Rendezvous every year when he passes through Memphis on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, on his way to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where he visits "the troops."
Said Patrick: "I'd love to live in Memphis."
Patrick said he "constantly" watched concert footage of Elvis while shooting "Lonely Street," to "get a concentration of what it must have been like to have been that man. You know, I don't sing, and I've never had the ability to have that many people in the palm of my hand."
For the performance scene at the end of "Lonely Street," Patrick said, "the producers got me this jumpsuit, and I said, 'You're out of your (ever-loving) mind,' I said, '(Forget) that.' I said, 'I want to see the guy in an elegant suit, like Frank Sinatra or Tony Bennett.' He's a 75-year-old man, and there's an elegance to him. Otherwise it becomes a caricature."
Patrick said he's disappointed "Lonely Street" didn't get a theatrical release, but he believes it will find appreciative viewers on DVD. "I want this project to get as wide an audience as possible. I'm really proud of what I did, and I'd really like for people to see it."
