After years in development, Sony Pictures Animation and Titmouse’s new adult action comedy series Agent Elvis finally debuts this Friday March 17th on Netflix. Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey voices secret agent Elvis Presley in a fun, high-energy, unpredictable show that celebrates The King… and has Presley family approval. Showrunner, head writer and EP Mike Arnold and co-showrunner, EP and writer John Eddie share how fans will fall in love with Agent Elvis in this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This conversation was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: This show has had a lot of buzz for several years. I’m thrilled everyone gets to finally see it. Mike, when did it go from just being a dream to a dream come true?

Mike Arnold: All along we were incredibly excited with the core principle of: Super cool Elvis character with a coked-up monkey with a shotgun next to him. You’re kind of halfway there once you start there. John and I got particularly excited when Matthew came on board. He brought his particular sensibility and effortless swagger and his own form of awesome to the project. It rolled really fast from there.

JM: Cool. Matthew McConaughey voices secret agent Elvis Presley. The show is outrageous and energetic as heck. John, we begin in 1968. What did you enjoy the most about using the late ’60s / early ’70s time period and this time in Elvis’ career.

John Eddie: The whole show follows almost like a Forrest Gump timeline. We hit historical markers. Anything that ever happened in history, Elvis is a part of. We started with ’68 because we really wanted to get to the inspiration of the show — when Elvis met Nixon, where he wanted to be a D.E.A. agent. That was always our cornerstone — our touchstone to get to. So ’68, “The Comeback Special”… it’s also when Elvis looked his most badass. He was in great shape, with the sideburns and the black leather. He looked like a superhero. That’s when he started wearing capes. (laughs) It kind of fit in perfectly with what we were going for.

JM: And what’s also really interesting is how you use the music. Mike, how did you want to incorporate Elvis’ music in appropriate ways throughout the episodes?

MA: Sometimes it was an easier call than others. We have an episode centered on Vegas, so “Viva Las Vegas”… but the more we went from episode to episode, we were looking for the one with the right vibe. And we said, “Which one feels like it’s giving us the sense of this episode?” Elvis’ catalogue runs the entire spectrum, so there was always something available. And it was really hard to pick at one point. That’s part of what the show hopefully accomplishes — introducing Elvis music to a younger generation.

JE: The greatest hits are in there, but we also looked for some more obscure Elvis songs in some of the episodes. And we also use some other time period appropriate music, like David Bowie and The Doors. It’s there for Elvis fans but there’s also other music that’s setting the tone for the show.

JM: I grew-up with “Lilo & Stitch”, so Elvis was a part of my life from a very young age. And it’s amazing Priscilla Presley is a part of this as a co-creator — and she voices herself! John, was it intimidating to go along this journey with Priscilla Presley?

JE: I pitched her the idea back in 2012 — that’s how long a journey it’s been. She’s an actor and creator — in all the “Naked Gun” movies. Elvis was a big fan of comedies — a big “Monty Python” and Mel Brooks fan. She understands the comedy. She had approval all throughout. She was very helpful in setting up the world in the beginning. One of the coolest things about Priscilla is that she let the writers and Mike and I really explore this fictional version of Elvis. It’s definitely cutting edge, edgy and over the top. It’s a wild ride. She was very supportive in our artistic endeavors of this.

MA: And I think she had fun in the booth. She was having a good time, and that’s always important. She was enjoying herself. It was a fun character for her to do.

Mike Arnold and John Eddie with Jackson Murphy

JM: That’s great. Of course leading the cast is Matthew McConaughey. He puts so much into his performances, not only the live-action ones, but also animation, with the “Sing” movies and “Kubo and the Two Strings”. So Mike, what do you think fascinated him about The King?

MA: I think a big part of it was the responsibility. “You’re gonna be the first person to voice this character in an animated setting.” I think he loves a challenge like that… how long he spent trying to perfect his version of him — to try to get what he would call, “The Music of Elvis’ Voice”, in every line to make it sound like that wonderful swagger rhythm. When you’re watching it, you quickly forget it’s Matthew. It just feels right. You’re suddenly sucked in by it, even though he’s not doing an Elvis imitation, which we never wanted. We wanted him to bring his own sensibilities to it, and I think it’s that challenge of being THE GUY who voiced Elvis that was very appealing for him.

JM: You’re right that it just feels right. AND there’s such cool, cinematic, slick action and movement. John, take me through some of those decisions.

JE: Early on when Rob Valley did the character designs, that pretty much set the tone for the whole world. We started building a world. Fletcher Moules, who’s a co-EP, directed Entergalactic for Netflix. He was very instrumental in… capturing the movies from the ’70s — the rich colors and graininess. We were in good hands with them, the people at Sony and Titmouse.

JM: Obviously Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” movie has been a cultural phenomenon for the last nine months. Mike, when the movie was coming out… what kind of feelings did seeing all the ads and the film itself give you as you were putting this series together?

MA: It was exciting because as Elvis became more present in everybody’s consciousness, we felt that was a big benefit to the show. And also, we were doing something very different. We have a fictional Elvis. We’re not trying to portray the actual Elvis. We like to think Elvis would’ve thought of himself as an action hero. So it was great. We know that Baz was very excited about the show that we were doing. That was also great. It was like a tandem effort with deliberately tying hands. It helps us. It helps him. It’s this tidal wave of Elvis that we really wanted to be a part of.

JM: And obviously when you have a studio like Sony Pictures Animation… it’s been a place of bold, creative storytelling. John, when you think about your partnership with Sony, what are the words and emotions that come to you?

JE: For Priscilla and I, Sony Animation was the first place we pitched it to, and we felt like they were immediately willing. Very supportive… in making this show to what it could be. A lot of thought and layers. And Netflix was supportive too.

JM: You have your own version of “The Comeback Special”, but you’re also doing shot by shot recreations of some iconic moments. What something like that daunting?

MA: Not daunting, but exciting. We were intentional about… if we were using a car, let’s make sure it was one of Elvis’ cars. We really wanted to be loyal to that. We knew viewers would be key on that.

JM: When I saw the “Elvis” movie in June, it was at a screening a couple nights before it opened. It was packed. There was a guy there who was dressed up as Elvis. And there were so many people there, especially older women, with T-shirts, who told me they’ve been to Graceland and LOVE this man. What do you hope this series means to fans like them?

MA: I personally hope it opens up a new side of Elvis to them — to imagine him in this world — and that it’s exciting for this group that you’re talking about. My wife’s aunt is the biggest Elvis fan of all-time. Her car’s full of Elvis stuff. I sent a picture of her car to John. And she is up in her ’70s. I showed her the trailer and she was like, “Oh my God. I gotta watch this!” It’s a very different portrayal of Elvis. I think it’s exciting to that crowd.

JE: And I think for the older Elvis fans, the important thing to know — and I know Priscilla has driven this home — at our first meeting when we signed the deal with Sony Animation, Jerry Schilling, who was Elvis’ best friend, stood up at the table and he said, “Out of all the projects we’ve ever worked on, I think Elvis would’ve liked this one the best.” It wasn’t just portraying him as a great singer, it was about letting him live-out his fantasy of fighting crime. And he really wanted to. That’s the touchstone I always go to: Priscilla and Jerry, who knew Elvis, feel like he would like this. Otherwise, I would not want to do anything that would sully his reputation or the image of Elvis. I think we’ve captured the Rock ‘N Roll of Elvis — edgy for sure, but I think Elvis would’ve liked it.

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Jackson Murphy

Jackson Murphy is a movie critic and entertainment columnist. He is the creator of the website Lights-Camera-Jackson.com, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

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