‘Orion’ tells the story of Jimmy Ellis - an unknown singer plucked from obscurity, and thrust into the spotlight as part of a crazy scheme that had him masquerade as Elvis back from the grave.
With an outlandish fictional identity torn from the pages of a novel and a voice that seemed to be the very twin of Presley's himself, the “Elvis is alive” myth – concocted in the months after Presley’s death - was born. Jimmy - as the masked and rhinestoned Orion - gained the success he'd always craved, but it wasn’t enough.
Jeanie Finlay's documentary examines allure of fantasy and the eternal search for identity whilst uncovering the manipulative schemes at work in the music industry.
★★★★ "A dizzying analysis of the madness of the Orion myth alongside a movingly sympathetic account of Ellis’s unsung talent" - Mark Kermode, The Observer
Not Rated
86 minutes
2015
Music, Documentary
United Kingdom
English
None
Glimmer Films