Who Played Elvis Presley Best: Kurt Russell or Jack White?

on January 7, 2011 at 5:17 PM

It takes more than just a sequined jacket and a ton of hair gel to imitate The King. You have to ooze sex and style from your veins, replicate his saucy, mumbling voice, and shake those hips like there's no tomorrow. Elvis Presley himself starred on the big screen numerous times, but he was such an icon that even to this day, films use him as a character.

Since it's Elvis's 76th birthday, we're comparing two actors who have starred as the King in major motion picture roles: Kurt Russell and Jack White.

It's hard to argue Kurt Russell's depiction of The King in the 2001 film 3000 Miles to Graceland being anything less than the best. Even though the movie didn't do so well, it basically felt like we were watching Elvis on the screen himself. Kurt had the dance moves, the voice, and that sexy side snarl thing going on.

But, as great as Kurt's performance was, I can't help but love Jack White's over-dramatized Elvis in the spoof Walk Hard. You try mumbling "oneumanight lilbitahoney ana lilbita junebug" accurately without people going "What the f--- did he just say?"

Warning: F-bomb at the end of clip.

Which one do you think did a better Elvis impersonation?

Image via Luiz Fernando/Flickr

Filed Under: celebrity, celebs

Comments (10)

starlight1968

on Jan 7, 2011 at 6:52 PM

NOT an Elvis fan but my mom is a HUGE one since teen years and she says it's neither of these but Jonathan Rhys Meyers !!

Report this comment

Nonmember comment from Leopoldo

on Jan 7, 2011 at 8:30 PM

Neither, the best Elvis has to be Bruce Campbell in Bubba Ho-Tep.

Cafe Suzanne

on Jan 7, 2011 at 9:16 PM

That Jack White clip just kills me.

Nonmember comment from Lucille

on Jan 8, 2011 at 5:19 AM

Elvis was one of a kind, so it's hard for anyone to play him straight. It's always a stereotype or caricature. Neither one of them looks much like Elvis, but that's more okay in a comedy than a drama. Kurt Russell did pretty good, but it was not as entertaining as Jack White's shtick. I read somewhere that part was totally ad-libbed, they were just messing around and it was filmed. How cool is that? So Jack White gets my vote. I wonder who will be playing him years from now, when they make a film of his life? (He played himself in that documentary film, It Might Get Loud. But documentaries are not the same thing. He's the only really iconic rock star of the new millenium so far, so probably a biopic will come along someday, years from now.) Somebody should make a film about the ghost of Elvis haunting Memphis and whatnot. There sure are enough people who talk about it.

Facebook comment from Mirko Kokot

on Jan 8, 2011 at 6:22 AM

Jack's the best :D