More than 300 Elvis fans auditioned for the role of Elvis Presley. They were all turned away and Rhys Myers was hired, even though he wasn't one of the 300 lining up to audition.
John Boyd West plays his real life father Red West. He previously did so in Memphis Melody - July 3, 1954 (1993).
Robert Patrick plays Vernon, the father of Elvis. This is the second time he plays the dad of one of the 'original rockers' from Sun Records, the first one being Johnny Cash. He would later go on play Elvis in the humorous detective story 'Lonely street'.
The first Elvis reenacted biopic to use only the original music recordings and vocal performances of Elvis himself. Previously, due to the cost or other difficulties in acquiring the rights to use that material, re-recordings with vocal artists had been used in place of the real thing.