You’ve seen it–the famous photo of President Richard Nixon and “The King” himself, Elvis Presley. It’s one of the most absurd and surreal photos of the 20th century, and based on the trailer for the new movie about that picture, it looks like the story behind it is just as ridiculous.

Elvis & Nixon stars Kevin Spacey as the 37th President of the United States, and Michael Shannon as arguably the most famous American musician of all-time, and tells how they came to take that iconic 1970 photo in the Oval Office.

From the trailer, the movie looks to be as funny as you’d imagine it probably was, but with Spacey and Shannon giving sincere portrayals of the two men, and not over-the-top caricatures of them.

As the trailer shows, Elvis really did want to be an undercover narcotics agent (“I’ve been in 31 major motion pictures, that makes me an expert in costume and disguise.”) and Nixon gave him a badge.

With any “based on a true story” movie, I’m sure they’ve taken liberties, but the idea that Nixon would have a dish of M&Ms on the table as well as an unopened bottle of Dr. Pepper, only meant for him, feels oddly very true. The fact that Elvis would ignore warnings not to touch them seems just as honest.

There is also a new poster for the film.

Just in case you want a refresher on this story before you see the movie, Drunk History told the tale.

The film, directed by Liza Johnson, opens in theaters this April.

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HT: comingsoon.net
Featured Image: Amazon Studios