Zombieland 2 Tallahassees Elvis Story Is Based On Real Life

Zombieland 2: Tallahassee’s Elvis Story Is Based On Real Life

In Zombieland 2, the story Tallahassee tells about his high school Elvis impression is based on a true story from Woody Harrelson’s own life.

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Zombieland 2 Tallahassees Elvis Story Is Based On Real Life

In Zombieland 2: Double Tap, Tallahassee, the Twinkie-loving zombie hunter portrayed by Woody Harrelson, tells a story to Nevada (Rosario Dawson) about the origins of his appreciation for Elvis Presley, in which he sang an Elvis song in the middle of his high school library. While many of the details were modified for the film, Tallahassee’s Elvis story is actually based on a true story from Harrelson’s own life.

Zombieland 2 picks up ten years after the events of Zombieland, following Tallahassee, Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) as they navigate life during the zombie apocalypse. Living comfortably at the deserted White House, Wichita and Little Rock become restless with their sheltered, predictable lives and head off on their own adventure in “The Beast,” Tallahassee’s weaponized limousine. When Little Rock runs off with Berkeley (Avan Jogia), a laid-back peace-loving hippie, on a road-trip to Graceland, Wichita returns to The White House, enlisting Tallahassee and Columbus to help track down her sister. Discovering that Graceland is one of the many casualties of Zombieland, the team stops at The Hound Dog Hotel when they see Tallahassee’s Beast parked outside. Hoping to find Little Rock, the group of survivors instead find Nevada, the former owner of the Elvis-themed hotel, who shares Tallahassee’s love for the “The King.”

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Discussing their mutual love of Elvis over drinks, Tallahassee tells Nevada a story from his high school days before the zombie apocalypse in which he did an impression of Elvis. According to Tallahassee, his friend Frankie Hammond encouraged him to do his Elvis impression despite being in their school’s library. Tallahassee is convinced by his friend and begins to perform Elvis Presley’s classic song “Hound Dog” for his classmates. As everyone gathers round, Tallahassee jumps on the table, finishes his performance with a flourish, and ends to thunderous applause. Robin Rogers, a girl Tallahassee deems “the cutest girl in school,” comes up to him and plants a kiss on his cheek, making Tallahassee feel like “The King” if only for a moment. While the story establishes a bond between Nevada and Tallahassee within Zombieland 2, the details of Tallahasee’s story were actually inspired by a crucial moment from Harrelson’s past.

On The Late Late Show with James Corden, Harrelson tells the story of how he initially began acting, which is almost identical to Tallahassee’s Elvis story featured within Zombieland 2. When Harrelson was attending high school, some of the guys he knew on the football team said to him, “Do your Elvis,” while they were in the library. While Harrelson was reluctant to perform in such a quiet environment in front of so many people, he eventually began to sing Elvis’s “All Shook Up” on top of a table as his classmates cheered him on. When he was finished, Robin Rogers, a girl who Harrelson claims normally wouldn’t have given him the time of day, who was the Vice President of the school drama club, asked him to audition for a play.

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While a few details were adjusted to better suit the plot of the film, the majority of the story is essentially the same, right down to the name of the drama club Vice President who Harrelson credits as the reason he became an actor. Among the details that were changed within Tallahassee’s story included the Elvis Presley song Tallahassee sang in front of his peers. Singing “Hound Dog” instead of “All Shook Up,” the song may have been selected to give the story more relevancy within the plot of Zombieland 2, since Dawson’s character Nevada clearly seems to have a personal connection to “Hound Dog”, having named her hotel after that particular Elvis song.

Not only did Woody Harrelson’s real life have an influence on Tallahassee’s backstory within Zombieland 2, but his own love of Elvis extended onto the Zombieland 2 soundtrack, which features a studio recorded version of Harrelson singing Elvis’s hit “Burning Love.” While the song is played over the end credits of Zombieland 2, Harrelson’s rendition isn’t relevant to the plot of the film and appears to be included for no other reason than celebrating “The King” who kickstarted his career.

More: Every Song On Zombieland: Double Tap’s Soundtrack

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/zombieland-2-tallahassee-woody-harrleson-elvis-true-story/

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