New Film 'Elvis & Nixon' Re-enacts Iconic Meeting Between President and 'The King'

“Elvis & Nixon” is in theaters this Friday.

ByABC News via logo
April 19, 2016, 10:29 AM

— -- When Elvis Presley met President Richard Nixon in 1970, the photograph taken that day became the most requested image from the National Archives, and now, it has inspired a movie.

Johnny Knoxville, Alex Pettyfer and Colin Hanks star in “Elvis & Nixon” as the men who help arrange the meeting between the president and “The King.”

“We knew the photo, but we didn’t know the complete story behind the photo and it’s so bizarre,” Johnny Knoxville told Amy Robach on “Good Morning America” today. “The more you know about it, the crazier it gets.”

In the film, Elvis shows up the morning of Dec. 21, 1970, to the White House and requests an urgent meeting with Nixon to swear him in as an undercover agent in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

Pettyfer, who plays Elvis' best friend, Jerry Schilling, admits that, at first, he didn’t believe the actual photo of Elvis and Nixon was real.

“To hear this crazy story play out and actually hear that it was true was insane,” he said.

Hanks plays Nixon staffer Egil “Bud” Krogh, who helped make the meeting actually happen.

“He [Bud] wanted a little extra juice behind the president,” Hanks said. “It was all he served at the honor of the president and wanted to try and make the president seem cooler than he was.”

“Elvis & Nixon” is in theaters this Friday.