BATH — A West Coast filmmaker is traveling around the country to interview Elvis impersonators for an upcoming documentary that will take an “around the clock” look at their lives and explore their motivations.

“Society, as a whole, is content to laugh them off as a joke,” said John Paget, who insists that “they’re people like you and me.”

Paget, a director, producer, editor and cameraman from Olympia, Wash., said his film, “Almost Elvis,” will be humorous, because “there is something inherently funny about Elvis impersonators. There is no getting around it.”

But he added: “I’m trying to put Elvis impersonators in another light. Hopefully, after this film, you’ll understand why they do what they do.”

Paget recently traveled to Maine to interview Robert Washington, a painter at the Bath Iron Works shipyard who doubles as a renowned Elvis impersonator.

“He’s rated one of the top guys in the world,” said Paget, noting that Washington has twice won second place in a major competition held each August in Memphis, Tenn.

“It’s the Miss America of Elvis impersonator contests. You are considered the No. 1 in the world if you win that.”

Shrugging off his reputation as a top contender, Washington said he prefers performances to competitions like the one in Memphis which limit entrants’ time on stage to 15 minutes or three songs apiece, not nearly enough to showcase one’s talents.

Also, Washington said the Memphis event is tainted by the issues of race and politics. He said he hasn’t won because he is African-American and was beaten by a Japanese performer in 1992, when the competition was trying to present itself as an international event.

Paget, who has raised about $100,000 for the film and began shooting in February, has been traveling the United States and Canada, interviewing an eclectic mix of impersonators as they prepare for the Memphis competition. The planned release date is Jan. 8, 2000, Elvis Presley’s birthday.

The documentary will depict Elvis impersonators at home and at work and with friends and family, Paget said. The film also will examine the phenomenon of “sideburn chasers” — women who are attracted to Elvis impersonators in an ongoing quest for the King himself.

Paget said he explores the psychology of impersonators, suggesting that some who grew up in single-parent homes see Presley as representing the father they never had.

Elvis impersonators are most plentiful in the Midwest and the West. “Las Vegas has the most, but not necessarily the best,” he said. “It seems to me that the most talent is in the Chicago, Midwest area.”

Washington, who is Paget’s only interviewee in the Northeast, takes issue with the term “impersonator,” saying he prefers to be called a “performer.”

Paget said it is not uncommon for impersonators to describe themselves by other terms, including entertainer or tribute artist.

“I think Elvis impersonators have a bad kind of reputation, so they’re just trying to come up with euphemisms,” said Paget.