Sofia Coppola’s latest movie, Priscilla, arrives after a year filled with Elvis scrutiny and holds a mirror up to the beloved Rock and Roll icon. Based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir, Elvis and Me, the film spans a decade of her life from her first meeting with Elvis in Germany at 14 to the dissolution of her marriage at 24. The surviving Presley participated in the movie as executive producer, lending an air of authenticity to its depiction of her experience.
Cailee Spaeny (Devs) takes on the titular role while Euphoria‘s Jacob Elordi plays a different version of Elvis than audiences might expect. Instead of focusing on his career as a musician and the adoration he received from countless fans, Coppola instead focuses on his pursuit of Priscilla herself, smoothly transitioning from her initial awe and amazement at the thought of winning his affection to the inevitable suffocation of self that their married life represented. In seeing the world through Priscilla’s eyes, viewers may find Elvis a little less glamorous than in 2022’s Baz Luhrmann epic.
Screen Rant exclusively interviewed Spaeny and Elordi about Priscilla, and the two young actors shared how they stepped into their larger-than-life roles and gleaned inspiration from the historical people they were playing. They also shared how Sofia Coppola’s use of non-Elvis music helped set the scene for Priscilla’s story.
Cailee Spaeny & Jacob Elordi Talk Priscilla
Screen Rant: I love Priscilla. Cailee, the costumes and makeup did an incredible job at differentiating Priscilla for different stages, but so much of it was your performance. How did you approach her at different ages in that decade?
Cailee Spaeny: Yeah, that’s the whole movie, in a way – watching her arc and watching her go from this young girl to this woman who sees things more clearly on the other side. So, really, it’s just taking that time and prep to understand what I was going to do physically and where she was going to be emotionally and try to map that out as best as I could. And then I leaned on my creatives while we were filming because it was tricky to get those things down when we were shooting for only 30 days and we were shooting out of order.
But I’m glad you thought it looked good, it made sense, and it worked out. It’s a relief to hear.
Jacob, you also had a similarly difficult job because you’re portraying Elvis as Priscilla saw him and not as the world saw him. What was your method of getting who he was to her?
Jacob Elordi: Well, her book paints the picture so clearly, and then it’s very easy to go do the external work outside of Priscilla because there’s so much information on Elvis. But it was always her kind of gaze and her perspective, and Sofia had a way of making sure you were always looking through that lens. So, it was just my pleasure to be able to do that; to be in service of that.
I love how the music is utilized in the movie, especially because there isn’t really Elvis, but it does set you in the time period. Did you have any songs that really got you in the mindset of the characters, that made you feel like you were really there?
Cailee Spaeny: Well, Sofia used music a lot while we were filming. It’s such a key part of her storytelling, but she uses it the whole time while making the movie. So it was always these sort of magical moments coming in with a new costume, about to do a new scene, and we’d be in this gorgeous set and then she’d start playing some amazing song.
I remember she would play Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” a lot whenever I’d walk in on set, and I loved the song, but it sort of took on a whole new meaning. Yeah, so it was really special because it helps you get into the mood of the scene, but it also makes the crew lean in more and feel like they’re a part of telling the story and they sort of get involved in a way that’s really beautiful and doesn’t happen all the time. So, I loved that element of it.
About Priscilla
When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a vulnerable best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla’s long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame.
Priscilla is currently playing in select cinemas before expanding to a wide release in theaters on November 3.
Key Release Date
Priscilla
Release Date:2023-10-01
