Before her death earlier this year, singer Lisa Marie Presley expressed shock at the portrayal of her father Elvis Presley in the script for Sofia Coppola’s new film Priscilla. In emails obtained by Variety, the King of Rock heiress implored the director to reconsider her vision for the production to “spare her family public embarrassment.”
According to the vehicle, the emails between Lisa Marie and Coppola were sent about four months before Lisa’s cardiac arrest that took her life, in January of this year. In the news, Elvis’ daughter says she is “shocked and appalled” at the way her father was portrayed, suggesting the script would be “vindictive and contemptuous” of Presley’s memory.
The music icon’s only daughter also pleaded with the Oscarwinning director not to damage her fragile relationship with her mother, Priscilla Presley, and to avoid “unnecessary” scrutiny of Elvis’ living grandchildren. “My father just appears as a predator and a manipulator. As his daughter, I don’t read this and don’t see anything of my father in this character. I don’t read this and don’t see my mother’s perspective on my father. “I read this and I see your shockingly vindictive and dismissive perspective and I don’t understand why,” Lisa wrote in one of the emails.
Elvis Presley and his wife Priscilla leave the hospital with his only heiress Lisa Marie. (Photo: Getty)
At this point, filming for the film had not yet begun, but was only in the preproduction and script adaptation stages. Nevertheless, Lisa Marie assured that she would speak out bluntly against the project and her mother. Priscilla, who inspired the A24 film, served as an executive producer on the production.
“I will be forced to be in a position where I have to openly say what I think of the film and publicly speak out against you, my mother and this film,” said the Presley heiress, who also expressed her concerns expressed about her mother’s attitude. in relation to the way the musician was portrayed.
“I’m worried that my mom won’t see the nuances here or understand how Elvis will be viewed when this movie comes out. I feel like I’m protecting my mother, who has spent her entire life honoring my father’s legacy. I’m worried that she doesn’t understand the intentions behind this film or the outcome it will have,” he stressed.
Finally, the late singer also highlighted her concerns about the film’s impact on her young children and Presley’s grandchildren, especially the youngest, Finley and Harper Lockwood, the fruits of her relationship with guitarist Michael Lockwood. “I had to explain that we have to endure another blow in our lives. That there will be a movie about her grandfather that will try to make him look really, really bad, but that’s not true. I had to explain that her beloved grandmother supported her. These two girls have been through so much over the last seven years, enduring my divorce and terrible custody battle and then losing their brother (Benjamin Keough). We are all drowning,” she lamented, citing her son Benjamin, who tragically died at the age of 27.
Lisa Marie ended her appeal to Coppola by citing the Austin Butlerstarring film and saying she understood Sofia’s “need, right after such an incredible film, to try to take down my father, under the pretense that you “trying to tell my mother’s story,” not , but from his very dark and worn reality.”
Coppola, in turn, answered Lisa Marie’s questions through her representative. “I hope that when you watch the final film you feel different and understand that I attach great importance to honoring your mother while portraying your father with sensitivity and complexity,” assured the director.
Lisa Marie cited the Elvis film starring Austin Butler to criticize Sofia Coppola’s version. (Photo: Warner Bros./A24)
The story of “Priscilla,” a film starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, is based on the singer’s wife’s 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me,” about her complicated romance with Elvis. The two began a romantic relationship in Germany in 1959, when Priscilla was 14 and he was 24.
The theatrical release of Coppola’s film in Brazil is scheduled for December 26th. However, the film is now also available in the USA and is causing quite a stir in the international press. Watch the trailer below: