The “King” seen by his wife: Director Sofia Coppola chose the perspective of Priscilla Presley, who has so far remained in the shadows, to tell “the ups and downs” of this couple on the big screen. Legend.
“Priscilla,” which was presented in competition at the Venice festival on Monday, is based on the 1985 book “Elvis and Me,” in which Priscilla Presley tells her version of her life alongside Elvis, with whom she lived from 1967 to 1973 was married.
“Elvis and Priscilla are a legendary couple, but we don’t know much about them and their perspective,” Sofia Coppola, who won the Golden Lion in 2010 for “Somewhere,” said at a news conference.
Elvis met his future wife in 1957 in Germany, where he was doing his military service, and then brought her to his Graceland estate, where she had to face the King of Rock’n’Roll’s entourage, sensitive personality and drug addiction. The “king” makes her his doll, chooses her clothes, makes her change her hair color…
In 1968 they had a daughter, Lisa-Marie, who died suddenly in January 2023, but this was not enough to seal their union, which ended with Priscilla’s departure in 1973.
When asked if her film is feminist, Marie-Antoinette’s director prefers to see it as “a human story” about “a young girl’s development in this world, which she eventually leaves to find her own place.”
Sofia Coppola and Priscilla Presley at the premiere of the film “Priscilla” presented at the Venice Film Festival. MEGA/IF
The title role is played by the American Cailee Spaeny, while the Australian Jacob Elordi, known for his role in the series Euphoria, plays Elvis.
While Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” (2022) focuses on Elvis’ relationship with his impresario, Sofia Coppola favors “Priscilla’s point of view”.
“I immersed myself in his story and really tried to make the film from his point of view so that we could live his story alongside him,” she concludes.
“That’s what I love about cinema, the opportunity to live the story of someone so different from yourself,” she explained.
The 52-year-old filmmaker also talked about how she enjoyed playing with color palettes, such as using “brighter” colors when the couple went to Las Vegas, and doing research to choose the film’s soundtrack, the title from This time mixes in other, more contemporary ones.
An exception is Sofia Coppola and her actors in the Mostra, which has to do without American stars in its 80th edition due to the historic actors’ strike in Hollywood.
“I am here as a director and producer to support independent film and my team, and I fully support the hard work of the unions fighting for fair wages,” she said. “I hope that we can find a solution quickly (…) We all want to go back to work.”
Priscilla Presley, 78, was heavily involved in the production of the film, giving advice and sharing memories with Sofia Coppola and her cast.
She sat in the front row at the film’s press conference and spoke briefly. “It’s very difficult to sit and watch a film about yourself, about your life, about your love,” she confessed in an emotional voice, before returning to her decision to leave the king.”
“I left, but not because I loved him more. He was the love of my life. It was her lifestyle that was too difficult for me and I think every woman can understand that.”
Even after the breakup, “we were very, very close, and of course we had our daughter and I did what I had to do so that he could see her all the time,” she added.