This dramatisation of Priscilla Presley’s life is an intimate snapshot of her (often unhappy) marriage to Elvis, the famous king of rock’n’roll.
WORDS BY CLARA STRUNCK
If you loved last year’s Elvis biopic – directed by Baz Lurhmann and starring Austin Butler, it was one of the most talked-about films of 2022 – then get set for Priscilla: the hotly-tipped dramatisation of Elvis’ wife, Priscilla Presley.
Adapted from Priscilla Beaulieu Presley’s 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me, the film got a seven-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and has already received rave reviews from critics.
Here’s what we know about the film so far, from the cast to the storyline, and how the film has been received by Elvis’ estate and Priscilla herself.
What is Priscilla about?
“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,” reads the official synopsis from A24, the production company behind the film. “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.”
The story focuses on Priscilla, who met Elvis when she was just 14; amazingly, he managed to convince her parents to allow her to live with him at Graceland, his mansion, along with his father – even though he was a decade her senior. Eventually, when Priscilla was 21, they married and had a daughter, Lisa Marie. The film charts Priscilla’s journey from child bride to lonely wife, offered a very co-dependent existence by her superstar husband.
“Her story was so vivid in my mind and the visuals of that world, Memphis, the Sixties. It’s so American,” Coppola told The Hollywood Reporter. “And I always like themes about finding one’s identity and teenage girls growing into adulthood.”
Who stars in Priscilla?
The title role is taken on by Cailee Spaeny (who you might recognise from Mare of Easttown) while Elvis is portrayed by Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi. Succession’s Dagmara Domińczyk (Karolina Novotney, the head of PR for Waystar Royco) plays Priscilla’s mother.
Legendary filmmaker Sofia Coppola – who is responsible for all-time greats such as Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette and The Virgin Suicides – is the mastermind behind the project, and allegedly always had Spaeny in mind for the lead role. When she finally met with Elordi for coffee in New York, “all the girls in the room just turned to him, they gravitated,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “I just felt like, ‘Yeah, he has that kind of charisma that I imagine Elvis had.'”
When will Priscilla air, and how can I watch it?
Priscilla is set to be released on 27 October in the US and opens with preview screenings from 26 December in the UK, ahead of a wider release in early January, 2024.
What has Priscilla and Elvis’ estate said about the film?
Priscilla herself was in attendance at the film’s Venice premiere, and was seen wiping away tears when the credits rolled. She praised the film at a press conference after, saying “Sofia did an amazing job,” and also addressed some of the film’s more controversial moments, such as her age gap with Elvis and their sexual dynamic.
“I was more of a listener,” she said. “Elvis would pour his heart out to me… his fears, his hopes, the loss of his mother, which he never, ever got over. I was the person who really, really sat there to listen and to comfort him. That was really our connection, even though I was 14 … I was older in life than in numbers.”
“People think that was the attraction — it was sex. Not at all. I never had sex with him [when I was underage]. He was very kind, very soft, very loving, but he also respected the fact I was only 14 years old. We were more in mind and thought, and that was our relationship.”
Elvis’ estate, however, is reportedly unhappy with the film’s portrayal of the singer, and it was stated in June that it was made without their knowledge or consent.
Elvis Presley Enterprises also turned down requests to include Presley’s own music in the film. “They don’t like projects that they haven’t originated, and they’re protective of their brand,” Coppola told The Hollywood Reporter. “But that made us be more creative.”
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This article originally appeared in harpersbazaar.com/uk
