Sofia Coppola’s latest biopic tells the story of the iconic Priscilla Presley.
By the age of 21, Priscilla was one of the most famous women in the world, the symbolic queen of American rock and roll. Yet beyond her status as the long-time love and only wife of Elvis, she was barely known at all. Her narrative has long been eclipsed by the overwhelming heat and flash of his, this film puts Priscilla and her powerful story front and centre of the narrative.
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. When the teenager 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. The film is a gorgeous, deeply felt and detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame.
Sofia Coppola, the renowned director behind films such as The Virgin Suicides, The Beguiled and Lost In Translation is the daughter of the legendary Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola is also no stranger to biopics, having come to critical acclaim with her 2006 hit, Marie Antoinette, which detailed the life of the controversial Queen of France.
Sofia beautifully captures the mood, style and deeply internalised feelings of the young Priscilla, and makes sure that the focus of the biography is not a deconstruction of personality, but the evocation of identity’s creation.
Drawing primarily from Priscilla’s memoir, ‘Elvis and Me’, Sofia said: “There was something so fascinating, and so touching, to me about her story.”
“What it would be like to go into Graceland as a child and leave as an adult? I started to think about how you might illustrate that as an impressionistic memory.”
The film stars Jacob Elordi as Elvis, and one of Hollywood’s most promising young talent’s Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla. Spaeny’s powerful portrayal has garnered much praise and the young actress is being tipped as an awards contender. Spaeny has already received the Venice Film Festival award for Best Actress and has been nominated for a Golden Globe award.
Jacob is best known for starring in HBO’s Euphoria and most recently Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn alongside Barry Keoghan.
Cailee made her feature film debut in 2018 opposite John Boyega in Legendary’s Pacific Rim: Uprising, and went on to star in HBO’s The Mare of Easttown alongside Kate Winslet and Evan Peters in 2021.
Unlike previous portrayal’s of the life of the rock-and-roll legend, Priscilla is given a starring role in this film.
Sofia has since opened up about why she wanted to tell her story.
She said: “Reading Priscilla’s story for the first time, I was struck by how relatable her story was even in such an unusual setting, and how we saw her as such a striking figure next to Elvis, but she wasn’t looked at beyond that.”
“Elvis was such a vital part of American cultural history, but Priscilla’s life is equally part of that history.”
Priscilla is in Irish cinemas now.
