It’s interesting how biopics seem to be coming in pairs lately. I first noticed that Tom Holland and Jamie Bell both have Fred Astaire biopics in production. (The Old Hollywood nerd in me thinks both of them are a bad idea but I have a little bit more faith in Jamie to carry it off.) Now, hot on the heels of Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis, Sofia Coppola is releasing a related biopic about Elvis’ wife Priscilla. I’m sure I read about it when it went into production but it fell out of my memory. The trailer just came out for Sofia’s movie, called simply Priscilla, and I have to say, I’m intrigued. Jacob Elordi from Euphoria plays Elvis, and Cailee Spaeny from Mare of Easttown is Priscilla. More details about the movie:
The official synopsis: “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 A24’s synopsis for Priscilla. “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.”
Jacob Elordi says word salad about Old Hollywood actors: “I was just like, damn, Elvis Presley wanted to be James Dean. He wanted to be Marlon Brando. I’ve researched almost every actor from that time period, and I passed [Elvis] off as an entertainer and singer. But then he was an actor. I guess, in a way, I’m trying to learn from these people,” said Elordi at the time. “Because I obviously don’t have any friends that have been through the same thing, really, so they’re almost like guiding beacons,” he added.
How Sofia’s movie will be different from Elvis: “I loved how Baz approached his story in a very collage-y way, but I’m glad it didn’t go into much of Priscilla’s story because now I can really dive deep. I think Baz is so unique and his take on that story was so creative,” said Coppola. “But Priscilla is such a minor character in that film, so I never felt like I was treading on the same territory. I love that people were so into his film about Elvis, and now in a few years there’ll be another film about Priscilla. I think it’ll be interesting to have two completely different interpretations of the same events and time period,” she said.
We’ll see if Jacob Elordi can cut the mustard as a passable Elvis, especially after Austin Butler’s career-making turn, but I have my doubts. The fact that Jacob compared himself to Elvis, James Dean and Marlon Brando, even indirectly, doesn’t bode well for the size of his ego. Those three men left eternal marks on American culture and are some of the most influential performers of the last century. Jacob, as far as I’m concerned, is just an Australian dude with an unusually prominent Adam’s apple. He has all the charisma of room temperature oatmeal. But I have not seen Euphoria, so maybe I’m being too hard on him.
The elephant in the room with all of this is that Priscilla was underage when she met Elvis. She was fourteen, and he was an incredibly famous 24-year-old man. For a lot of people that’s reason enough to not watch this movie, and I understand that. The thing I’ve always appreciated about Sofia Coppola’s work is how well she captures female alienation. Roger Ebert wrote something in a review for Sofia’s movie Marie Antoinette that struck a chord with me and I’ve always remembered it since. To him, Marie Antoinette was about “the loneliness of being female and surrounded by a world that knows how to use you but not how to value and understand you.” To me Marie Antoinette is a masterpiece (controversial, I know). I think, judging by the 45 seconds of the trailer, Sofia will take a similar approach here with Priscilla. We will see the whole story from Priscilla’s point of view, including the power imbalance between her and Elvis. I think it’s going to be good.
Marie Antoinette is one of my favorite films ever, and I rewatch it every year. Like that movie, this one is based on a specific print biography, so I expect that Coppola dug deep into that biography, and did all the amazing background work on the setting that she did for the first one as well. I definitely don’t think that the problematic aspects of their relationship should mean that her story should be buried, you know? I trust that she won’t gloss over the problems with that, but I guess the proof of the pudding will be eating, and, of course, no one should watch it if it icks them out or triggers them.
Second that on Marie Antoinette, it’s gorgeous in all aspects. Not sure about Priscilla but for sure will try it due to Marie A.
@SouthernFried, yep I’m definitely watching this just on the strength of Marie Antoinette! The 60s/70s aren’t that interesting to me historically or culturally, but maybe she’ll change my mind!
I am so intrigued by this.
Priscilla was 14, and her family basically sold her to Elvis, who went on grooming her.
I am definitely watching this.
This. I never understood why this fact went so unnoticed or not really talked about. I mean that’s straight up paedophilia, yet Elvis remains viewed as one of the greats.
I’m from the Memphis /Tupelo area, and back then, it wasn’t so unusual for Northern Mississippi folks to marry that young. My grandmother included. She was 14 too. She married a 28 year old Army soldier right before he left for Korea. She was one of 5 sisters, all of whom married as teens. Most residents of the area were (and remain today) adherents of a strict Christian patriarchy. I’m not defending Elvis, only trying to provide a context in terms the culture at the time in the place of his upbringing. Jerry Lee Lewis is another example of a local Mississippi musician who did the same, although it somehow seems more sordid.
I grew up in that time in the South. While some people would raise an eyebrow or make a lewd joke about an older man marrying a young teenage virgin, it was considered a fine Christian man’s right if that what he chose to do, and far more acceptable than running off to be a dirty protester or lazy, dirty hippie. And if you accused him of being a pedophile, well, then, you just needed to get your mind out of the gutter since nothing could be further from the truth, and bless your little heart. So twisted up.
Jerry Lee Lewis & Elvis, good ol’ Southern boys. Loretta Lynn was married off at 15 years old as well. I think even today this goes on. Didn’t some member of Congress recently saying something about knowing some men ‘happily married’ to very young teenagers?
I’ve always been fascinated by Priscilla because she was a classmate of my father’s at their high school in Germany, and were each other’s crushes before Elvis came into the picture. I once asked my Aunt, a year younger, if the other girls at the school were jealous about Priscilla’s budding relationship with Elvis, and she sniffed derisively and said there wasn’t any status for a high school girl to date a GI. LOL! I love her for that.
Silver Fox, that’s a great story. I love your aunt’s take 😂
I won’t watch this one. I, too, was long fascinated by Priscilla and then later horrified at the “arrangement” of her betrothal to Elvis. Her parents betrayed her, period. But seeing some of her older-adult choices, I just don’t like her very much.
Silver Fox… that is crazy because my aunt was also a classmates of Priscilla’s when they were in Germany! My Grandpa was in the Air Force and stationed there: small world!
In some accounts, she was sent to live at Graceland at the age of 15 and three years after meeting Elvis. This would make her 12 when they first met. I hope HOPE it was 14.
Yes i will watch this because I always enjoy Sofia Coppola’s film making. I even enjoyed The Beguiled which no-one else seemed to.
Stories that include abuse are valid to be told, I hope it will be presented as abuse and not a fairy tale.
I’m wondering why they felt the need to make this into a film when there’s already a TV movie based on Priscilla’s book.
I wonder if it’s the franchise aspect. Like, you can sell your idea to a production company because there are comparables: “see, these other studios are doing Elvis stuff, so the audience will be there.” Movie studios seem to think we only want to see stories we’ve already seen and only want to invest in proven successes…I’m so sick of franchise “universes.”
Sofia Coppola is an auteur and makes very specific films with very specific themes and tones. Her movies are almost more about the themes than the plotlines themselves, but you can tell she looks for specific plotlines when sourcing (teen girls, power imbalanced relationships, freedom, rebellion, etc.)
Another example of her making a movie based on true events that had already been made into a movie, etc. is The Bling Ring. There was the Nancy Jo Sales Vanity Fair article, a made for tv movie, and also the Pretty Wild reality show itself (some of which her film recreates word for word). One of the most interesting things about Sofia’s style is that she can take scandal, or trash, or tackiness and portray in in a way that feels artistic; she pulls the beauty and tragedy out of things – should be very interesting to see her take on Priscilla vs the tv movie, book, etc.
No thank you. We just had an Elvis movie and Priscilla just outed herself as a pretty problematic person. Really don’t want to see her on red carpets/interviews.
Bling ring should have been about the leader who was an Asian woman. The beguiled took out the only woman of color for an all white cast.
SC loves rich white victim ladies and hasn’t made room for anything else. Plus the films haven’t gotten any better.
IMO Elordi is one of the weaker actors in a great cast on Euphoria. His character is a bit like Nicholas Hoult’s character on Skins but unlike Hoult, he doesn’t possess the vulnerability and endearment. There’s just not a ton of depth there.
He’s also dating Olivia Jade which kinda furthers the empty vessel theory….
That being said, I do generally enjoy Coppola’s work so I’ll probably watch this when it’s available for streaming.
I hear Coppola will make sure she’s shown as the 14 year old that she was
That also sounds kind of exploitive and gross. We saw what she did with scarJos ass.
He groomed her at 14 and gave her drugs. It’s gross and I have no desire to see that rehashed through the soft fuzzy Sophia Coppola lens. Also no desire to see Priscilla give interviews about how he was the love of her life. Barf no.