To paraphrase a famous Elvis Presley song: Wise men say, only fools rush in… and don’t get the blessing of the Presley estate. Said estate has come out against Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla (read our review HERE) for not getting approval from the estate of Elvis Presley…even though it’s based on Priscilla Presley’s own 1985 memoir. According to TMZ, one official from Elvis Presley Enterprises, which was established after Elvis’s death in 1977, has called Sofia Coppola’s work “horrible”, adding, “It feels like a college movie. The set designs are just horrific, it’s not what Graceland looks like.” While no other criticisms from the official were revealed, TMZ did note that they consider it “another Priscilla money grab.”
Priscilla Presley has a different viewpoint, even if it may be skewed considering she serves as an executive producer. But she, somehow unlike the unnamed source, has yet to see Priscilla. “I am very excited to see the interpretation of my book by the masterful Sofia Coppola. She has such an extraordinary perspective and I have always been such an admirer of her work. I’m certain this movie will take everyone on an emotional journey.”
Priscilla Presley previously praised Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis as “brilliantly and creatively” told. She was portrayed by Olivia DeJonge in Elvis, which earned eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Austin Butler as the King of Rock and Roll. In this adaptation, she is played by Cailee Spaeny (Mare of Easttown).
Priscilla’s official plot: “When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party during his days in the Air Force, 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 gentle best friend. 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.”
Priscilla Presley is of course the only wife of Elvis Presley. They had one child together… and sadly, Elvis’s only daughter (in fact, his only child), Lisa Marie, passed away in Los Angeles in January 2023, two days after Butler won the Golden Globe for playing her father. She is survived by her daughters Riley Keough and Harper and Finley Lockwood. Lisa Marie wasn’t the only child of Priscilla, as she also had a son, Navarone Garibaldi, during her twenty year relationship with producer Marco Garibaldi.
Are you interested in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla? Do you think the Elvis Presley estate should have been informed of the production? Give us your take in the comments section below.