By Amanda Moses
On October 6th, the 61st New York Film Festival (NYFF) presented Priscilla for its North American Premiere with the cast and crew on hand to discuss its creation.
Sofia Coppola’s biopic, Priscilla is not just another tale featuring the “King of Rock and Roll,” but rather a sad love story following a naive young girl who was forced to grow up too fast. Based on Priscilla Presley’s autobiography, Elvis and Me, the film begins showcasing a 14-year-old freshman girl living on a military base with her family when she is singled out by a member of the armed forces and invited to a party held by Elvis himself. It is from this point that we see a vulnerable, manipulative, and complex side of Elvis Presley through the eyes of a high schooler.
“Even though it was taken from the book [Priscilla] had written, and the stuff that was out there, also, the book was published in ’85, right so memory is an interesting thing….But when we finally showed it to her, she looked at Sophia and she was visibly emotional, having watched the movie and then told Sofia that she really done her homework and that she really loved it and that she got it right. I mean that was everything because you want to you want to honor that story,” Producer Youree Henley said during the October 6th NYFF61 press conference.
Priscilla (played by Cailee Spaeny) is wide-eyed and infatuated with Elvis (actor Jacob Elordi), following his every instruction, from when she should be available for his call to how she should dress. In the film, we can see Elvis constantly reminding her that there are a million girls who would love to be in Priscilla’s predicament, emphasizing that she was replaceable. The relationship appeared to be less about true love, and more about Elvis’ need for adoration and his ability to groom young Priscilla to meet his emotional needs. However, as she begins to grow older, perhaps young motherhood was to be credited for this, Priscilla finds herself becoming independent and numb to Elvis’ behavior.
“I grew up going to Graceland as a kid, so I understood the weight that he [Elvis] carried,” Spaeny said, “I had no idea of her [Priscilla’s] side of the story. And, you know, I’m surprised that this wasn’t sort of common knowledge on her side, so definitely it was new to me and the sort of shocking, heartbreaking details and sort of their journey and relationship from her point of view.”
Filmed in just 30 days, Priscilla shows a different side to Elvis and his relationship with fame and love. Actors Spaeny and Elordi credit the plethora of research and the production teams recreations of Graceland, Elvis’ home, as the tools necessary for them to get into character. In addition to the lead actors, NYFF61 included Costume Designer Stacey Battat, and Production Designer Tamara Deverell in the press conference discussion of Priscilla.
“It was really important to map out everything before the filming process because we really shot this film in 30 days and [we were] just sort of flying by the seat of our pants. It’s her [Priscilla’s] arch and her journey and sort of finding herself in the end,” Spaeny said. “Stacey did just a beautiful job and that it was such a grounding piece in sort of keeping my head on straight as to as to where I was [in the filming timeframe].”
For Elordi, finding a footing as to who Elvis was behind closed doors and out of the public eye was key to his performance.
“The biggest thing for me was trying to identify and find where the human being was under all the glitz and the gold and the voice and the caricatures and all these things. So, it was really just that it was like a search to find that kind of real-life element and also in the relationship,” Elordi shared.
Photos by Amanda Moses
