Sofia Coppola’s recent release, Priscilla, tells the King of Rock and Roll’s story from a controversial perspective. The biopic is focused on the relationship between Elvis Presley and Priscilla’s relationship based on the memoir Elvis and Me.
According to emails from the couple’s late daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, she considered the script the wrong way to tell her father’s story. “My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative,” she noted in writing to Sofia. However, Priscilla, who actively collaborated with the film’s director, does not share the same thought.
Lisa Marie reached out to Sofia twice
Lisa Marie, who died in January at 54, reached out to Sofia twice before filming began in 2022. She expressed her disappointment about the screenplay’s draft, terming it a “shockingly vengeful and contemptuous perspective” of Elvis. “As his daughter, I don’t read this and see any of my father in this character. I don’t read this and see my mother’s perspective of my father…and I don’t understand why,” she wrote to the filmmaker.
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Although Lisa Marie never lived to see the final version of the film, Sofia responded to her by saying, “I hope that when you see the final film, you will feel differently and understand I’m taking great care in honoring your mother while also presenting your father with sensitivity and complexity.”
Priscilla seems supportive of Sofia’s narrative
In contrast to Lisa Marie’s reservations about Priscilla, her mother seems all in on the script, being an executive producer and having repeatedly promoted the film. According to reports from Variety, Lisa Marie called out her mother as well via email. “I am worried that my mother isn’t seeing the nuance here or realizing the way in which Elvis will be perceived when this movie comes out,” she wrote.
Sofia confirmed to EW that Priscilla was satisfied with her representation of her tumultuous marriage to Elvis. “It was really important that I felt that Priscilla felt that her story was represented in a way that was true to her.”