There’s already been one new film focusing on Elvis Presley, how about another? Though this one is bound to have a very different tone to Baz Luhrmann‘s gaudy epic. Director Sofia Coppola has signed on to write and direct Priscilla, a film based on the memoir Elvis and Me by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley.
Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi have been tapped to play Priscilla and Elvis, respectively.
Elvis and Me, written by Priscilla with Sandra Harmon and published in 1985, tells her side of her marriage to Elvis. While a lot of depictions of the singer, especially at the time, painted him in a favorable light, the biography gives a different picture.
The book chronicles the journey from when the couple first met, when Priscilla was fourteen and Elvis was twenty-four, to their divorce. The book tells Priscilla’s side of their rocky relationship which was full of suspected affairs by both parties, Elvis’s drug abuse, and much more.
Coppola has reportedly wanted to turn the memoir into a film for a while. This will be her first film since 2020’s On The Rocks. As with her other films such as Lost In Translation, Marie Antoinette, and The Beguiled, she will also pen the screenplay.
Elordi is best known for his work on HBO drama Euphoria, while he’s also appeared in The Kissing Booth and erotic thriller Deep Water. He beat out multiple other actors for the role.
Spaeny was reportedly Coppola’s only choice for Priscilla. She recently played Eleanor Roosevelt on Showtime’s The First Lady and has also appeared in shows such as Devs and Mare of Easttown.
A24 will distribute the movie in North America, while Coppola will produce through her own production company American Zoetrope, with financing coming from The Apartment, Fremantle Company, and Sony’s Stage 6.
Coppola has always been a director willing to take on interesting projects, and this sounds like another one. Priscilla certainly won’t have many similarities to Elvis – and the title change from the memoir suggests a film directly in contrast to Luhrmann’s – as Coppola usually makes smaller, quieter films, but it might end up being a lot more honest.
Production on the film is expected to begin in Toronto this autumn.
#Peace.Love.Priscilla
