Jacob Elordi, Cailee Spaeny, and Sofia Coppola on the set of ‘Priscilla.’ SABRINA LANTOS/A24
Sofia Coppola zeroed in on her creative signatures early on: The very first shot in her debut as a director, the 1998 brief movie Lick the Star, exhibits a teenage woman staring pensively out a automobile window. She did it once more with a shot of Kirsten Dunst in a taxi in The Virgin Suicides (truly by way of her brother, Roman Coppola, who shot second unit). “After which once we had been taking pictures Misplaced in Translation,” Coppola says over a latest breakfast in a West Village café, “I used to be like, ‘Roman, are you able to get the girl-out-the-window shot?’ So it form of turned a factor that we had been seeking to get, that shot motif.” In her latest movie, Priscilla, the woman within the automobile, and in Graceland, is Priscilla Presley (Cailee Spaeny), whose relationship with Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi) — which, disturbingly sufficient, started when she was solely 14 and he was 24 — veers between fairy story and nightmare.
Right here’s a few of what we discovered from Coppola in regards to the film (and make sure you try the remainder of the career-spanning interview).
Coppola wasn’t a giant Elvis Presley fan in her youth. “I didn’t develop up with him being performed in our home, so it’s not a lot in my upbringing,” she says. “However after all he’s like an American fantasy — the 2 of them — and I love him as a novel artist.”
Coppola labored laborious to order judgment on her characters. “It was difficult,” she says. “I stored coming again to [Priscilla’s] perspective and her perspective. And I attempt to not be judgmental of any of the characters and actually be as sympathetic as I can to every of them. And I’m actually centered on her perspective, however even with the mother and father, you’re like, “How can anyone let their child go stay with Elvis that younger?”… I really feel it’s solely my job to indicate what her expertise is like, and I feel you current issues to an viewers for them to consider and make their very own selections. She finally left and located her identification exterior of males, which I assumed should have taken a lot energy at the moment. It was a giant deal to haven’t any revenue and divorce a robust man. I do know what a giant deal that was at the moment. So I used to be impressed that she had the energy to try this, to depart after her complete life being formed by that.”
Coppola wasn’t concerned with taking down Elvis Presley — however she resisted calls to depart out the “darkish stuff,” together with his mood and pill-popping. “I by no means need to, like, take somebody down and disrespect them,” she says. “I feel it’s sympathetic to see his struggles and the human facet, however positively there’s a lot folklore of him as this god. There was somebody that was making an attempt to get me to take out all of the darkish stuff, somebody form of concerned who was eager about the notion of Elvis within the movie. However I actually wished the ups and downs. You possibly can’t have a fancy relationship with simply the nice facet.” (The “somebody” in query seems to be the late Lisa Marie Presley, who vehemently objected to the film’s depiction of her dad in emails earlier than her dying, in line with a brand new report from Selection.)
The luxurious visuals of Priscilla symbolize a key philosophy of Coppola’s. “Magnificence is vital to me,” she says. “I feel prior to now I used to be seeing it as superficial. However now scientists know the way vital magnificence is to people. And I like creating that, and that’s a part of the attraction to me of a visible medium. I really like the visible world of Sixties Memphis and Graceland and the shag carpet and the drapes. I really like whenever you go right into a film and you are feeling misplaced in one other world … There’s something horny and romantic about vehicles, however particularly in that period. It was actually enjoyable to shoot the vehicles.”
When Coppola heard that Baz Luhrmann was making his Elvis biopic, she didn’t thoughts in any respect. “I assumed it could possibly be a counterpoint,” she says. “Somebody was like, “Oh, is that gonna deter you?” And I mentioned, “No, I feel it’s even cooler that he’s within the tradition and persons are pondering of him and we are able to present the opposite facet. She’s barely a personality [in Elvis].”
The Elvis Presley property blocked Coppola from utilizing any of his recordings, however she solely had two or three of his songs in her first reduce. “I at all times knew they may not give us permission, so I attempted to not be too hooked up,” she says. “I really like ‘Pocketful of Rainbows.’ My husband performed it for me and I listened to it loads once we had been taking pictures, so I actually wished to make use of that tune. After which when he first leaves for Germany, and there’s a protracted sad-in-Germany montage, we had him singing “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” and it was actually just like the voice of Elvis whereas she was left behind. Anyway, we couldn’t use him, so Phoenix did the instrumental, and I’m actually pleased with the way in which the music turned out.”
We did it and I’m joyful that the story nonetheless works though we needed to reduce a lot out of it. It was nearly like modifying earlier than [we made the movie].
The usage of Dolly Parton singing “I Will All the time Love You” within the movie is an allusion to 2 bits of historical past — Elvis sang it to Priscilla on the day of their divorce. He additionally wished to report the tune, however Parton blocked it after his supervisor, Colonel Tom Parker, demanded 50 p.c of the publishing. “I imply, the lyrics are so excellent for that second as a result of Priscilla nonetheless loves him, however she needed to transfer on,” says Coppola. “And I assumed it was vital to finish on a girl’s voice once more, as a result of it’s form of her turning into herself.”
Till she discovered Cailee Spaeny to play Priscilla, Coppola wasn’t certain how she would discover an actress who might embody the identical character from ages 14 to 29. “I actually didn’t need to swap actresses,” says Coppola. “And my casting individuals instructed me about Cailee. And I once I met her she had such a child face, so I figured she’s plausible as youthful, after which I figured she might do the older half as a result of she actually is in her twenties. After which I requested Kirsten Dunst, who had simply labored together with her, and she or he mentioned she was actually gifted and cherished working together with her.”
To make Priscilla work inside its allotted price range, Coppola needed to reduce the taking pictures schedule down from 5 weeks to 4 — and she or he obtained the information solely per week earlier than filming started. “I’m like, how are we going to try this?” she remembers. “It was so laborious. However we did it, and I’m joyful that the story nonetheless works though we needed to reduce a lot out of it. It was nearly like modifying earlier than [we made the movie]. The artwork division, the costumes, I assumed they made it look unimaginable. I used to be so impressed with their work.” Among the many scenes reduce from the script had been a pregnant Priscilla using bikes with Elvis and his buddies, and a go to from her mother and father to Graceland.
The second when Priscilla, at Elvis’ bidding, lastly takes on her well-known look is intentionally offered nearly as a superhero-costume reveal. “I wished that second of how she turned the Priscilla we all know her as,” Coppola says. “With the black hair and the eyeliner, it was form of like his [Elvis’] creation, his perfect of a girl.”
Coppola at all times knew she wished to finish the film with Priscilla leaving Graceland — and never present Elvis’ dying. “After I thought in regards to the film, I wished it to be, like, her and Graceland,” says Coppola. “That interval of her arriving and her leaving. I needed to fill in just a little at first of how she obtained there, however to me this was actually about her time at Graceland. And I simply was so struck with that. I couldn’t imagine that she was going to highschool whereas she lived at Graceland. She stayed up all night time being the right girlfriend and having enjoyable with them after which went to highschool throughout the day. I can’t think about what that was like.”
From Rolling Stone US.
