Lisa Marie Presley — the daughter of iconic singer and actor Elvis Presley — spoke out against the upcoming movie Priscilla prior to her death this year.
Variety obtained two emails from Lisa Marie Presley which were sent last September within approximately four hours of each other. The messages are in regards to the film’s script, which Lisa Marie described as “shockingly vengeful.”
“My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative,” Lisa Marie stated in one message. “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. I read this and see your shockingly vengeful and contemptuous perspective and I don’t understand why?”
Lisa Marie Presley also said that she would have to outwardly speak up against the film, director Sofia Coppola, and her mother Priscilla Presley, who is executive producing the movie. She wrote, “I will be forced to be in a position where I will have to openly say how I feel about the film and go against you, my mother and this film publicly.”
The outlet posted a part of the response that the director had given Presley, which was provided by Coppola’s representative as her comment on the exchange.
“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,” said the filmmaker.
Based on Priscilla’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me, the film is written and directed by Coppola (Lost in Translation, The Bling Ring). It stars Cailee Spaeny (On the Basis of Sex, Vice) as Priscilla Presley, Jacob Elordi (Euphoria, The Kissing Booth) as Elvis Presley, Raine Monroe Boland and Emily Mitchell as Lisa Marie Presley, Jorja Cadence as Patsy Presley, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll as Alan “Hog Ears” Fortas, Luke Humphrey as Terry West, and Dagmara Domińczyk.
What is Priscilla about?
“When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, 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,” reads the synopsis. “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.”
