MOVIE NEWS – Sofia Coppola’s new film, Priscilla, debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival, where only 25-year-old Cailee Spaeny (Enchantment: The Legacy) won the award for best actress. The next recognition is on the horizon. Cailee Spaeny, who portrays the title character, is a candidate for the Best Actress award at this year’s Gotham Awards. The award ceremony will take place on November 27. Meanwhile, the young actress received another award. Cailee Spaeny received the Emerging Actor award at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival on October 27.

Actors often dream of landing the big biopic role of their life. Getting the chance to tell the life story of a famous or infamous person can be a career highlight for even the most seasoned actors. Cailee Spaeny never thought that her biopic moment would come when she was just 25 years old, nor that she would have to play the partner of one of the most famous stars in the music world.

“It was unbelievable that they called me,” Spaeny told Harper’s Bazaar in London, ahead of the film’s UK premiere. It turned out that Kirsten Dunst suggested him for the role. “It was like all my childhood dreams came true. When [Coppola] first called me, he just said, ‘Can you fly to New York to meet?’ And that’s all I needed,” the actress said.

Spaeny didn’t know Coppola was working on a screen adaptation of Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me when she sat down with the director over coffee and croissants. Coppola simply took out her iPad, started scrolling through photos of Priscilla, and told Spaeny that she thought she could play the part.

“I wish there was a kind of head-to-head, ‘I really fought for it’ aspect to it. I mean, in a way, my career was built on eventually playing a lead role. But not even in my wildest dreams did I think that it would be a role like this, with this director, in this way,” the actress said with a smile.

Cailee Spaeny said of portraying the title role, “I wanted to be respectful, open and nonjudgmental about some of the shocking details of their marriage that I didn’t know about. Priscilla has obviously been overshadowed by this man her entire life, and it was time to tell her side of the story, with care, attention to detail and room for nuance. I tried to use the time I spent with Priscilla herself and the truth she wrote in the book and translate that to the screen as best I could – and Sofia does it all in such a beautiful, impressionistic way that it’s almost like a memory. ”

The actress remembers the difficulties of filming like this:

“The hair, the make-up, the costumes – they all influenced how I would move and where I would be in his path. Wearing my poodle skirt changed the way I moved on set and the way I was in the scene. Then my honeycomb hair, high heels and little baby clothes, and it always made me feel restricted and stiff, almost regal. Once she’s a mom, she’s in jeans and has a 70s haircut and takes off her makeup. Then I felt that I could be myself much more. During the shoot, I was pregnant in the morning and 14 after lunch, so it was hard to focus, but I had Sofia and Jacob to lean on along the way. If it hadn’t been for that, I don’t think I would have been able to make it through.”

“Many memories had to be sorted through, as Spaeny had the challenge of portraying Priscilla from the age of 14 (when she first met the then 24-year-old Elvis) to the age of 28 (when she finally left their marriage). Navigating Priscilla’s development was an essential element of the film; after all, it is his age that incites the film’s internal conflict, especially for the viewers,” the director said.

“There was a lot of pressure on Jacob’s shoulders, but he did such a beautiful job and really shows a more complicated, nuanced side of Elvis that we thought we didn’t know about or knew about. Both sides had to be portrayed: the toxic, stormy side of their relationship, but also the complicated love they felt for each other, which was obviously very real. To be able to work with someone in this role, I knew that I had to trust this person, that I had to feel comfortable and that there had to be some kind of harmony and connection. Jacob is now my close friend. I feel very lucky that he was mine.”

Sofia Coppola’s films are often conversation starters, and Priscilla will be no different. The director’s distinctive, obscure visual style and the soundtrack (which, interestingly, is Priscilla Presley song) is a story about the blurring lines between girlhood and femininity, and the complicated give-and-take between power and passion.

“Sofia’s films always have a cultural impact, while also revealing the mysterious inner world of young women. They allow us to look inward and ask the bigger questions like: How far are you willing to go to sacrifice yourself for one person? His movies changed me when I was a young girl. I hope that happens for the current generation as well,” said Cailee Spaeny.

According to the film’s synopsis, when teenager Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man, who is already a huge rock and roll superstar, unexpectedly turns into someone the world doesn’t know in private moments: passionate in love, ally in alone, a vulnerable best friend.

Priscilla is scheduled to hit theaters in 2024.

Source: ADS press material