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Film studio A24 just dropped the trailer for Sofia Coppola's next film, the highly anticipated biopic of Elvis' wife entitled simply Priscilla.
The film stars Cailee Spaeny as the eponymous lead and Jacob Elordi as the King, Elvis Presley. The work is an adaptation of Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me.
Priscilla premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September, where Priscilla Presley, now 78 years old, spoke highly and emotionally of the film and Coppola's writing and directing efforts.
The trailer gets right at the heart of the film, and public interest in the infamous couple, when we hear Priscilla's stepfather Paul Beaulieu ask through voice over, “Just what is the intent here, Mr. Presley? You've got women throwing themselves at you. Why my daughter?”
“Well, sir, I happen to be very fond of your daughter,” Elvis answers Mr. Beaulieu, and the romance is off and running.
Priscilla Presley has spoken and written about being just 14 years old when she met Elvis, and it looks like the pic isn't shying away from showing the darker side of their courtship.
Elvis clearly exudes a controlling presence over Priscilla wherever her looks and actions are concerned. When he directs her to dye her hair black and wear more eye make up, Priscilla tentatively tells Elvis, “I don't know if I like it.” He then threateningly responds, “What do you mean you don't know if you like it?” as the trailer takes on a more ominous score (the 1992 song How You Satisfy Me by the Australian band Spectrum plays throughout the rest).
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“He's not like you imagine,” Priscilla warns us. We then see tabloid rumors about Elvis having an affair with Ann-Margret as young mom Priscilla, h0lding baby Lisa Marie Presley, eyes her husband suspiciously. Flashes of drugs, fighting and violence ensue, leading to the King issuing one more authoritarian edict.
“I need a woman who understands that things like this might happen, are you gonna be her or not?” questions Elvis.
Finally, as the gates to Graceland open up and we see Priscilla gaining the confidence to drive off, her voice over declares, “I want a life of my own.”
Looks like Sofia Coppola's Priscilla could be a powerful film, and a nice counterpoint to Baz Luhrmann’s stylized Elvis biopic of last year. The movie will hit theaters on November 3, just in time for the holidays.
