Summary

Lisa Marie Presley expressed concern about the portrayal of her father as a predator and manipulative in the movie Priscilla. Priscilla, the subject of the biopic and Elvis’ former wife, has given her blessing to the film, but Lisa Marie Presley felt that it did not reflect her own perspective of her father. The movie explores the controversial aspects of Priscilla and Elvis’ relationship, including their age gap and allegations of controlling behavior and affairs, which may have influenced Lisa Marie Presley’s lack of support.

Before her passing, Lisa Marie Presley slammed Sofia Coppola’s biopic Priscilla in emails to the director. Priscila released widely on November 3 and is the latest movie inspired by the life of Elvis Presley. While it follows closely on the heels of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Priscilla is quite different as it focuses more on the perspective of Elvis’ (Jacob Elordi) wife, Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny), and explores their relationship. The movie has the support of its eponymous figure and is actually based on her memoir, Elvis and Me.

As reported by Variety, Lisa Marie Presley expressed concern about Priscilla in emails to Coppola, in which she asked the director to reconsider the movie. Despite being open to her father’s legacy being explored on screen in Elvis, the singer’s late daughter took issue with how Coppola’s movie was depicting Elvis, feeling him to only be “a predator and manipulative” and seeing nothing of what she experienced firsthand. See what Presley wrote to Coppola below:

My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative [in Priscilla script]. 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? 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.

Why Didn’t Lisa Marie Presley Support Priscilla?

Presley’s concerns about Priscilla might be a bit surprising. After all, Priscilla is her mother’s story and has her mother’s blessing. Unfortunately, Marie Presley never got to share her feelings about the movie with the public, with all that is known about her feelings being the newly released emails. She also sadly never had the chance to see the completed version of the biopic, and there’s a chance if she did, she may have changed her mind. Still, there are a few reasons why she may not have supported the idea of this biopic.

In delving into Priscilla’s and Elvis’ relationship, Coppola’s movie is exploring one of the most controversial aspects of the latter’s life. When the pair first met, Priscilla was just 14, while Elvis was 24, an age-gap which would be seen as highly inappropriate in modern times. On top of that, Priscilla has made some allegations regarding Elvis’ controlling behavior and his alleged affairs during their marriage. At the same time, she has always been adamant that their relationship was respectful and genuine despite the age gap, thus making it a complicated topic to cover.

While Elvis was known to have had many affairs, Priscilla also admitted to a few dalliances once her marriage was already ending. However, due to the timeline of Priscilla, this aspect of their marriage isn’t covered.

Elvis largely glossed over the issue, and that may be because there’s no easy way to tackle it. On the one hand, Priscilla had to respect what she had said about the relationship but also had to acknowledge the power imbalance such a relationship presented. It’s a discussion that can easily evoke strong feelings, and it seems Marie Presley was concerned about her father being painted negatively. It was easier for Priscilla because she has been open about the highs and lows of her relationship before. Marie Presley’s concerns about Priscilla reiterate the film’s complicated subject matter and the importance of considering Elvis’ family’s perspective on certain topics.

Source: Variety