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Earlier this year Priscilla Presley did something very tacky and cold when she attempted to invalidate her daughter Lisa Marie’s will after her death. Priscilla wanted to be a trustee of the Presley estate, but Lisa Marie had amended her will several years ago to take Priscilla out of that role, and make Riley Keough and her brother the main trustee. Riley paid Priscilla a lump sum of $1.4 million to get her to back off, basically, and remains the sole trustee of her mother’s estate. It must have been such an ordeal for Riley Keough to go through–to have her grandma basically sue her when she was still processing her mother’s death. I’m putting that to one side. But I wanted to mention it as context because I think that all of this drama is one reason why some people at the Presley estate has some less than complimentary things to say about Sofia Coppola’s upcoming biopic, called Priscilla. Several nameless “officials” from the estate ran to TMZ to complain about the film after getting an advanced viewing. They accused Priscilla of doing a “money grab” but also took aim at Sofia Coppola.
After recently igniting a bevy of family drama over the fate of her late daughter Lisa Marie Presley‘s trust, Priscilla is once again ruffling feathers when it comes to the Elvis Presley Estate—but this time, it has to do with the new biopic coming out about her life with the late music icon.
Earlier this week, the trailer dropped for the new Sofia Coppola film, which is based on Priscilla’s 1985 biography, Elvis and Me. Shortly after the teaser premiered for the upcoming picture, titled Priscilla, a member of the Elvis Presley Estate spoke out to denounce the film, claiming it was made without their knowledge.
Officials from the estate told TMZ that the film was “produced without the Estate’s knowledge or consent,” and called it a “money grab” on Priscilla’s part.
One official who already saw the film also criticized Coppola’s writing and directing, calling it “horrible,” and stating, “It feels like a college movie.”
“The set designs are just horrific, it’s not what Graceland looks like,” the source added.
But Priscilla, on the other hand, has a much different feeling about the upcoming movie, taking to social media to voice her excitement over the film adaptation of her book.
“I am excited about the interpretation of my book by the masterful Sofia Coppola,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday, along with a shot of the movie poster, starring actors Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny as Elvis and Priscilla.
“[Coppola] has such an extraordinary perspective and I have always been such an admirer of her work,” Priscilla continued in her post. “I’m certain this movie will take everyone on an emotional journey.”
I highly doubt the “officials” from the Presley estate did not know about this movie. The trade papers reported on this movie going into production in September of last year. I do believe that Priscilla wanted to keep these people out of the film. Honestly, it’s a movie about her life, not just Elvis, and Sofia has said that Priscilla is an executive producer, so it’s her call. She’s the foremost expert on her own life, and I don’t think she needs the estate’s consent to tell her own story. I LOLed at the comment about horrific set designs. I feel like set design is something Sofia usually gets right. It is true that Sofia’s movies have an impressionistic kind of vibe–they may have historical anachronisms, but those things reflect the perspective of the main character. That’s why a pair of Converse All-Stars sneak their way into Marie Antoinette even though it takes place in the 18th century. If she isn’t doing a perfectly accurate recreation of what Graceland looked like, she probably has a good reason artistically for doing that.
She may be the most nepo baby to ever nepo baby, but Sofia is a skilled and accomplished writer and director in her own right–only someone with an axe to grind would say otherwise. I can’t imagine these same complaints being lobbed at a male director. I think the folks at the estate are also worried about it being a story from Priscilla’s perspective because Elvis basically groomed her when she was fourteen years old and he was an adult man. I don’t think Sofia is going to shy away from that in this movie, and that’s what the “officials” at the estate are really mad about.
