Just a few months before her death, Lisa Marie Presley had vowed to speak out about Sofia Coppola’s new movie, Priscilla, which focuses on the tumultuous and controversial courtship between Presley’s mother and the late legendary singer Elvis Presley.
According to emails obtained by Variety, Lisa Marie was furious over the portrayal of her father and wrote Coppola in September 2022 shortly before the film started production. Lisa Marie had seen a version of the script and described it as “shockingly vengeful and contemptuous.” Presley also pleaded with Coppola that the film would only further strain her relationship with her mother.
“My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative. 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?” Presley wrote in one of her messages.
Presley later vowed to take her fight against Priscilla to the media.
“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,” Lisa Marie wrote.
While Presley wouldn’t get a chance to contest the film, Coppola did respond to her emails. The writer/director reportedly wrote back, “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.”
According to Variety, the film is based on the book Elvis and Me, and prior to Lisa Marie’s complaints, there were already efforts to “tone down” some of the book’s elements about the couple’s relationship that would not play well with modern audiences.
Priscilla is now playing in theaters.
(Via Variety)