A few weeks ago on November 3rd, “Priscilla” was released in theaters. Produced by Prisicilla herself, the movie is a spin off of the 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me,” to tell the iconic love story of Elvis and Priscilla Presley.
In 2022, the movie “Elvis” was released, telling the life story of Elvis Presley and how he became the famous world icon he’s known as today. Priscilla Presley thought the movie wasn’t an accurate portrayal of the real story and decided she wanted to make a movie to show her side. Director Sofia Copolla, during the Venice Film Festival, told viewers, “Elvis and Priscilla were this legendary couple, but we don’t know much about her and her point of view.” From this, the idea of the “Priscilla” movie came to be.
Priscilla wanted this new movie to show an accurate portrayal of who Elvis really was. There were many scenes in the movie where it showed a more violent side of Elvis where he was consistently manipulative and angry towards Priscilla. Jacob Elordi, the actor who played Elvis, did a very good job playing the role of Elvis and really grasped the style he had. Cailee Spaeny, the actress playing Priscilla, also did a wonderful job portraying her role. Priscilla herself complimented her on her role and thought she showed the right emotions.
However, despite the great acting of Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny, the movie itself didn’t hold up to expectations for some viewers. Senior Claire Metz watched the movie and said, “There wasn’t really a clear plot and it was very anticlimactic.” How director Sofia Coppolla pictured the movie was very bland. The beginning of the movie didn’t have the backstory people were looking for. The movie was building up to Priscilla finally leaving Elvis and there was all this drama but then this silent ending of her getting in a car then leaving. It was all very underwhelming and there definitely could have been more added to the movie to add more effect to it.
Lisa Marie, Elvis and Priscilla’s daughter, who has recently passed away at the beginning of the year, also thought the movie wasn’t living up to expectations. When they started filming “Priscilla,” Lisa was not on board with the movie unlike her mother. She felt the movie did not portray her father the same way she felt about him. Lisa even read the script and said it was “shockingly vengeful and contemptuous.” How Elvis was being perceived is something she didn’t want out into the world and she didn’t think her mother realized that.
“Priscilla” was a good way to show Priscilla’s side of the story, but the movie itself could have flowed a little better and portrayed more of the story.
