Lisa Marie Presley Denounced Priscilla Before Her Death - Here's Why
The art of crafting a biopic that tells the truth about its subject matter and pleases both their fans and their estate alike is an often difficult prospect. To wit: while Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla" is based on a memoir written by Priscilla Presley about her time with Elvis Presley and has with time gained Priscilla's full support as an executive producer, one close family member disapproved of the film from the start. Elvis and Priscilla's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, did not respond favorably to an early version of Coppola's script, per a set of emails obtained by Variety and published in November 2023.
Sent in the early fall of 2022, Lisa Marie Presley reacted with surprise and shock at Coppola's treatment. "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 read this and see your shockingly vengeful and contemptuous perspective and I don't understand why?" she remarked in one email. Lisa Marie expressed concern about how the film might effect her father's reputation, how it might make her own children feel, and her fears that it might cast a shadow over her relationship with her mother. She told Coppola she planned to have no comment about the film, as taking a public stance would require her to be honest about how she felt about the script. Coppola responded by defending her vision for the picture.
The version of the script that was shot had about 10 pages trimmed from that early draft, per Variety's source. Lisa Marie Presley never got to see the finalized version of "Priscilla" — she died on January 12, 2023 of a small bowel obstruction caused by scar tissue from a previous surgery. But Presley did have high praise for another biopic that retells her parents' life stories.
Lisa Marie Presley was very supportive of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis
While she may have been dismayed by the script for "Priscilla," Lisa Marie Presley wholeheartedly supported another Elvis-related biopic, Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis." Presley and her mother alike seemed to be very proud of the finished product and not only appeared at the film's premiere but did promotional work for it. Presley even said that Austin Butler deserved an Oscar for playing her father on her Twitter account. "In my humble opinion, his performance is unprecedented and FINALLY done accurately and respectfully," she said, also praising Luhrmann for his respect and care in making the film.
In her emails to Sofia Coppola, Presley describes the film as "[A] break from suffering and a ray of light that hit us last year [...] it made [my twin daughters] so proud and honored to be his granddaughters. It made them feel blessed for a moment and less cursed in life. It made us all so proud because it was a true depiction of who he really was." In the wake of the death of Presley's son, Benjamin, in 2020 and a custody battle for her daughters with her fourth husband, Presley saw "Elvis" as a positive, joyful moment and proof that her father's story could be brought to the screen with taste and class.
Audiences can judge for themselves by streaming "Elvis" and seeing "Priscilla," which is now in theatres.