The Making of Priscilla (2023) Movie Script
Here we go, everybody.
Roll sound.
Action!
I didn't know what I was in for
because I was very young.
It's an interesting side of the story
that we're telling.
Okay, here's a rehearsal.
A side that we've never seen before.
He was a human being.
We all have flaws.
- Cut!
- Cut there.
- Great.
- Come on, step down.
Yeah, yeah...
Ha ha!
Two cameras going on.
Oh wow. Wow! From every angle.
That's how it would have felt.
Can you imagine?
STUDIO: PRISCILLA (CODE NAME "DOMINO")
FINAL PREP DAY BEFORE PRODUCTION
I don't know...
Oh my God!
So our pickleball court.
Pickleball court, nice.
I'm a 17 year old girl,
shooting a making of film,
about the story of another teenage girl.
In a very different time.
- It looks good.
- Thank you.
But I probably won't be wearing eyeliner
for a very long time.
I don't even play guitar.
I've learned, like, four chords.
I'm just practicing them every day cause
I just want to be able to play guitar.
It's beautiful, oh my God.
Yes, there's the one that he had,
it's so cool.
EXT: GRACELAND 1969
DAY ONE PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Let's, let's get one and two
all wired up please.
We think there is the first phase
where it is just your imagination.
And then you have
to articulate it and see.
And then, I think always, it always turns
out differently than you first imagine,
I think. But...
this has been pretty close
to how I imagined it, so far.
But guys, let's bring everybody
out to the front lawn for the puwaba.
That's a family tradition that
ever since I was a little kid
I remember.
It comes from his,
my dad's college theater days.
And how the puwaba's such a magic
word that's going to bring us luck.
And we're all going to hold hands
and say the magic word three times,
once we start
and it's to bring us good luck.
And I hope you have a safe shoot, and
we're safe from injury and illness, and
that everyone has a great time
and thank you all for all your hard work,
and for joining us today.
Puwaba! Puwaba! Puwaba!
Here we go everybody.
And roll sound.
A big day, action!
It kind of strikes me as something
sort of fantasy like, out of a fairy tale.
Yeah, it reminds me
of
Alice in Wonderland.
Or... it does have that
that kind of fairy tale...
You know what, she thinks it's
a fairy tale and then realizes that
it's not what it's cracked up to be.
Alright baby, let's go!
- Cut! Great
- Cut there.
This is my
my copy that I adapted the script from.
It's like falling apart.
You know, I got this, like, for a while
I thought it was fun to read at the beach,
I'll like bring it on vacation.
And as I was reading it, I was really...
I don't know, I really connected with it.
And I grew up with charismatic...
Because of my dad that like our home
kind of revolved around
in a very minor way
compared to Elvis
but I can, you know, I know what it's like
to be around kind of a big figure.
Can you tell me a little bit
about the collaboration process
and learning about Priscilla's
life firsthand?
Yeah, it was the first
time that I made something
based on a person that was alive
and would speak to me about it.
So it was great that as I had questions,
I could, I kept a list of questions,
and then I would talk to Priscilla,
get to ask her about them.
It was important to me
that she felt like it was done right
felt accurate to her and for me
just to get little insider details.
I was like, "what were you doing
all that time when you were home?"
And so just to get specifics
and she said she went to
like charm school, etiquette school.
And I can try to fill in the
the pieces that that weren't in the book.
EXT: GRACELAND POOL
- Do you want a break? Jump in...
Being on a film set is the most fun
and intense and collaborative thing
I've ever been part of.
Nothing compares, really.
It's my favorite place on earth.
No, no!
I'd love to hear more
about you working with that
duo of Priscilla and Sofia.
And how was that back and forth?
Yeah, you know, I think the thing that was
so important about making this film
is that we wanted to stay true
to Priscilla's perspective of the story.
There are lots of big questions
that Sofia and I would have about
why did she make this choice
and what was going through her mind.
It's an interesting side of the story
that we're telling, a side
that we've never seen before.
We're playing these iconic characters,
but who they are behind closed doors
and what those sort of intimate moments
look like with each other,
these human moments
between these two.
So time limit and schedule
for this project was insane.
I know I felt my head's buried, there's
so much, so many different things.
It was so confusing
and never shot something so out of order
because of her, her looks
and like the locations.
Yeah, she was so hard working
and really wanted to do a good job
and put herself fully in it.
And she's so talented and just worked
so hard and was really focused
on each different
developmental stage of Priscilla
and having to take her
from 14 to in her late twenties.
- Their sides don't match...
- Ah yes.
So do you have a sort of favorite era?
Favorite look, maybe?
I think that the seventies
were so fun to play in
because she's wearing jeans,
she's got this new blowout
and a seventies tan.
It's just fascinating,
you know, using hair and makeup
to transition from being this young girl
and to then having to sort of present
a certain way for Elvis and then,
you know, coming into her own
and not wearing as much makeup
and dressing the way that she wanted to
dress, how that that was such a big tool
in her playing a sort of
character inside her own life.
It was such a form of expression and said
so much about where she was emotionally.
And action.
INT: MEMPHIS BOUTIQUE 1963
DRESS SHOPPING
We are now in the Memphis dress boutique
where Elvis takes Priscilla shopping
for his svengali makeover moment.
And then we'll see her
transformation into his ideal woman.
The brown in this one...
Yeah, you...
Black hair and more eye makeup.
We got to...
Alright, let's go.
INT: ELVIS' GERMANY HOUSE 1959 PRISCILLA
AND ELVIS MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME
Watching the art and costume
department work together
to transport us back in
time always blew my mind.
It's amazing what they were able to do.
Hello, Germany.
I got very lucky that Priscilla was open
to sit down with me
and go through this part of her life.
She told me the first night she met him
and she went to the party.
She was really hungry,
but whenever Elvis offered her
a sandwich to eat,
she said no because she couldn't
imagine eating a sandwich
in front of Elvis Presley.
So it was details like that
that were so special.
They were like gold,
you know, in trying to put
this massive puzzle piece together.
Not great...
Baby...
Yeah, how did you feel about seeing
all these moments of your life in a film?
Oh boy. It's just reliving it.
It's going back and really reliving it and
and missing a lot of it,
to be honest with you,
that looking at the good times,
the fun times,
the movie times.
How did you feel like
this whole experience shaped you
in becoming the woman that you are?
Mm, wow!
I didn't know what I was in for.
Because I was very young,
but I... it was such an amazing
learning experience.
It was an amazing life.
It was amazing meeting great people,
but none of them equal to Elvis.
I mean, he was my husband,
but I knew him as the man.
Did you ever think that your life
would take that direction
when you met him or first got to know him?
Did you ever think you
would be living at Graceland?
No! No, my gosh, no.
No. I knew nothing about Graceland.
I didn't know...
I didn't know anything about him.
Just that I liked his songs,
as every teenager did back in the day.
And of course, I, you know, when my
when he was supposed to be on Ed Sullivan,
I was told not to watch it.
So, you know, but my parents,
because of all that came out of
about how Elvis was affecting teenagers.
And so when he came on the show
on the TV, my parents
asked me to leave the room.
- It was scandalous.
- Yeah.
And I did see it because there
was a crack, you know, in the door.
And I watched it from there.
I'm thinking,
"Oh my God, this is different."
You know, this guy is really,
I mean, really good.
But never in my life
did I ever think that I would meet him.
Here!
I mean, to me,
the biggest challenge was like
how am I going to find
someone that could pull off Elvis?
And a friend of mine told me,
check out Jacob.
And when I met him, he's just, he has
a sweetness, but he's so charismatic.
He was able to just transform
in his mannerisms
and body language and poise.
And I just wanted
him to give the impression
of Elvis so that, you could buy,
you buy it enough to go along with,
you know, our imaginary
version like that.
I just got so lucky
that he put that work into it
the way that he did.
And I got to lean
on such an incredible actor.
I mean, he had this massive
task to take on
to play this character,
but I just thought he did it beautifully.
And you're so supportive of me.
And then obviously Sofia
just had all the trust
in the world in us
when even when we didn't.
A good group of people.
If you go out that door
and yell down to Joe, shoot down,
INT: GRACELAND BEDROOM 1968
PRISCILLA GOES INTO LABOR
the woman is sort of,
calm and...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because...
I thought that Jacob
did such a wonderful job
because we never get to see Elvis
quite like this, you know?
What was he like as a partner?
Who was he to his friends?
His tender moments, his anger.
So I felt that he did
such a beautiful job.
And, you know,
I'm the whole time, I'm reacting a lot.
Jerry, Joe! Fellas...
Get the car...
I closed the door...
It's okay, it's what you were doing.
You know, open the door.
Leave the door...
You want to call the Colonel?
I ain't calling the Goddamn Colonel.
You want a couple of plates?
You want some eggs?
Alberta! Lets get some eggs.
Alberta put some
bacon on there too.
- Cut!
- Cut there.
His Memphis Mafia was played by
some Toronto comedians and actors,
and they were incredible.
And they really filled that space
that was so essential.
There wasn't much acting I had to do.
I just had to listen to them
just be boys,
you know, they're real boys.
Should I bring this vase?
You want this vase, V?
INT: VEGAS 1972
ELVIS PERFORMS
- Hello you.
- Hello!
- How's it goin'?
- It's goin' good.
- Cool shoes.
- Thanks.
Cool shoes yourself!
Lets get the music cut off, please.
We're good to go.
And action!
The man must have
been sweating so much.
do the karate?
Oh yeah, can we do a little karate?
Okay...
That's what I've been waiting for.
Action!
All right, cut that. Thank you,
everybody. Wrap it up officially.
Well done today, please, everybody.
Thank you.
I think I just pulled an ab.
I'm not getting...
EXT: GRACELAND GATES - 1963
PRISCILLA AT THEE GRACELAND GATES
I'm worried about rain.
We had our cover sets, though, which
coming from Los Angeles, I'm always like
"Cover sets, why would you ever do that?"
And I learned very quickly.
It was like, yeah, it's real.
Thank God we had them,
and it worked out really well.
And now we have...
Very exciting!
It's always a good day
when you get a dog or a baby.
- Cut!
- Cut that, thank you.
Great, that was good. We got it.
- Just doin' my job.
- Ha ha, sorry.
Cailee, if I say...
Cailee? If I say for you car
and then I would go like
this, does that help you?
Or does that make you laugh?
There's a car and you follow it to her?
All right, we'll do that.
Perfect.
like a cheap Christmas card to
get the you guys in front of the gates?
Christmas card!
- And take your picture?
- It's the best...
It'd be so fun to have.
That's like, not festive.
Just take one for me to have.
I want a picture of you guys.
EXT: GRACELAND SHOOTING RANGE 1963
Here we go. Ready?
And, action!
EXT: GRACELAND GROUNDS 1963
SHACK DEMOLITION
Do you want to go to craft services?
- I do want to go to craft services.
- Okay.
Oh my God...
Oh my God!
Should we take a picture of you and Jacob
in the middle, for my film camera?
Can you take a picture of me
and Jacob, on your iPhone?
No...
Mother of Teens / Director.
Stop being mean.
I don't care that she is
the director of this film.
The film is about to be over.
Sorry, I'll get a picture of you...
Let's start it up please!
On the move!
EXT: GRACELAND GROUNDS 1963
PARTY NIGHT!
There's a part of the film
where Priscilla's
going to high school
at a Catholic high school
and then at night, she has to stay
up all night, she's partying with Elvis.
And going out with him
and all his friends. And they
had fireworks,
Roman candle wars in the back yard.
- Everybody else...
- Around here please, for the light.
So, guys, we're at
that point if there are
no more questions
we're going to clear back.
We're going to look at...
Yeah, I love working with Phillippe,
this is our third movie.
We've done a few commercials and stuff.
- Who's that?
- Phillippe.
Yeah, he's great.
We talk about the story
before we're filming
so he's always looking out
for what we already talked about
the emotional part of it.
Okay, here's a rehearsal.
So we're doing the Roman candle fight.
Now we're goofing around
All their clothes are fire-proof.
They're really shooting the real ones.
- Oh wow.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Maybe cut.
- And cut it.
- Looked great.
- That's great.
It was so scary.
I actually, I didn't...
EXT: EAGLES CLUB GERMANY 1959
MEETING PRISCILLA
Where in the Eagles Club
were meeting Priscilla for the first time.
We have a big intro shot.
We're going to be halfway
through at the end of this week.
- Seriously, wow.
- It's gone by so fast.
It's crazy.
We've got so much more to do!
Okay guys picture's up.
Thank you.
And background, action.
I like that her parents told her
not to talk to strangers.
So yeah, there's a lot of and I like her...
I like, like how she's nonchalant
to cover up she's excited
about meeting Elvis.
It's no biggie.
Yeah, cut.
Cut there, thank you.
Reading her book, what...
what struck me or what I noted
is it was very touching because
I feel she goes through
all the stages that everyone goes through
from going from a girl
to a woman and adulthood
and that, and that...
So there's something very universal
about all those stages.
But that she went through that
in such an extreme,
you know, kind of crazy,
over-the-top world.
But they're all, it's all really,
you know, relatable.
- Cut! Okay, good.
- Cut there, thank you.
All right.
Wow!
And, action!
Yeah, it was really good,
But you look so much like her,
but it's your expression too.
- Really?
- Yeah, it's so cool.
Cool.
- Do you...
- What happens now?
EXT: HOSPITAL 1968
LISA MARIE IS BORN
Could you catch me up
a little bit on what we're doing?
Do you want me to turn
the music off?
It's going to be a
nightmare if you're editing.
Hey... let me ask.
I don't know how
I'm going to go back to real life
'cause now I just love having an AD
everything happens.
Tomorrow is our halfway mark,
so that's exciting.
And today we're shooting
Elvis and Priscilla leaving
the hospital with newborn Lisa Marie.
I always think it's funny,
when you look at background
and they're like...
You when they're
talking to each other...
but it's so hard to do,
I could never do that.
- So she's been in 20 minutes of make-up.
- 6:35PM SUN SETTING IN 20 MINUTES
We're going to lose our sun in 20 minutes
and we're waiting
for Priscilla's wig to get on.
You know, like hair and makeup, come to...
Well, she probably had
her baby and then stayed
in the hospital, I imagine,
for like two days.
And then as she's getting ready to leave,
done up.
a baby.
Great...
And action!
When the scene
where you're leaving the hospital,
got to imagine she's just given birth
and now she is going to get her wig
and her eyelashes on
and go face the public.
I think that's,
you know, one of those moments
that says so much without saying anything.
And then also the other side of that
was getting to recreate that iconic look.
And those were always fun moments,
very stressful moments
in terms with the hair and makeup
and costume departments leading up to it
but once we had done it,
you know, it was such a moment
of mini celebration like, wait this
is actually coming together, you know.
So those those were really satisfying
and fun to pull off.
- Cut! Okay, great.
- Got that. Thank you.
Shout out to her makeup and costumes.
Thank you for the hustle everybody.
Oh my God, we're all doing it.
- We can't help.
- This way Priscilla, this way!
SHOOT DAY 28 - LUNCH
THE PUWABA CUP - PICKLEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Donny Dead-Ball
Bachman here for your
old pickleball finals
for the Puwaba Cup.
The word is right now
that you got through the games.
Yeah, that's what...
We tried so hard!
There you have it,
ladies and gentlemen.
I just want to say thank you
this is the best shoot I've ever had.
And thank you for all
playing pickleball with me
for raising so much
and really for just supporting me.
And I'm really proud of our movie so far
and thank you really to everyone
for such a great job.
Thank you.
Officially!
INT: GRACELAND 1970
FAMILY PHOTOSHOOIt's touching that she
had the courage to leave
the only life that she knew and what was,
you know, supposed to be at
that time, like everything
you could want.
She had the kind of American dream
of having this life
that seemed perfect but, you know.
She had a lot of love for him
the way she talks about him
and that he had a lot of sweetness.
But also this dark side
that she talks about.
We had such a great shoot.
I loved our team and the crew,
and it was fun to go to work every day.
But you're so exhausted by the end of it.
I think it was just a huge relief
that we got everything we needed
'cause it took 30 days to do so much.
The fact that we got everything
we needed to be able to edit them
together was a relief.
- We're shooting the...
- INT: GRACELAND - FINAL SHOOT DAY
we're still leaving Graceland,
I love saying, we're saying
goodbye to Graceland as we all.
You know, she,
she never really felt in the movie.
I feel like she always felt
like a guest in the house.
So you can see her,
sort of her thought process
with very few words,
which I think Sofia does so beautifully.
You know, she she hangs
on these silent moments
or these simple shots of,
you know, this young girl
sort of wandering
this Graceland mansion by herself.
And it's so powerful.
INT: LAS VEGAS HOTEL ROOM
PRISCILLA LEAVES ELVIS
You know, he taught me a lot.
He was always there for me.
I can't, there isn't anything bad
about all of this I could even think up.
- He was a human being.
- Yeah.
And, you know, we all have flaws,
but it's hard to find out his.
- Yeah.
- Well, maybe with...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're honest...
But thank you,
we're happy to know your story.
Thank you.
Maybe another place,
another time.
I think there are things I definitely
found relatable as I was prepping this.
So I'm really,
I'm really interested to see what people,
people think, but it changed me.
So I hope that it's moving
for other people.
- Cut.
- Cut there, thank you.
So a big announcement on set, guys.
Oh my God!
Elvis is going to officially
leave the building.
He's camera wrapped.
Thank you everyone,
I really appreciate you.
Now I can talk normally.
I assume it had to
take a lot of strength
because her whole
life even now is being,
you know, Mrs Elvis Presley
and for her to...
to be able to leave that,
I was impressed by it.
It's a question that I think
a lot of women ask themselves,
like, who am I outside of these
things, outside of my marriage
or the transition of leaving your parents
or maybe becoming a mother
or to get to see that journey up
to that point I think is fascinating
and also universal for women.
- You call it.
- Hold on.
You and Sofia have to walk together,
come on.
We did it guys!
All right, everybody,
put your hands together.
Here we go!
It's been a year
since I started this project.
I'm now 18 and I've moved
out of my childhood home.
Watching Priscilla's journey
really puts this all into perspective.
You know,
maybe we're not all that different.
And at the same time, worlds apart.
But her strength is inspiring.
And it's been a privilege
to watch Sofia tell her story.
A FILM BY LIV MCNEIL
ABOUT A FILM
BY SOFIA COPPOLA
ABOUT THE LIFE
OF PRISCILLA PRESLEY
STARRING
CAILEE SPAENY AND JACOB ELORDI
PRODUCED BY
LISA ANTONECCHIA
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
SOFIA COPPOLA YOUREE HENLEY
AN IMPORTANT FLOWERS PRODUCTION
VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO
AND ALL THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE AT A24 FOR
YOUR CONTINOUS ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPOR
Roll sound.
Action!
I didn't know what I was in for
because I was very young.
It's an interesting side of the story
that we're telling.
Okay, here's a rehearsal.
A side that we've never seen before.
He was a human being.
We all have flaws.
- Cut!
- Cut there.
- Great.
- Come on, step down.
Yeah, yeah...
Ha ha!
Two cameras going on.
Oh wow. Wow! From every angle.
That's how it would have felt.
Can you imagine?
STUDIO: PRISCILLA (CODE NAME "DOMINO")
FINAL PREP DAY BEFORE PRODUCTION
I don't know...
Oh my God!
So our pickleball court.
Pickleball court, nice.
I'm a 17 year old girl,
shooting a making of film,
about the story of another teenage girl.
In a very different time.
- It looks good.
- Thank you.
But I probably won't be wearing eyeliner
for a very long time.
I don't even play guitar.
I've learned, like, four chords.
I'm just practicing them every day cause
I just want to be able to play guitar.
It's beautiful, oh my God.
Yes, there's the one that he had,
it's so cool.
EXT: GRACELAND 1969
DAY ONE PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Let's, let's get one and two
all wired up please.
We think there is the first phase
where it is just your imagination.
And then you have
to articulate it and see.
And then, I think always, it always turns
out differently than you first imagine,
I think. But...
this has been pretty close
to how I imagined it, so far.
But guys, let's bring everybody
out to the front lawn for the puwaba.
That's a family tradition that
ever since I was a little kid
I remember.
It comes from his,
my dad's college theater days.
And how the puwaba's such a magic
word that's going to bring us luck.
And we're all going to hold hands
and say the magic word three times,
once we start
and it's to bring us good luck.
And I hope you have a safe shoot, and
we're safe from injury and illness, and
that everyone has a great time
and thank you all for all your hard work,
and for joining us today.
Puwaba! Puwaba! Puwaba!
Here we go everybody.
And roll sound.
A big day, action!
It kind of strikes me as something
sort of fantasy like, out of a fairy tale.
Yeah, it reminds me
of
Alice in Wonderland.
Or... it does have that
that kind of fairy tale...
You know what, she thinks it's
a fairy tale and then realizes that
it's not what it's cracked up to be.
Alright baby, let's go!
- Cut! Great
- Cut there.
This is my
my copy that I adapted the script from.
It's like falling apart.
You know, I got this, like, for a while
I thought it was fun to read at the beach,
I'll like bring it on vacation.
And as I was reading it, I was really...
I don't know, I really connected with it.
And I grew up with charismatic...
Because of my dad that like our home
kind of revolved around
in a very minor way
compared to Elvis
but I can, you know, I know what it's like
to be around kind of a big figure.
Can you tell me a little bit
about the collaboration process
and learning about Priscilla's
life firsthand?
Yeah, it was the first
time that I made something
based on a person that was alive
and would speak to me about it.
So it was great that as I had questions,
I could, I kept a list of questions,
and then I would talk to Priscilla,
get to ask her about them.
It was important to me
that she felt like it was done right
felt accurate to her and for me
just to get little insider details.
I was like, "what were you doing
all that time when you were home?"
And so just to get specifics
and she said she went to
like charm school, etiquette school.
And I can try to fill in the
the pieces that that weren't in the book.
EXT: GRACELAND POOL
- Do you want a break? Jump in...
Being on a film set is the most fun
and intense and collaborative thing
I've ever been part of.
Nothing compares, really.
It's my favorite place on earth.
No, no!
I'd love to hear more
about you working with that
duo of Priscilla and Sofia.
And how was that back and forth?
Yeah, you know, I think the thing that was
so important about making this film
is that we wanted to stay true
to Priscilla's perspective of the story.
There are lots of big questions
that Sofia and I would have about
why did she make this choice
and what was going through her mind.
It's an interesting side of the story
that we're telling, a side
that we've never seen before.
We're playing these iconic characters,
but who they are behind closed doors
and what those sort of intimate moments
look like with each other,
these human moments
between these two.
So time limit and schedule
for this project was insane.
I know I felt my head's buried, there's
so much, so many different things.
It was so confusing
and never shot something so out of order
because of her, her looks
and like the locations.
Yeah, she was so hard working
and really wanted to do a good job
and put herself fully in it.
And she's so talented and just worked
so hard and was really focused
on each different
developmental stage of Priscilla
and having to take her
from 14 to in her late twenties.
- Their sides don't match...
- Ah yes.
So do you have a sort of favorite era?
Favorite look, maybe?
I think that the seventies
were so fun to play in
because she's wearing jeans,
she's got this new blowout
and a seventies tan.
It's just fascinating,
you know, using hair and makeup
to transition from being this young girl
and to then having to sort of present
a certain way for Elvis and then,
you know, coming into her own
and not wearing as much makeup
and dressing the way that she wanted to
dress, how that that was such a big tool
in her playing a sort of
character inside her own life.
It was such a form of expression and said
so much about where she was emotionally.
And action.
INT: MEMPHIS BOUTIQUE 1963
DRESS SHOPPING
We are now in the Memphis dress boutique
where Elvis takes Priscilla shopping
for his svengali makeover moment.
And then we'll see her
transformation into his ideal woman.
The brown in this one...
Yeah, you...
Black hair and more eye makeup.
We got to...
Alright, let's go.
INT: ELVIS' GERMANY HOUSE 1959 PRISCILLA
AND ELVIS MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME
Watching the art and costume
department work together
to transport us back in
time always blew my mind.
It's amazing what they were able to do.
Hello, Germany.
I got very lucky that Priscilla was open
to sit down with me
and go through this part of her life.
She told me the first night she met him
and she went to the party.
She was really hungry,
but whenever Elvis offered her
a sandwich to eat,
she said no because she couldn't
imagine eating a sandwich
in front of Elvis Presley.
So it was details like that
that were so special.
They were like gold,
you know, in trying to put
this massive puzzle piece together.
Not great...
Baby...
Yeah, how did you feel about seeing
all these moments of your life in a film?
Oh boy. It's just reliving it.
It's going back and really reliving it and
and missing a lot of it,
to be honest with you,
that looking at the good times,
the fun times,
the movie times.
How did you feel like
this whole experience shaped you
in becoming the woman that you are?
Mm, wow!
I didn't know what I was in for.
Because I was very young,
but I... it was such an amazing
learning experience.
It was an amazing life.
It was amazing meeting great people,
but none of them equal to Elvis.
I mean, he was my husband,
but I knew him as the man.
Did you ever think that your life
would take that direction
when you met him or first got to know him?
Did you ever think you
would be living at Graceland?
No! No, my gosh, no.
No. I knew nothing about Graceland.
I didn't know...
I didn't know anything about him.
Just that I liked his songs,
as every teenager did back in the day.
And of course, I, you know, when my
when he was supposed to be on Ed Sullivan,
I was told not to watch it.
So, you know, but my parents,
because of all that came out of
about how Elvis was affecting teenagers.
And so when he came on the show
on the TV, my parents
asked me to leave the room.
- It was scandalous.
- Yeah.
And I did see it because there
was a crack, you know, in the door.
And I watched it from there.
I'm thinking,
"Oh my God, this is different."
You know, this guy is really,
I mean, really good.
But never in my life
did I ever think that I would meet him.
Here!
I mean, to me,
the biggest challenge was like
how am I going to find
someone that could pull off Elvis?
And a friend of mine told me,
check out Jacob.
And when I met him, he's just, he has
a sweetness, but he's so charismatic.
He was able to just transform
in his mannerisms
and body language and poise.
And I just wanted
him to give the impression
of Elvis so that, you could buy,
you buy it enough to go along with,
you know, our imaginary
version like that.
I just got so lucky
that he put that work into it
the way that he did.
And I got to lean
on such an incredible actor.
I mean, he had this massive
task to take on
to play this character,
but I just thought he did it beautifully.
And you're so supportive of me.
And then obviously Sofia
just had all the trust
in the world in us
when even when we didn't.
A good group of people.
If you go out that door
and yell down to Joe, shoot down,
INT: GRACELAND BEDROOM 1968
PRISCILLA GOES INTO LABOR
the woman is sort of,
calm and...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because...
I thought that Jacob
did such a wonderful job
because we never get to see Elvis
quite like this, you know?
What was he like as a partner?
Who was he to his friends?
His tender moments, his anger.
So I felt that he did
such a beautiful job.
And, you know,
I'm the whole time, I'm reacting a lot.
Jerry, Joe! Fellas...
Get the car...
I closed the door...
It's okay, it's what you were doing.
You know, open the door.
Leave the door...
You want to call the Colonel?
I ain't calling the Goddamn Colonel.
You want a couple of plates?
You want some eggs?
Alberta! Lets get some eggs.
Alberta put some
bacon on there too.
- Cut!
- Cut there.
His Memphis Mafia was played by
some Toronto comedians and actors,
and they were incredible.
And they really filled that space
that was so essential.
There wasn't much acting I had to do.
I just had to listen to them
just be boys,
you know, they're real boys.
Should I bring this vase?
You want this vase, V?
INT: VEGAS 1972
ELVIS PERFORMS
- Hello you.
- Hello!
- How's it goin'?
- It's goin' good.
- Cool shoes.
- Thanks.
Cool shoes yourself!
Lets get the music cut off, please.
We're good to go.
And action!
The man must have
been sweating so much.
do the karate?
Oh yeah, can we do a little karate?
Okay...
That's what I've been waiting for.
Action!
All right, cut that. Thank you,
everybody. Wrap it up officially.
Well done today, please, everybody.
Thank you.
I think I just pulled an ab.
I'm not getting...
EXT: GRACELAND GATES - 1963
PRISCILLA AT THEE GRACELAND GATES
I'm worried about rain.
We had our cover sets, though, which
coming from Los Angeles, I'm always like
"Cover sets, why would you ever do that?"
And I learned very quickly.
It was like, yeah, it's real.
Thank God we had them,
and it worked out really well.
And now we have...
Very exciting!
It's always a good day
when you get a dog or a baby.
- Cut!
- Cut that, thank you.
Great, that was good. We got it.
- Just doin' my job.
- Ha ha, sorry.
Cailee, if I say...
Cailee? If I say for you car
and then I would go like
this, does that help you?
Or does that make you laugh?
There's a car and you follow it to her?
All right, we'll do that.
Perfect.
like a cheap Christmas card to
get the you guys in front of the gates?
Christmas card!
- And take your picture?
- It's the best...
It'd be so fun to have.
That's like, not festive.
Just take one for me to have.
I want a picture of you guys.
EXT: GRACELAND SHOOTING RANGE 1963
Here we go. Ready?
And, action!
EXT: GRACELAND GROUNDS 1963
SHACK DEMOLITION
Do you want to go to craft services?
- I do want to go to craft services.
- Okay.
Oh my God...
Oh my God!
Should we take a picture of you and Jacob
in the middle, for my film camera?
Can you take a picture of me
and Jacob, on your iPhone?
No...
Mother of Teens / Director.
Stop being mean.
I don't care that she is
the director of this film.
The film is about to be over.
Sorry, I'll get a picture of you...
Let's start it up please!
On the move!
EXT: GRACELAND GROUNDS 1963
PARTY NIGHT!
There's a part of the film
where Priscilla's
going to high school
at a Catholic high school
and then at night, she has to stay
up all night, she's partying with Elvis.
And going out with him
and all his friends. And they
had fireworks,
Roman candle wars in the back yard.
- Everybody else...
- Around here please, for the light.
So, guys, we're at
that point if there are
no more questions
we're going to clear back.
We're going to look at...
Yeah, I love working with Phillippe,
this is our third movie.
We've done a few commercials and stuff.
- Who's that?
- Phillippe.
Yeah, he's great.
We talk about the story
before we're filming
so he's always looking out
for what we already talked about
the emotional part of it.
Okay, here's a rehearsal.
So we're doing the Roman candle fight.
Now we're goofing around
All their clothes are fire-proof.
They're really shooting the real ones.
- Oh wow.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Maybe cut.
- And cut it.
- Looked great.
- That's great.
It was so scary.
I actually, I didn't...
EXT: EAGLES CLUB GERMANY 1959
MEETING PRISCILLA
Where in the Eagles Club
were meeting Priscilla for the first time.
We have a big intro shot.
We're going to be halfway
through at the end of this week.
- Seriously, wow.
- It's gone by so fast.
It's crazy.
We've got so much more to do!
Okay guys picture's up.
Thank you.
And background, action.
I like that her parents told her
not to talk to strangers.
So yeah, there's a lot of and I like her...
I like, like how she's nonchalant
to cover up she's excited
about meeting Elvis.
It's no biggie.
Yeah, cut.
Cut there, thank you.
Reading her book, what...
what struck me or what I noted
is it was very touching because
I feel she goes through
all the stages that everyone goes through
from going from a girl
to a woman and adulthood
and that, and that...
So there's something very universal
about all those stages.
But that she went through that
in such an extreme,
you know, kind of crazy,
over-the-top world.
But they're all, it's all really,
you know, relatable.
- Cut! Okay, good.
- Cut there, thank you.
All right.
Wow!
And, action!
Yeah, it was really good,
But you look so much like her,
but it's your expression too.
- Really?
- Yeah, it's so cool.
Cool.
- Do you...
- What happens now?
EXT: HOSPITAL 1968
LISA MARIE IS BORN
Could you catch me up
a little bit on what we're doing?
Do you want me to turn
the music off?
It's going to be a
nightmare if you're editing.
Hey... let me ask.
I don't know how
I'm going to go back to real life
'cause now I just love having an AD
everything happens.
Tomorrow is our halfway mark,
so that's exciting.
And today we're shooting
Elvis and Priscilla leaving
the hospital with newborn Lisa Marie.
I always think it's funny,
when you look at background
and they're like...
You when they're
talking to each other...
but it's so hard to do,
I could never do that.
- So she's been in 20 minutes of make-up.
- 6:35PM SUN SETTING IN 20 MINUTES
We're going to lose our sun in 20 minutes
and we're waiting
for Priscilla's wig to get on.
You know, like hair and makeup, come to...
Well, she probably had
her baby and then stayed
in the hospital, I imagine,
for like two days.
And then as she's getting ready to leave,
done up.
a baby.
Great...
And action!
When the scene
where you're leaving the hospital,
got to imagine she's just given birth
and now she is going to get her wig
and her eyelashes on
and go face the public.
I think that's,
you know, one of those moments
that says so much without saying anything.
And then also the other side of that
was getting to recreate that iconic look.
And those were always fun moments,
very stressful moments
in terms with the hair and makeup
and costume departments leading up to it
but once we had done it,
you know, it was such a moment
of mini celebration like, wait this
is actually coming together, you know.
So those those were really satisfying
and fun to pull off.
- Cut! Okay, great.
- Got that. Thank you.
Shout out to her makeup and costumes.
Thank you for the hustle everybody.
Oh my God, we're all doing it.
- We can't help.
- This way Priscilla, this way!
SHOOT DAY 28 - LUNCH
THE PUWABA CUP - PICKLEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Donny Dead-Ball
Bachman here for your
old pickleball finals
for the Puwaba Cup.
The word is right now
that you got through the games.
Yeah, that's what...
We tried so hard!
There you have it,
ladies and gentlemen.
I just want to say thank you
this is the best shoot I've ever had.
And thank you for all
playing pickleball with me
for raising so much
and really for just supporting me.
And I'm really proud of our movie so far
and thank you really to everyone
for such a great job.
Thank you.
Officially!
INT: GRACELAND 1970
FAMILY PHOTOSHOOIt's touching that she
had the courage to leave
the only life that she knew and what was,
you know, supposed to be at
that time, like everything
you could want.
She had the kind of American dream
of having this life
that seemed perfect but, you know.
She had a lot of love for him
the way she talks about him
and that he had a lot of sweetness.
But also this dark side
that she talks about.
We had such a great shoot.
I loved our team and the crew,
and it was fun to go to work every day.
But you're so exhausted by the end of it.
I think it was just a huge relief
that we got everything we needed
'cause it took 30 days to do so much.
The fact that we got everything
we needed to be able to edit them
together was a relief.
- We're shooting the...
- INT: GRACELAND - FINAL SHOOT DAY
we're still leaving Graceland,
I love saying, we're saying
goodbye to Graceland as we all.
You know, she,
she never really felt in the movie.
I feel like she always felt
like a guest in the house.
So you can see her,
sort of her thought process
with very few words,
which I think Sofia does so beautifully.
You know, she she hangs
on these silent moments
or these simple shots of,
you know, this young girl
sort of wandering
this Graceland mansion by herself.
And it's so powerful.
INT: LAS VEGAS HOTEL ROOM
PRISCILLA LEAVES ELVIS
You know, he taught me a lot.
He was always there for me.
I can't, there isn't anything bad
about all of this I could even think up.
- He was a human being.
- Yeah.
And, you know, we all have flaws,
but it's hard to find out his.
- Yeah.
- Well, maybe with...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're honest...
But thank you,
we're happy to know your story.
Thank you.
Maybe another place,
another time.
I think there are things I definitely
found relatable as I was prepping this.
So I'm really,
I'm really interested to see what people,
people think, but it changed me.
So I hope that it's moving
for other people.
- Cut.
- Cut there, thank you.
So a big announcement on set, guys.
Oh my God!
Elvis is going to officially
leave the building.
He's camera wrapped.
Thank you everyone,
I really appreciate you.
Now I can talk normally.
I assume it had to
take a lot of strength
because her whole
life even now is being,
you know, Mrs Elvis Presley
and for her to...
to be able to leave that,
I was impressed by it.
It's a question that I think
a lot of women ask themselves,
like, who am I outside of these
things, outside of my marriage
or the transition of leaving your parents
or maybe becoming a mother
or to get to see that journey up
to that point I think is fascinating
and also universal for women.
- You call it.
- Hold on.
You and Sofia have to walk together,
come on.
We did it guys!
All right, everybody,
put your hands together.
Here we go!
It's been a year
since I started this project.
I'm now 18 and I've moved
out of my childhood home.
Watching Priscilla's journey
really puts this all into perspective.
You know,
maybe we're not all that different.
And at the same time, worlds apart.
But her strength is inspiring.
And it's been a privilege
to watch Sofia tell her story.
A FILM BY LIV MCNEIL
ABOUT A FILM
BY SOFIA COPPOLA
ABOUT THE LIFE
OF PRISCILLA PRESLEY
STARRING
CAILEE SPAENY AND JACOB ELORDI
PRODUCED BY
LISA ANTONECCHIA
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
SOFIA COPPOLA YOUREE HENLEY
AN IMPORTANT FLOWERS PRODUCTION
VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO
AND ALL THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE AT A24 FOR
YOUR CONTINOUS ENCOURAGEMENT AND SUPPOR