Released in North America on November 3, the film focuses on the intimate life of actor Priscilla Presley and her husband Elvis Presley, based on Priscilla's best-selling memoir "Elvis and Me" published in 1985.
This memoir describes Priscilla's extraordinary life experience from meeting and falling in love with Elvis Presley in high school at the age of 14, to their marriage and finally their relationship breakdown.
Elvis Presley in the film is played by Australian actor Jacob Elordi, who previously played Nate Jacobs in "Euphoria," while Priscilla is played by American actress Cailee Spaeny.
Back in an interview with Vogue last year, director Sofia Coppola shared her reasons for bringing this legendary story to the big screen. Ten years ago, she had already read the original book of this memoir, and she was already moved by this woman's unconventional life story.
Elvis Presley, as a legend of a generation, has always been frequently moved to the screen, and Priscilla, as one of his closest people during his lifetime, has also been played by many actors. Generally speaking, in these film and television works, Priscilla often appears in a supporting role.
But this time, Sofia wants her to be the protagonist, so that everyone can understand what kind of life she experienced as the closest female character around the superstar in the context of that era.
Director Sofia Coppola herself has been a regular at awards ceremonies, having already won Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Golden Lion and Cannes Film Festival awards.
At the Venice Film Festival in September this year, Sofia was also shortlisted for the Golden Lion Award for "Priscilla"; In addition, Cailee Spaeny, who played the heroine Priscilla, won the Best Actress Award at the Venice International Film Festival for this film, winning the first actress crown in her life.
After the premiere of the Venice Film Festival, Priscilla herself praised her after the screening, saying, "It was a great performance, and I saw my life through you." ”
It is not difficult to find that in this work, the makeup and styling of the character Priscilla are also the focus of the storyline. Director Sofia has always paid special attention to the details of shooting, and for a character with a large age and identity span, she believes that it is necessary to assist the growth of the character through hairstyle, makeup and clothing.
Therefore, from Priscilla's 14-year-old appearance that gradually matured in order to shorten the distance between herself and Elvis Presley, to the image that was completely "Elvisified" at the end. Even audiences who have not watched the film can feel the growth and transformation of the character from Cailee's styling:
Cailee also said in an interview that she felt that her makeup process was even longer than the duration of the performance, which shows the crew's attitude of excellence in serving the Tao. Most viewers were probably most impressed by her adult look with extremely thick eyeliner, thick false eyelashes, and exaggerated honeycomb heads.
Previously, in Vogue's "Life in Looks" column, Priscilla recalled that at that time, it took at least an hour and a half to complete the hairstyle, and she needed to maintain the perfect hairstyle within a week, because it usually only happens once a week.
The film's costume designer, Stacy Battat, is also director Sofia's long-time partner, and they have collaborated on five films before, and this time the designer made more than 120 different costumes for this film to restore the authenticity of the characters in the show.
Sofia's long-time partners Anna Sui and Chanel also exclusively customized costumes for the show.
When Elvis met again after two years in the military, the two returned home to Memphis with Priscilla, then 17, dressed in a rose-pink high-waisted dress with delicate floral embroidery and a ribbon belt, gentle and girly. This look was custom-made by Anna SUI.
The 1967 wedding of the two is also a famous scene in the film, and Priscilla's wedding look was created by Chanel. Virginie Viard, costume designer and creative director of CHANEL, consulted the archives of the original wedding dress, and then incorporated some modern elements of CHANEL, which was also more sophisticated than the original.
I believe that after watching this work, many people are fans of Cailee Spaeny, who looks "childish" and has meticulous acting skills.
Director Sofia said that it was important for an actor to be able to navigate the age span from a teenage high school student to a mature woman who is a wife, and Cailee's own appearance is a perfect fit for the role.
The whole casting process was also unusual, and there was not even an audition process, and she didn't get the opportunity to star in the lead role. Cailee also found the answer to this magical experience after coming into contact with the director, "Sofia is characterized by the fact that when she knows what she wants, she really pursues it and trusts her instincts. ”
In the end, Sofia's intuition proved to be extremely correct.
While preparing for the film, Cailee studied every single image she could find, as well as every film in which Priscilla had been featured.
Priscilla Presley herself was actually involved in the film, acting as an executive producer.
Cailee also met the legendary woman before the filming, and the first meeting lasted four hours, during which she was able to learn more about the more authentic Priscilla and her relationship with Elvis.
In fact, before that, Cailee had played many biopic roles in the past five years, but this was the first time that she actually saw her role in real life and had a deep connection with it, and it was also a rare interpretation experience for her.
There are these amazing details in this story, and from her mouth, they are like gold. It was so special, her eyes would light up as if she had gone back to that time, and she would laugh and tell the jokes he said, and it was truly a precious moment that I will cherish forever. ”
In addition, Cailee researched the home films produced by Priscilla, which contained many daily moments from the couple's time together. Cailee even repeated a monologue of Priscilla**, and learned Xi way of her voice to make herself closer to the character.
What's even more surprising is that in this film, she portrays every subtle emotional and psychological transformation of the characters extremely accurately.
When she was an ordinary high school girl, she heard people talk about the pure worship of superstar Elvis Presley:
Later, after the two dated, their lives changed dramatically, and she gradually lost herself in order to cater to Elvis Presley's orientation, although she was beautiful and exquisite, but always slightly empty. At that time, even at home, she always wore heavy makeup and exaggerated wigs, just because Elvis liked her like this:
As she said in the play, "I don't know if I like it or not", but based on the disparity in age, identity, and status, all she can do is be submissive.
Even on the day she gave birth to her daughter in the delivery room, Priscilla remained in near-perfect shape.
As the 70s approached, Priscilla gradually grew into a more mature and independent woman, she was no longer blindly obedient, and she was more daring to confide her true thoughts in front of Elvis, with a tanned complexion, a natural hairstyle, and a comfortable outfit in appearance.
He's becoming more extreme, while she's more down-to-earth, she's getting back to herself. ”
At first, Cailee was not very confident about her performance, because the production schedule of the whole film was very tight, only about a month, and the character she played was also involved in the whole process.
This stress and fear peaked during the premiere of the Venice Film Festival, and she even felt that she might faint from fear. It was finally after hearing the positive feedback from Priscilla herself that she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Although the acting strength has reached the level of a movie queen, many people may ignore that it has only been five years since Cailee Spain made her debut in the movie "Pacific Rim: Thunder Rising" in 2018.
She has always been in a state of low-key honing her acting skills, and then she also had wonderful performances in the movies "Royal Hotel ** Case", "Deputy **" TV series "Nightmare in the East City".
Prior to Priscilla, her most critically acclaimed role was perhaps the role of Lyndon in the sci-fi miniseries Devs directed by Alex Garland.
Through this drama, Alex Garland also fell in love with this explosive actress, so when he began to prepare the movie "Civil War", he still invited Cailee to join it.
It was also because of the crew of "Civil War" that Cailee got acquainted with Kirsten Dunst (director Sofia's former muse) and admired her performance very much, so when Kirsten Dunst learned that Sofia was looking for a role in "Priscilla", he did not hesitate to recommend Cailee.
In addition to the Best Actress award at the Venice International Film Festival, Cailee was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor at the Gotham Awards, the heavyweight award for American independent films, for her work "Priscilla" this year, which undoubtedly proves her superior acting prowess.
Cailee Spaeny's acting career has just begun, and I believe that she will bring more surprises to everyone in the future, so you might as well look forward to it.