Priscilla Beaulieu was a 14-year-old Army brat when she met the world’s biggest star, Elvis Presley, sparking a love story that’s the stuff of rock ‘n’ roll legend. When “Priscilla” star Cailee Spaeny was 14, she developed a different kind of crush — a cinematic one — on Sofia Coppola.
It all started when she watched “The Virgin Suicides,” Coppola’s 1999 feature directorial debut. “It just sort of cracked me open,” Spaeny tells Variety. “It was the first time I asked myself who was behind the camera.”
So, it was surreal when, a decade later, Spaeny got a call from her reps telling her to get on a plane because “Sofia wants to have coffee with you in New York.”
At the meeting, Spaeny tried to play it cool while eating croissants with her idol. “All my childhood dreams were coming true,” the actor recalls. “Then she pulled out her iPad, and she started showing me photos of Priscilla Presley. That was sort of shocking.”
Coppola was searching for an actress who could play Priscilla from age 14 to 29 because, like Presley’s 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me,” she aimed to tell the tale chronologically, beginning with the couple’s first meeting in 1959 when Elvis (played by Jacob Elordi) was stationed in Germany. The A24 movie — which opens nationwide on Nov. 3 – captures the highs and lows of their lengthy courtship, as well as their 1967 Las Vegas wedding, the birth of their daughter Lisa-Marie and their 1973 divorce.
Fortunately, Spaeny, 25, is just baby-faced enough to believably play the younger Priscilla. Even better, the star, best known for “Mare of Easttown” and “The Craft: Legacy,” recently worked with Coppola’s frequent collaborator Kirsten Dunst, who put in a good word. “I knew that if Kirsten thought she was talented and great to work with, I could have the confidence to cast her after meeting one time,” Coppola says.
Getting the nod from Dunst really brings things full circle, Spaeny adds, mentioning that “Kirsten played Marie Antoinette when she was 23, and I was 24 when I did ‘Priscilla,’ so the crossover was pretty magical. That’s when you start going, ‘Hmm, is the universe doing something here?’”
The script that Coppola sent Spaeny exhibited the filmmaker’s signature chic aesthetic. In a pink envelope was a handwritten thank-you card and a lumious photo of Priscilla was printed on the front page. Reading those pages underlined what had captivated Spaeny since she first watched “The Virgin Suicides.”
“The way that Sofia captures loneliness is remarkable. It’s magic,” she says. “I don’t know exactly how she does it, but I can’t think of another filmmaker that really puts their finger on it in the way that she does.”
Coppola nails this very distinct type of melancholy that comes with being a young woman. That tension that comes with trying to find yourself and break free from the expectations of others — whether parents (like Lex and her sisters in “The Virgin Suicides”) or a significant other (like Elvis, as that pseudo-paternal figure that older boyfriends often lean too far into). “He taught me everything. How to dress, how to walk, how to apply makeup and wear my hair, how to behave, how to return love — his way. Over the years, he became my father, husband, and very nearly God,” Presley writes in “Elvis and Me.”
It was this idea that Coppola and Spaeny aimed to capture — looking beyond the fairy tale façade of dating Elvis and painting Priscilla’s reality instead. “What struck me reading the book are the moments where you see her having to keep secrets and live this double life, and how sort of heartbreaking that is,” Spaeny says.
Spaeny describes Coppola’s approach as “impressionistic,” comparing Priscilla’s relationship with Elvis to Alice in Wonderland going down the rabbit hole. But by the end of the film, she notes, “[Priscilla] comes out the other side seeing things more clearly.”
Jacob Elordi, Cailee Spaeny and Sofia Coppola on the set of “Priscilla.”
To help the actor prepare, Coppola connected Spaeny with Presley so she could gain insight directly from the queen of rock ‘n’ roll.
“I tried to prep as much as I could, and then the second she started coming my way to sit down at the table, they all went out of my head. I could not get words out,” Spaeny admits. “She eventually said, ‘So, do you have any questions for me?’”
Once Spaeny found her words, Presley candidly and vividly reflected on her experiences and the two women bonded over a four-hour conversation.
“Moments that were like gold to me were watching her eyes light up when she talked about some joke Elvis told her, or what she was feeling on the night she first went to meet him, or details about the loneliness,” Spaeny recalls. “Seeing her relive those moments again, was something that will stick with me for the rest of my life, but were the essential pieces in putting this puzzle together.”
Another essential element was Spaeny’s relationship with Elordi. Coppola cast the two leads without a chemistry read, so they later went horseback riding to bond; it was Spaeny’s idea.
“It was not a very good way to get to know someone. You’re on horseback. He’s like, behind me on a horse,” she says, turning around to demonstrate why conversation was awkward. “But we had fun. He was always so game. We knew it was really important for us to have trust and a bond before we went into filming.”
The 30-day Toronto-based shoot was “absolute madness” both in terms of its fun – riding around on golf carts in front of a faithful recreation of Graceland — and its challenges. The film shot out of order, meaning that Spaeny would “be pregnant in the morning, and then after lunch, I’d be 14 years old.” Thus, Spaeny and the filmmakers used hair, makeup and costumes (approximately 130 looks) to help anchor the story in time.
“There was only one way you could walk — doll-like, which thankfully served the role,” Spaeny says of donning Priscilla’s iconic — and giant — bouffant. “That plus the heels and sitting in these beautiful little ‘60s dresses was outside my comfort zone, but it was fun. It was like dress-up.”
However, getting into cars while wearing the wigs proved particularly challenging, Spaeny admits, laughing. Even though people tried to warn her, she never quite mastered the spatial awareness necessary for hair that high. “You have a whole other head on top of your head,” she quips.
On set, Coppola was particularly impressed with the way Spaeny captured Presley’s essence, saying “Cailee just has this ability and talent of being able to express so much on her face.” Coppola’s not alone in her praise. In September, Spaeny won the best actress prize at the Venice Film Festival, where the film premiered. (Spaeny, who next stars in the upcoming “Alien” reboot, has also been nominated for a Gotham Award.)
It was a career highlight, but hoisting a trophy can’t compare to the ultimate prize: Priscilla Presley’s approval. “She pulled me aside in Venice to say that she saw her life through this movie,” Spaeny remembers, still buzzing from the interaction. “I almost burst into tears.”
Sofia Coppola, Priscilla Presley, Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi attend at the Venice Film Festival for the world premiere of “Priscilla.”
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
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