It seems like almost three full months ago, moviegoers were heading to their local theater to see Elvis, the latest of Baz Luhrmann’s movies. Oh wait, it was actually that long ago. Well, following Elvis collecting over $283 million worldwide and becoming available for HBO Max subscribers to stream, it’s been announced that another movie about the King of Rock has been cast. Better yet, we know who will be playing Elvis Presley this time around.
A24 is teaming with director Sofia Coppola on Priscilla, which is based on the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley, who was married to the singer from 1967 to 1973 and Sandra Harmon. Jacob Elordi, best known for Netflix’s Kissing Booth movies and his role on HBO’s Euphoria, will play Elvis Presley, while Cailee Spaeny, who recently plated Anna Roosevelt Halstead in the Showtime series The First Lady, has been tapped to play Priscilla Presley, who was originally known as Priscilla Beaulieu. In addition to her helming duties, Coppola also worked on Priscilla’s script.
According to Deadline, Sofia Coppola has been looking to tackle Priscilla “for some time” as her follow-up to the 2020 Apple TV+ movie On the Rocks, which also hailed from A24 and starred Bill Murray and Rashida Jones. Although Coppola reportedly met with a number of actors for the Elvis Presley role, Cailee Spaeny was the only actress she had in mind to play Priscilla Presley. Coppola first collaborated with A24 on 2013’s The Bling Ring, and she also has an upcoming TV adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel The Custom of the Country set up at the production company.
Although The Society’s Olivia DeJonge had an important supporting role as Priscilla Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, clearly Priscilla will see Cailee Spaeny’s version of her and Jacob Elordi’s Elvis Presley sharing more equal status with one another. The original Elvis and Me memoir, which came out eight years after the King of Rock passed away, detailed how Priscilla met Elvis, their marriage and what led to them separating. Together they had Lisa Marie Presley, who was born in 1968. This will actually be the second time Elvis and Me has been adapted, as it was previously turned into the same-named TV movie that aired in 1988.
Priscilla is on track to begin filming this fall in Toronto, and while it might be cutting it close to have this ready for the 2023 movie schedule, maybe there’s a chance Sofia Coppola new flick could just barely make the cut before the next year is over rather than be saved for 2024. Whether that happens or not, Priscilla will see Coppola reuniting with a number of her previous collaborators, including director of photography Philippe Le Sourd, costume designer Stacey Battat, editor Sarah Flack and production designer Tamara Deverell.
With Priscilla’s production set to begin before 2022 is over, the coming weeks will presumably bring forth the announcements of other actors who are joining Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny. While we wait for that information, check out what 2022 movies are currently playing at a theater near you.