Priscilla Presley, the ex-wife of the late Elvis Presley, made an appearance for her at the Venice International Film Festival on Monday.
She walked the red carpet with ‘Priscilla’ director Sofia Coppola and actors Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny. (The A24 film got an exemption from the SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement due to the strike, as it was filmed in Canada with a studio not affiliated with the AMPTP.)
Based on Priscilla’s 1985 memoir, ‘Elvis and Me,’ Coppola’s new film, starring Elordi and Spaeny as Elvis and Priscilla, respectively, tells her story from her perspective.
At a news conference Monday, Priscilla, 78, called Elvis “the love of my life,” even as she discussed her decision to divorce the icon in 1972.
“It’s very difficult to sit down and watch a movie about you, about your life, and about your love,” she told reporters. “I think Sofia did an amazing job; she did her homework. We talked a few times, and I really gave her everything I could.”
Priscilla didn’t initially appear on the podium alongside Coppola, Spaeny, and Elordi at the press conference, but she took the microphone from her when asked what aspects of the film moved her most.
“It was the lifestyle that was hard for me, and I think any woman can relate to that. But it didn’t ruin our relationship. We’re still very close,” Priscilla recalled of how she and Elvis, who died at 42 in 1977, managed their relationship after the divorce.
Coppola, 52, shared his empathy for Priscilla when she met Elvis as a teenager. “I can go back to that age and remember having a crush on an older guy and a rock star,” she told reporters. “I imagined it from her point of view.”
The film ‘Priscilla’, through the eyes of Priscilla, tells the unseen story of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla’s long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German Army base to their dream world of Graceland.
This film comes after the 2022 Baz Luhrmann-directed film ‘Elvis,’ which focused on Elvis’ life with Austin Butler as the musician and Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla and also featured Tom Hanks as Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
The Venice Film Festival marked Priscilla’s second red carpet appearance since the death of her daughter Lisa Marie Presley in January. ‘Priscilla’ will be released in theaters on October 27.