While Priscilla Presley has been publicly supportive of Sofia Coppola’s biopic, Priscilla, it seems her late daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, did not feel the same way.
According to emails obtained by Variety, Lisa Marie wrote to Sofia twice on the same day in September 2022, asking the director to reconsider her script and threatening to speak out against the movie based on its portrayal of her late father, Elvis Presley.
“My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative,” she accused. “As his daughter, I don’t read this and see any of my father in this character. I don’t read this and see my mother’s perspective of my father. I read this and see your shockingly vengeful and contemptuous perspective and I don’t understand why?”
Priscilla is based on Priscilla’s own 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me, which details the couple’s courtship — which began in Germany in 1959 when Priscilla was 14 and Elvis was 24 — and subsequent marriage and divorce. The films stars Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi as the infamous couple.
“I am worried that my mother isn’t seeing the nuance here or realizing the way in which Elvis will be perceived when this movie comes out,” Lisa Marie continued. “I feel protective over my mother who has spent her whole life elevating my father’s legacy. I am worried she doesn’t understand the intentions behind this film or the outcome it will have.”
In addition to trying to maintain her family’s legacy, Lisa Marie said in her emails, she was also trying to protect future generations from public scrutiny, noting that one of her then-14-year-old twin daughters, Harper Lockwood, had questioned her after reading about the Priscilla production.
“I had to explain that we are going to have to endure another hit in our lives. That there is going to be a movie about her grandfather that is going to try to make him look really, really bad but it’s not true,” she recalled. “I had to explain that her beloved grandmother is supporting it. These two little girls have been through so much in the past 7 years, enduring my divorce and horrific custody battle and then losing their brother. We’ve all been drowning.”
Finally, Lisa Marie appealed to Sofia as a fellow daughter of a famous family — Sofia’s includes her father, The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, among many other notable names — saying that Sofia must also know how harsh the Hollywood spotlight can burn.
“I would think of all people that you would understand how this would feel,” she wrote. “Why are you coming for my Dad and my family?”
“I will be forced to be in a position where I will have to openly say how I feel about the film and go against you, my mother and this film publicly,” Presley ultimately threatened.
Lisa Marie died in January 2023, and reportedly never read a final draft of the script prior to the beginning of production. Sofia’s response, via her representatives, is also included in Variety’s reporting.
“I hope that when you see the final film you will feel differently, and understand I’m taking great care in honoring your mother, while also presenting your father with sensitivity and complexity,” the director wrote.
ET has reached out to Priscilla’s reps for comment. Sofia’s reps had no further comment at this time.
For her part, Sofia has been cautious while speaking about the portrayal of Elvis and Priscilla in her movie.
“I try not to be judgmental of any of the characters and really be as sympathetic as I can to each of them,” she noted in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. “And I’m really focused on her perspective, but even with the parents, you’re like, ‘How can anybody let their kid go live with Elvis that young?'”
Priscilla attended the Venice Film Festival premiere of her namesake biopic, and has been publicly supportive of Sofia’s vision.
“It’s very difficult to sit and watch a film about you and about your life and your love,” Priscilla said, overcome with emotion as she discussed the film during a press conference panel in Venice. “I think Sofia did an amazing job. She did her homework. We spoke a couple of times, and I really put everything out for her that I could.”
“Even though I was 14, I was older in life than in numbers,” she added of her relationship with Elvis. “That was the attraction. And people think, ‘Oh, it was sex, it was this.’ Not at all. I never had sex with him. He was very kind, very soft, very loving. But he also respected the fact I was only 14 years old. We were more in mind and thought and that was our relationship.”
Priscilla is in theaters now.
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