PRISCILLA (2023): Sofia Coppola’s Upcoming Film Will Not Showcase Elvis’s Music

A24’s Priscilla Denied Use of Elvis Music in Film

A24‘s eagerly awaited Priscilla Presley movie from Sofia Coppola, Priscilla, will, surprisingly, not feature music from the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis.

The estate of Elvis Presley has denied Sofia Coppola’s film, Priscilla, the use of Elvis’s old songs. A creative-type like Coppola, though, will not be put in the corner. Coppola has employed the fine musical artists, Phoenix (the band leader happens to be Thomas Mars, Coppola’s husband), to do covers of old songs to help define the time period of the new picture. In Coppola’s very good 2010 film, Somewhere, Phoenix’s music worked wonders and could just do so again in the forthcoming drama, Priscilla.

Cailee Spaeny (who was recently cast in the Alien reboot) will be playing Elvis’s love, Priscilla Presley in a film adaptation of Priscilla’s memoir, Elvis and Me. Jacob Elordi is portraying the King, himself, Elvis. Coppola stated that Elvis’s estate likes to grant permission to use the King’s music to projects which have originated under the estate’s wing and Priscilla is a true work of art that Coppola has decided, herself, to bring to the silver screen.

Priscilla will be premiering at the Venice Film Festival. Then, the movie will play in late September/early October at the New York Film Festival. Reviews at these festivals will decipher whether or not Coppola stands another chance at Oscar glory. The Graceland/Las Vegas/Germany imagery from the film points to potential nods for set design, costume design and cinematography. Last year, Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis walked away with quite a few Academy Award nominations, including for Best Actor, Austin Butler. But, don’t bet on Elordi to follow Butler’s footsteps quite yet. Cailee Spaeny faces some stiff competition too. It all depends on the quality of the performances to see if this movie is going to lead the stars all the way to Oscar gold.

Coppola is due for an Oscar nomination again. It has been almost 20 years since the brilliant Lost in Translation won Coppola an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. This new Priscilla movie is moderately budgeted at just under $20 million. It will certainly play well on the art house circuits but it will take excellent reviews and solid word of mouth to expand successfully beyond the big cities. Last year’s Elvis proved there is definitely an audience to tap into for Priscilla.

A24 walked away with Oscars in the major categories with their high-profile films last year. Whether or not Priscilla can nab slots for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design all depends on the reception at the upcoming film festivals which will help steer Priscilla to its destined fate.

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