Lisa Marie Presley was upset about Sofia Coppola's 'shockingly vengeful and ... trends now
The late Lisa Marie Presley had emailed Sofia Coppola multiple times about what she felt was a 'shockingly vengeful and contemptuous' depiction of Elvis Presley in the screenplay for Priscilla, the biopic about her mother Priscilla Presley.
Variety obtained descriptions of a pair of emails sent Lisa Marie to Coppola in September of 2022, about four months before her death at 54 this past January 12 from a bowel obstruction.
The film directed by Coppola, 52, is derived from Elvis and Me, a memoir penned by Priscilla that was released in 1985; Coppola co-wrote the script with Priscilla, 78, and Sandra Harmon, and the film stars Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla and Jacob Elordi as Elvis.
In the emails, Lisa Marie requested that Coppola 'reconsider her vision' about how Elvis was portrayed in an effort 'to spare her family public embarrassment,' Variety reported.
Lisa Marie said in a pair of emails sent four hours apart that the way Elvis was presented in the script would have created tension in her relationship with Priscilla, the outlet reported, noting the family remained reeling from the 2020 death of her son Benjamin Keough.
Details: The late Lisa Marie Presley had emailed Sofia Coppola multiple times about what she felt was a 'shockingly vengeful and contemptuous' depiction of Elvis Presley in the screenplay for Priscilla, the biopic about her mother Priscilla Presley. Lisa Marie was pictured January 10 in LA, two days before she died at the age of 54
Coppola, 52, co-wrote the script with Priscilla, 78; the pair was pictured in September at the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, where the film premiered
'My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative,' Lisa Marie said in the emails, according to Variety. '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?'
Lisa Marie told Coppola in the emails - which were sent before production on the film had begun - that she would 'speak out against the project and her mother' over the movie, Variety reported.
'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,' Lisa Marie said in the email reviewed by the outlet.
Coppola's rep shared with Variety text from a response the director sent to Presley reassuring her that she would handle things with care.
'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,' Coppola said in her response email, the outlet reported.
A source close to the film told Variety that Lisa Marie and Coppola had exchanged the emails on September 2, 2022, weeks before filming began on the movie.
Filmmakers went to lengths to 'tone down' certain aspects of the relationship that would have shocked modern audiences, the source said, as Elvis was 24 when he met a 14-year-old Priscilla in 1959.
Stars Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny were pictured with Coppola on the set of the movie
