“I originally wanted to have three Elvis songs”: Sofia Coppola Faced Her Own Sophie’s Choice While Making ‘Priscilla’
After Baz Luhrmann’s Oscar-nominated film Elvis, it was Sofia Coppola’s time to shine with a new take on the story of Elvis Presley. However, with this serendipitous opportunity came challenges, resulting in the filmmaker navigating with making heartbreaking choices.
The dilemma of not being able to incorporate her desired songs in Priscilla, led the director Sofia Coppola to make Sophie’s choice. The filmmaker crafted Priscilla to take the fans behind the closed doors of American cultural icon Elvis and his wife Priscilla Presley. But with this great opportunity, Coppola faced significant challenges including the inability to add three of her desired songs.
Sofia Coppola Faced Significant Challenges While Making Priscilla
Despite making critically acclaimed films, Priscilla director Sofia Coppola mentioned struggling with budget limitations during the production of her movie. While speaking to BBC News, the filmmaker shared that due to a limited budget, her project was shot digitally instead of the traditional filmmaking methods. This frustrated the director as she also mentioned the funding disparity between male and female filmmakers in the entertainment industry.
Not only did she face funding problems, but was unable to add three of her desired Elvis songs. Due to the rights issue, Sofia Coppola failed to add the songs to Priscilla’s soundtrack, resulting in a shift towards Priscilla Presley‘s story. The director said:
“I originally wanted to have three Elvis songs, but I always knew that we might not be able to get them. I wanted it to really be focused on her [Priscilla’s] story… and to me it is really important to have Dolly Parton at the end, to have a woman’s voice at the end.”
Sofia Coppola mentioned the significance of concluding Priscilla with a female voice, and no one could have done it better than the legendary singer Dolly Parton. The movie starring Cailee Spaeny & Jacob Elordi is based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir titled Elvis and Me.
Fans Agree With Filmmaker Jane Campion Commending Priscilla
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Acclaimed filmmaker Jane Campion acknowledged the work of Sofia Coppola in Priscilla which revolves around the romance and time spent together by King Elvis and his wife Priscilla Presley. Coppola has contributed to the film industry with some of her notable projects like Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides, and Marie Antoinette.
Jane Campion says “Priscilla” is one of the best films of 2023.
“There is so much dare, risk and rigor in Sofia Coppola’s filmmaking, so much radical trust that it scares the pants off lesser filmmakers.”https://t.co/i3ckgy0Doh pic.twitter.com/QlRhHQGALY
— Variety (@Variety) December 13, 2023
Even fans didn’t step back from praising Priscilla and the exceptional chemistry depicted between the couple.
It’s such a thoughtful film
— natasha biase (@natbiase) December 14, 2023
Sofia Coppola ALWAYS fearlessly champions a perspective often overlooked in cinema… young women.
— Decentralized Pictures (@DCP_Foundation) December 14, 2023
A magical movie, with many twists and turns interwoven. Very interesting.
— THE BELL RINGS! (@TngBchThng1) December 14, 2023
The movie was previously set to be released in October but got delayed and was released in November. Priscilla is still available in some theatres and to stream on HBO Max.