Sofia Coppola took a very novel approach to talking about Elvis Presley, given that just the past year, Elvis, starring Austin Butler, took the silver screen by storm. The movie depicted the King of Rock and Roll in all his bombastic and showman glory.
Coppola, speaking to BBC News, opened up about the process of making her film, Priscilla. The director talked about the budget and the thought process that went behind the film in detail. She revealed the one aspiration she had for the film, which was unfortunately cut due to budget constraints.
Sofia Coppola wanted to shoot the movie on film
One of the most interesting things about the film was that it was shot in a mere 30 days. This, however, took away from Coppola’s aspirations for the film, forcing her to shoot digitally, even though she wanted to print the movie on film. She said:
“I would have liked to shoot on film, but we shot digitally because we had to move so fast”
Shooting on film is important for directors for two reasons: One, when shooting on film, there is a finite amount of material, which means the director has to be much more careful before rolling the camera. There is only a limited amount of tape that the production has at hand, which means the amount of takes is also limited. Two, the physical material of the tape allows for directors to have a personal connection to the film, allowing them to shoot more effectively, while also feeling connected to the history of cinema.
Sofia Coppola wanted three Elvis songs in the film
When you make a film about Elvis Presley or any musical idol (like say, Freddie Mercury), it is expected that the film will feature the most celebrated parts of their discography as part of the film’s soundtrack. However, this did not seem to be the case for Priscilla, specifically because of the issue taken by Elvis Presley’s estate against the film. Coppola wanted three songs in particular in the film. She 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.”
Coppola famously butted heads with Lisa Marie Presley (before the latter passed away) over the contents of the films, which also served as the reason why the estate did not grant the right to use Elvis’s songs. Instead, the film chose to go with Dolly Parton’s song, who was known pretty far and wide for her refusal to let Elvis record her song.
