Lisa Marie Presley Complained To Sofia Coppola Before Her Death — 'Why Are You Coming For My Dad?'
Lisa Marie Presley was reportedly unhappy with how Sofia Coppola's movie depicted her parents.
Kathy Hutchins, lev radin / Shutterstock; PHILIPPE LE SOURD / A24 Sofia Coppola's highly anticipated film "Priscilla," starring Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny, has finally hit theaters worldwide, and the unanimous response from critics has been rather positive.
The biographical drama film, based on the 1985 memoir "Elvis and Me," written by Priscilla Presley, follows a teenage Priscilla as she meets Elvis and delves into their relationship — and more specifically, the controversial age gap between the two when they first met.
However, Elvis' daughter, the late Lisa Marie Presley, who tragically passed away in January 2023, didn't take too kindly to Coppola's movie on the relationship between her parents and reportedly made that quite known before her death.
Lisa Marie Presley wrote Sofia Coppola a lengthy letter about her horror over the film's script.
In two emails obtained exclusively by Variety, Lisa Marie asked Coppola to reconsider her vision for the character of Priscilla and spare her family any embarrassment from the media. Lisa Marie's messages were sent four months before she passed away.
Lisa Marie accused Coppola's film of being "shockingly vengeful and contemptuous," and pleaded with the filmmaker to avoid straining her relationship further with her mother, as well as bringing scrutiny on Elvis' remaining grandchildren who are still mourning the loss of their brother, Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020.
"My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative. As his daughter, I don’t read this and see any of my father in this character," Lisa Marie reportedly wrote to Coppola. "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."
Priscilla was 14 and Elvis was 24 when the two first met in Germany. While Priscilla details in her book that she and Elvis didn't have a sexual relationship until they married when she was 21, the large age gap has long been a topic of controversy.
"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," Lisa Marie continued. "Why are you coming for my Dad and my family?"
In response to Lisa Marie's complaints, Coppola admitted that the film wholeheartedly encapsulates what the intention of the movie was meant to be.
"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," wrote Coppola.
Unlike Lisa Marie, her mother, Priscilla, has been actively involved in both the making and promotion of Coppola's film.
Priscilla Presley, who is credited as an executive producer on the "Priscilla" movie and has been an active participant in the publicity for the A24 release, has been vocal about her support for both Coppola and the film itself.
"It’s very difficult to sit and watch a film about you, about your life, about your love," Priscilla Presley emotionally stated during the Venice Film Festival press conference. "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."
When speaking about the controversial age gap depicted in the film, Priscilla maintained that Elvis did not take advantage of her youth when they had first met and throughout their relationship and eventually marriage.
"Even though I was 14, I was actually a little bit older in life — not in numbers. That was the attraction," Priscilla explained. "People think, 'Oh, it was sex.' No, it wasn’t. 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 line in thought, and that was our relationship."
Coppola also opened up about the difference between her film and Baz Luhrmann's "Elvis" film starring Austin Butler, admitting that she and Luhrmann both approached filmmaking differently and that it left a lot of space for her to make something of her own about the infamous couple.
The "Marie Antoinette" director claimed that Luhrmann's film was "about Elvis as the performer, outward," while "Priscilla," "is kind of the flipside... Priscilla's story... and looking at him in a more intimate way... the scale of it is done in a more intimate way."
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.