Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” is the second main biopic that the auteur has tackled. Whereas her 2006 interval piece “Marie Antoinette” was a flop on the field workplace, it has been reappraised over time and is now seen by many as certainly one of her greatest works. So it’s not shocking that when it as time to seek out an actress to play Priscilla Presley, she turned to “Marie Antoinette” star Kirsten Dunst for recommendation.
Coppola beforehand revealed that she determined to forged Cailee Spaeny within the function after Dunst, who labored with Spaeny on Alex Garland’s upcoming “Civil Warfare,” recommended it. “Kirsten is sort of a sister to me, and when she advisable Cailee, I paid consideration,” Coppola mentioned.
Talking to IndieWire on the crimson carpet of the movie‘s North American premiere on the New York Movie Competition, Cailee shared extra particulars about her relationship with Dunst. She confirmed that the “Marie Antoinette” star helped persuade Coppola to forged her in “Priscilla,” and mentioned that they bonded over starring in Coppola biopics at related ages.
“Kirsten’s superb,” Spaeny mentioned. “She undoubtedly put in phrase for me, which I don’t suppose damage throughout the casting course of. She additionally filmed ‘Marie Antoinette’ when she was 23 and I did ‘Priscilla’ after I was 24. So it was form of two phrases colliding, very full circle. It was a extremely unbelievable option to get this function.”
Many critics have drawn parallels between “Priscilla” and “Marie Antoinette,” whereas additionally noting the important thing areas the place the movies differ from one another.
“Comparisons to the extra opulent and electrifying ‘Marie Antoinette’ are inevitable, as each motion pictures are about teenage ladies who’re attempting to appease their kings,” IndieWire’s David Ehrlich wrote in his Venice evaluate of the movie. “However from a sure perspective, ‘Priscilla’ can also be the polar reverse of Coppola’s 2006 masterpiece. Whereas Marie Antoinette was compelled to Versailles towards her will, Priscilla Presley’s final dream was — like many ladies her age in 1963 — to dwell in Graceland as Elvis’ spouse. And whereas Marie Antoinette spent the brunt of her brief life struggling to reconcile a way of non-public id with the one conferred upon her by the royal palace, Priscilla Presley, who’s nonetheless alive as we speak (and an government producer on this movie), spent the brunt of her brief marriage realizing that she didn’t must.”