Why ‘Priscilla’ Is the Polar Opposite of the ‘Elvis’ Movie

Hollywood is being very fair to Elvis Presley even if it’s by accident. Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis and Sofia Coppolas’ Priscilla are polar opposites. One is for fans and one certainly isn’t. Nobody has to like one or both of these films, but it’s probably for the best that they both exist and here’s why.

The movie ‘Elvis’ is about an icon and ‘Priscilla’ is about a person

Luhrmann’s Elvis was a masterpiece to some and a bland piece of pop filmmaking to others. Regardless, it was definitely an exploration of Elvis the icon. It showed up his rise and fall (and subsequent rise and fall), his amazing energy onstage, and his glittery jumpsuits. It’s also sold him as a musician more than most music biopics do. The soundtrack was a nonstop audio assault of every Elvis song and every style, regardless of chronological order.

In Priscilla, we get more shots of the ceramics in Graceland than shots of Elvis onstage. It’s a deliberately slow character study that’s more interested in the domestic life he had with Priscilla Presley than anything else. It barely features any nods to his music and that’s kind of the point. Priscilla wants to show us an image of Elvis the person, no matter how mundane or unflattering.

Why ‘Elvis’ is tailored to fans

And here’s the other reason why the two movies need to exist. Elvis portrays its protagonist as a superhero. He’s even directly compared to a superhero in the dialogue. It lets us savor every aspect of why people loved Elvis, from his rockabilly days to his more polished Vegas years.

Priscilla, on the other hand, forces us to grapple with the uncomfortable age gap between him and his bride (they started dating when she was 14 and he was 24). We also get to see his controlling behavior and the time he threw a chair at his future wife. It’s uncomfortable, and that’s the point. Many social movements have asked us to grapple with the dark sides of historical figures, but Coppola forces us to do this in a more intimate way. And the world needs to see the bitter and the sweet sides of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

What Sofia Coppola wanted to do with ‘Priscilla’

During a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone, Coppola discussed her intentions with Priscilla. “I never want to, like, take someone down and disrespect them,” she said. “I think it’s sympathetic to see his struggles and the human side, but definitely there’s so much folklore of him as this god. There was someone that was trying to get me to take out all the dark stuff.”

Coppola was asked who wanted her to change her film. “Someone kind of involved who was thinking about the perception of Elvis in the film,” she said. “But I really wanted the ups and downs. You can’t have a complex relationship with just the good side.”

She compared her film to Luhrmann’s. “I thought it could be a counterpoint,” she said. “I knew that Baz was making his movie while I was working on this one. Someone was like, ‘Oh, is that gonna deter you?’ And I said, ‘No, I think it’s even cooler that he’s in the culture and people are thinking of him and we can show the other side. She’s barely a character [in Elvis].”

Elvis and Priscilla aren’t for everyone, but they’re a necessary pair.