With Francis Ford Coppola as her father, Sofia Coppola says she grew up with the awareness of fame and the different facets of a life that looks like a fantasy from the outside, the struggles of “human reality” a theme she has often tackled in her films, including in her latest “Priscilla”.
With Francis Ford Coppola as her father, Sofia Coppola says she grew up with the awareness of fame and the different facets of a life that looks like a fantasy from the outside, the struggles of “human reality” a theme she has often tackled in her films, including in her latest “Priscilla”.
In the film based on Priscilla Presley's memoir "Elvis and Me", Coppola deals with one of the most famous marriages in American showbiz. While are many movies on one of the greatest singers of all time and his larger-than-life persona, this is perhaps the first time his marriage is at the front and centre.
"We know a lot about him, but we'd never heard her story. She's such a famous part of this American couple, but we never really knew much about her. So I think realising her as a full human was interesting to me," Coppola told PTI in a round table interview.
As the daughter of the man behind American classics such as "The Godfather" series and "Apocalypse Now", she said she always knew the difference between how people behaved in public versus when they were away from the spotlight.
"I can't imagine the level of Elvis' fame at that time, but going to film festivals with my dad, I saw glimpses of show business and the difference between when people are in public and when they are in private and the reality of that. I grew up with an awareness of it," Coppola said.
"I'm always interested in different sides of what looks like a fantasy on the outside and then the human reality that everyone struggles with... Fame does not make you immune to the human struggles that everyone goes through," she added.
Coppola has tackled different aspects of fame in her films -- be it "Lost In Translation", which revolved around the loneliness of an actor in a culturally different country, "Mary Antoinette", a biopic on the last queen of France, or "The Bling Ring", a story inspired by a true incident of a group of fame obsessed teenagers burgling celebrity homes.
A MUBI release in partnership with PVR INOX Pictures, “Priscilla” is currently playing in theatres across India.
Priscilla Presely, 78, was closely involved with the making of the movie. Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi play the lead roles in a story that begins with Priscilla Beaulieu's first meeting with Elvis Presley at a party in Germany when she was 14 and he was 24.
Coppola's film then goes on to paint a portrait of love, fantasy and fame as it maps Priscilla's long courtship and turbulent marriage one of the most famous men in the world.
Asked about reframing a popular character in American pop culture through the eyes of the woman in his life, the director said it was important for her to have different perspectives on the story. It was also one of the reasons she felt so inspired to tell it on the big screen.
Coppola, 54, said she understands that people feel protective of Presley because he has been a "big figure" in American popular culture. Priscilla’s story, she added, was relatable.
"She was a young girl going through things that most girls go through but then in such an unusual extreme setting and with him... I always like stories that seem like fairytale on the outside.
“I was struck with how revealing and honest she was about what she struggled with, what the expectations were of her, from him and also as a woman at that time. He is a great artist so I wasn't surprised to learn about his complicated dark side," the director added.
The couple's only daughter Lisa Marie Presely had expressed concerns to Coppola about her father's portrayal in the film in a letter just months before her death in January this year due to cardiac arrest.
Coppola said she was surprised to receive the email from Lisa Marie because she always assumed the family had discussed it among themselves as the book has been out for many decades.
"It was tricky because I was just so focused on telling Priscilla's story. I didn't talk to the rest of the family... I didn't know that much about their relationship. But I didn't want to ask too much.”
Coppola said she tried to assure Lisa Marie that she would treat the story with sensitivity.
"I can understand she was worried about being such a public family, having people write stories about you. I can imagine that was stressful, but I really felt like it was between her and her mother. I'm sorry that she didn't get to see it because I felt like it was positive," the filmmaker said.
As mother to a 16-year-old daughter, Coppola said she felt like she had a unique perspective on the story.
The idea, according to the filmmaker, was to be open to Priscilla's experiences without judgement.
"There was so much about the roles of the kind of women of that era and what was expected and she was trying to be this kind of ideal woman. So it felt like an exaggeration of all these themes of womanhood to me," she said.
Coppola said it is challenging to depict the life story of someone who is alive. While she could always reach out to Priscilla for questions, it was a responsibility and an intricate balancing act.
"I wanted her to be happy with that. It felt like it respected her experience. So balancing the dark and the light side of the story because there's real dark moments but they also had fun, joy and romance. I had to balance the two so that he didn't just become a villain... I had to find the right tone."
The film begins with glimpses of Elvis Presley's Graceland estate in Memphis, Priscilla putting on her famous winged eyeliner, hairspray and make up. Coppola said the idea with the opening shot was to use the familiar image of the the character before diving deep into the story.
"I wanted to show like little impressions of what we think of Priscilla. For me, it's like the eyeliner, the hairspray, the curtains ... Images that pop in your mind when you first think about her and then go back to the beginning of the story of how she ended up at Graceland. "I really wanted to frame the story around her entering the gates and leaving the gates of Graceland and that was the story of her time there.
“It was important for me to show her as a really young teenager at the beginning and how she could have been impressed by him… The Alice in Wonderland aspect to it was really important for me to show the transition of her from a young, pretty naive girl to a grown up strong woman."