‘Priscilla’ Movie Accuracy: What’s True And What’s False?

variety.com:

Meredith Woerner Deputy Editor, Variety.com What’s fact and what’s fiction in Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla?” We fact-checked the film against the source material, Priscilla Beaulieu Presley’s memoir “Elvis and Me.” The new film, starring Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) and Jacob Elordi (Elvis Presley), was inspired by the 1985 book, which became a New York Times bestseller at its release.

Everyone knew Elvis the legend, but his former wife Priscilla wanted to reveal Elvis the man. This gripping tale from their meeting in 1959 until his sudden death in 1977 unveils the (often grim) realities of being married to the King of Rock and Roll.

However, even in the darkest of memories, Priscilla maintains a deep love for her exceptionally complicated and often wildly unpredictable husband. “When I read Priscilla’s story, I was so struck with how the setting is so unusual, but she goes through all the things that all girls go through growing up into womanhood,” Coppola said at the Venice Film Festival. “She talks with detail and openness about her experience, her first kiss, becoming a mother, all these moments in one’s life that I can relate to and I thought were universal.

But in this very unusual setting that we’re so curious to know. Elvis and Priscilla were this legendary couple, but we don’t know much about her and her point of view.” Throughout the filming process Coppola revealed she was in contact with Priscilla, as was Spaeny who worked with the author to recreate her life as accurately as possible. “[Coppola] did her homework,” Priscilla said.