‘Priscilla’ music team reached out to Elvis impersonators for the soundtrack
After Elvis Presley’s estate banned the use of his music, the music team for Sofia Coppola’s upcoming film Priscilla were forced to find an alternative way to soundtrack the film, which included approaching Elvis impersonators.
Coppola’s new movie Priscilla adapts Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me to screen, featuring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi as Priscilla and Elvis Presley. However, due to issues securing the rights to Presley’s music, the director’s husband, Thomas Mars, lead singer of Phoenix, had to think outside of the box for the soundtrack.
“The estate was not sure what the movie would be about,” Mars explained in an interview with Consequence, “So they didn’t want to allow us to use songs from Elvis.”
Guitarist Laurent Brancowitz added: “They weren’t very comfortable with the movie being from the perspective of Priscilla, which is exactly what the movie is about.”
As a result, music supervisor Randall Poster sought out Elvis impersonators. Mars recalled: “It was really fun because he had access to this one guy who could sing like Elvis, but from ’66 to ’69, and then there was a different guy from like ’70 on. So it was a world that was really fun to get into.”
Priscilla follows the life of Priscilla Presley as she navigates Graceland and her relationship with the so-called king of rock and roll. Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi take on the starring roles.
In a four-star review of Coppola’s new film Priscilla, Far Out wrote: “As is often the case with Coppola’s films, Priscilla once again puts forth the idea that wealth and aspiration will always play second fiddle to what human beings genuinely want (regardless of their levels of affluence).”
The review continued: “All Priscilla wanted was to be loved and cared for, to live her own life in partnership with her husband, and what she got was a drug-addicted, self-obsessed, cultural phenomenon – a phenomenon that she would never entirely be able to remove herself from”.
The film received a limited release on October 27th, set to expand on November 3rd. Watch the trailer below.
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