With a narrative spanning 13 years, what Cailee Spaeny achieved in Priscilla's 30-day shoot is nothing short of extraordinary.
At the start of Sofia Coppola's movie, we see her sitting at the counter of a 1950s diner, with a washed face and fringe hairstyle, as she focuses on her school homework and drinks Coke.
Soon after, this teenager becomes a sort of a Chosen One, the King of Rock and Roll's partner, and her innocence is buried under a hairsprayed 'do and dramatic make-up. An icon is born, but the girl underneath is still very much alive.
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The 25-year-old actress embodies Priscilla Presley through a big part of her life, not missing a beat in her transition from girl in love to mother and wife.
It's a career-making role for Spaeny, who won the Copa Volpi for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. "I didn't even know that award existed until I got the call," she tells Digital Spy in an interview during 2023's London Film Festival last October.
She's now nominated for a Golden Globe and is heading towards the Oscars. Not that she's thinking about that. Yet.
"I'm really just taking things one step at a time, really enjoying this experience, and feeling really lucky that I got to be part of this movie," she says.
Although there were many challenges to face during the filming of Priscilla, from working from her "dream director" to getting the different time periods right, Spaeny's main goal was always to do justice to the real-life character.
"Growing up a huge Elvis fan, this is like American royalty, and knowing Priscilla was going to see the movie at the end, I really wanted her to identify with the story that we told," she explains.
"At the end of the day, we're dealing with real people. She was more important to take care of than the movie. Obviously, I wanted the movie to work out, but I just wanted her to feel that this was in safe hands."
Their relationship during the making of the movie was key to putting Spaeny at ease with her performance. "She was very clear in saying: 'I trust you, you're going to do a great job, and you can call me whenever you want, whether it's about the role or if you just want to talk about anything personal, I'm here to lean on.' She didn’t need to do that, so for her to take that time to be kind to me, it made me feel really lucky," she recalls.
Luckily, Priscilla loved the movie. "She was very moved," the actress reveals.
"She took me aside and said: 'I watched my life through you'. At the end of the day, that's all I wanted, for her to feel safe."
In Coppola's hands, Priscilla Presley's story feels both unique and universal.
Spaeny thinks that is why the critically acclaimed filmmaker was attracted to the story in the first place, turning it into an "intriguing Alice in Wonderland, dreamlike world".
"She felt interested in the things a lot of young women go through and deal with — whether it's leaving your parents, falling in love for the first time, giving yourself up to a partner, having a child, feeling like you want something more than a nice house and a family, feeling that you have more to give, being looked down upon," she explains.
The actress felt those emotional connections with the character and related to her story "as a girl from a small town that gets thrust into this sort of crazy, frenzy industry".
Born in Tennessee and raised in Missouri, Spaeny was barely 20 when she landed in Hollywood with an incredibly busy year of movies. She featured in major movies like Pacific Rim Uprising, Bad Times at the El Royale, On the Basis of Sex and Vice alongside countless A-list stars. She also starred in HBO's acclaimed series Mare of Easttown with Kate Winslet.
However, Spaeny's lead role in Priscilla feels like a breakout moment in her career. It's the first time she gets to own the screen and create an unforgettable character.
In that challenge, Spaeny was helped by her brilliant co-star, Euphoria and Saltburn star Jacob Elordi, who plays Elvis Presley.
"He is incredible," she says.
As she notes, a lot of the movie is Priscilla reacting to Elvis, so their back-and-forth and on-screen chemistry was a big part of what would make the film soar or not.
"What he did was absolutely amazing with this character, who is sort of this mythic figure that we've seen played so many times. So to take on him and take another version of him… This is really Elvis behind closed doors. This is the scared boy who is trying to tackle fame, who deals with losing his mother, who is trying to figure out how to be a husband and falling short at times."
Spaeny felt safe performing next to Elordi — and the same goes for her collaboration with Sofia Coppola, a director she's been dreaming of working with for years.
"It was scary because I built that up in my head since I was a 14-year-old girl and I had these fantasies of working with her," she confesses.
"There were a lot of challenges in making this movie, but I always felt I was in very good hands with Sofia."
In that sense, Priscilla is a quintessential Sofia Coppola movie: an intimate portrayal of a young woman navigating the complexities of girlhood with heavy doses of meaningful silences and corrosive loneliness.
From The Virgin Suicides to Marie-Antoinette, Coppola's style relies more on images than words. When Priscilla steps into Graceland, she struggles to walk on the flamboyant carpet, her heels making her steps falter. She's also always seated in the back seat of other people's cars.
By the end, Priscilla gets to walk on steadier ground and drive her way out of her own wicked fairytale.
Spaeny's journey is also heading for a happy ending. Awards season is looking likely to recognise her beautiful performance, and her career continues to bloom in Hollywood.
"I take awards with a grain of salt, but I felt honoured. I hope it is good for the film, and maybe it is good for me too."
Priscilla is now out in UK cinemas.
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Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
