Priscilla (2023)

I'm a big fan of director/writer Sofia Coppola and was eager to watch her bio-pic of Elvis Presley's wife from 1959 to 1973. We liked it a lot. Coppola's pacing is never quick but I never care. Diminutive Cailee Spaeny is fully able to portray the beautiful title character from ages 14 to 28 and tall Jacob Elordi makes a good Elvis. 

Coppola based her screenplay on the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley (who acts as an executive producer) and Sandra Harmon.

The soundtrack, attributed to the band Phoenix (fronted by Coppola's husband Thomas Mars), contains a long list of songs by musicians who are not Elvis Presley nor Phoenix. According to co-music supervisor (with Phoenix) Randall Poster, the anonymous company that owns the rights to Elvis' songs was unwilling to permit their use. The songs used in the movie, however, are good fun, especially for those of us who remember when they were new. Here's that soundtrack on Apple Music.

Coppola and Phoenix were last blogged for On the Rocks, Spaeny for On the Basis of Sex, and Elordi for Saltburn. Presley has been a producer on a number of other projects, more than half of which were about her late husband. Poster has worked on hundreds of projects and is one of the most prolific music supervisors in the business.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are all shook up at 84% but its audiences have suspicious minds, averaging a scant 64. We rented it on February 3, but you can now also stream it on Max with a subscription.