Hollywood director Sofia Coppola has revealed that singer Lana Del Rey was nearly featured on the soundtrack of the biopic ‘Priscilla’. In an interview with E! News, the filmmaker said, “We were hoping she could do a song for it, but it didn’t work out with the timing.”
Coppola, whose movie ‘Priscilla’ is currently playing in theatres, went on to add that she first learned about fans’ correlation between Del Rey and the King of Rock and Roll while filming ‘Priscilla’. She said, “I’m learning that people really connect Lana Del Rey and Priscilla and I didn’t realise that, but I got a lot of requests with, ‘How is she gonna be a part of the movie?’”
Del Rey has been known to be a longtime fan of Elvis and Priscilla Presley, and even embodied Priscilla throughout her music career, often sporting big hair and over-exaggerated eyeliner, which was popular in the ’60s.
The ‘Young and Beautiful’ singer has also referenced the music legend in some of her lyrics, including the line “Elvis is my daddy” in her song ‘Body Electric’. Her 2008 demo called ‘Elvis’ was also featured in Eugene Jarecki’s Elvis documentary, ‘The King’, which was released in 2017.
“Coppola added that she invited the Grammy-nominated singer to the premiere of Priscilla and though she couldn’t attend, the director is “excited for her to see it.”The film, based on Priscilla’s memoir Elvis and Me, follows the love story between Elvis and Priscilla, told from her perspective, from when they first met in 1959 to their later marriage.
But the movie doesn’t include music from the rock ‘n’ roll icon because his estate didn’t accept Coppola’s offer for the rights to the music.“They don’t like projects that haven't originated, and they’re protective of their brand,” Coppola told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year. “But that made us be more creative.”
Although the late Lisa Marie Presley, who was the only child of Elvis and Priscilla, seemingly did not approve of the way her dad was depicted in Coppola’s script, Priscilla was moved by the project.‘Priscilla’, starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, is currently playing in theaters.