Elvis “respected” that Priscilla Presley was only 14 when they started dating, so that’s good
Priscilla Presley says Sofia Coppola did an "amazing" job with her biopic, but she also wants to make some details clear
Aux News Priscilla Presley
Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla just had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and as part of the festival festivities, the real Priscilla Presley—whose 1985 memoir Elvis And Me was the basis for the film—had an opportunity to talk about her relationship with Elvis and how well the film actually captured it. During a press conference for the film (via Insider), someone asked Presley what it was like seeing her story onscreen (as opposed to previous biopics, which have depicted Elvis’ story), and a visibly emotional Presley first noted that it was “very difficult” to sit and watch a film that was “about you, about your life, about your love.”
She also made a point to insist that the 10-year age gap between her and Elvis wasn’t as much of a problem as it seems like it was on paper—he was 24 and she was 14 when they started dating. She explained to the crowd at the press conference that her parents had a hard time understanding why Elvis was “interested” in her, but she thinks it was because she was “more of a listener” than other people he had met and that he was able to openly share his thoughts and feelings with her.
“Even though I was 14,” she added, “I was actually a little bit older in life. Not in numbers.” Presley also noted that Elvis “respected” her age when they first got together, saying they didn’t actually have sex until later (they didn’t get married until she was in her 20s) and that he was “very kind, very soft, very loving” with her. Apparently, as far as she’s concerned, this was all depicted accurately in the film, with Presley also saying that Coppola did an “amazing job” telling her story and that she “did her homework.
Priscilla comes out in theaters on October 27.
42 Comments
Has Jacob Elordi actually acted non-terribly in anything or do people just want his D so bad they’re casting him in everything regardless? I can’t say for certain because PR companies and the like did a great job of keeping the lid on how much sex their clients were having…and they were different times…A Face in the Crowd and Bye Bye Birdie had already lampooned the idea of the big man picking out a teenager of his choice (“jailbait” is a laugh line in Birdie) so it’s kind of hard to believe nobody knew sex existed back then.
He’s pretty good in Euphoria.
Did the second paragraph follow from the first in some way I’m unaware of?
He didn’t compliment her beaver until she was 18.
I got that reference…
My brother and I watched that VHS a lot as kids. I remember watching that scene just knowing there was a joke there, but not for the life of me getting what the reference was.
And 22 or so when it was stuffed.
Steven Tyler on line 2…!…
Nobody does the unfair expectations of teenage girls to be both children and women at the same time quite as well as Sofia, so I’m sure she’ll give some nuance to the inappropriateness of the age difference. But idk, it’ll be a tricky line to dance between not condoning it and respecting that this is ultimately Priscilla’s experience.
Yeah it’s a complex situation. I tend to think that we should just respect Priscilla’s experience, ironically it can be traumatizing in itself to have people project victim status onto you and rewrite what you feel is your truth. We should support people who are expressing that they were victimized or who are currently being taken advantage of, but leave women like her in peace. We can reinforce that relationships like this are wrong without taking her story away from her
How I’d express that in a movie though? Jesus idk. Good luck to Sofia in this minefield
Well said!Early reviews seem to indicate that Sofia is obviously pretty yucked out by Elvis, but does a lot to show that Priscilla (even if she wouldn’t define herself as this) is ultimately what survives out of the “legend of rock and roll”. Seems like she may have landed the message and debunked the myth of Elvis, a delicate balance for sure.
I was going to say it was a different age and people had different norms back then , but them I remembered it was the 60s , not the middle ages.People did get married etc younger then ( my folks married when they were 18) , but I’ve always been a little creeped out by Elvis dating a 14 year old. Although at least it wasn’t his cousin , so he has the moral high ground compared to say Jerry Lee…
“Although at least it wasn’t his cousin , so he has the moral high ground compared to say Jerry Lee…”Trying in vain to find a lower bar
A lot of early rockers, especially from the south, were absolute wildmen. Hooking up with underage girls backstage was the tip of the iceberg. So I doubt Elvis really gave it much of a second though (though I still wouldn’t put him in the same category as Lewis).
Again, I’m sharing this just because I read Priscilla’s book and Guralnick’s bio and there’s literally dozens of anecdotes shared that speak about Presley being icked out by vagina. Literally, it’s in this book that Coppola’s film is based on- one of the main reasons Priscilla leaves him is because he won’t have sex with her, and is largely asexual outside of taking polaroids of girls wrestling. Ain’t saying he wasn’t creepy, I just found it interesting that multiple women expressed their disappointment for the record that all Elvis wanted was for women to cuddle with him and talk to him like he was a baby. Maybe the years of prescription abuse made him impotent!
OK, not something I would have expected to learn about Elvis!
Seems like he wanted a little more conversation and a little less action.
Gotdamn it!
I mean, it’s pretty well documented that he had a mommy issue…
I used to take care of an old guy: He started dating his future wife when he was 24 and she was 16, they got married as soon as she turned 18 all with her parents permission. This was the early ‘70s.Difficulty: Not the South
They met in 1959 in Germany and according to her started knockin’ boots in ‘67. #FreeLove!
AV Club gonna cancel Priscilla for enabling a groomer?
Even if they didn’t have sex right away, Elvis still spent four years grooming her while he was in his mid-to-late 20s. It’s gross and I don’t want to watch a movie about it.
Don’t then.
What a perv, grooming a young girl to eventually have sex with him when she was a few years past the age of consent.
“very kind, very soft, very loving”
sounds like the best groomer a girl could ask for
“I was mature for my age.” “We shared a connection that was more than physical.” “He respected my boundaries.” Sure, Jan.
“….her parents had a hard time understanding why Elvis was “interested” in her, but she thinks it was because she was “more of a listener” than other people he had met and that he was able to openly share his thoughts and feelings with her”hahahhahahHAHAHAHYa sure, and he just really loves Lolita because it’s written so well.
It’s great to see all the historians coming out of the woodwork to tell us how Priscilla is wrong.
To be fair, I read her book (after learning it was the inspiration for DM’s “Personal Jesus” which I found completely bizarre as a 15 year old), and she does reiterate this in that book- it isn’t like she’s saying it now. Apparently, EP was not into sex and preferred to watch girls wrestle in underclothing and be cuddled. Not defending him- this is what several accounts give.When the Butler film was approaching, I read Peter Guralnick’s exhaustive 2 volume biography and one thing I found interesting was the multiple accounts from different, unrelated women who had flings with Elvis in the 70s’- all of them described the anticipation or nervousness of potentially having a night with ELVIS you know- and then, being taken aback and sometimes thrown off that Elvis just wanted them to wear pajamas with him, hold him and baby talk to him, and/or read books about spirituality to him. Apparently the King wasn’t a big horndog like you’d think.One last thing that I also found bizarre and thought “why didn’t I know about this” was finding out that Elvira of all people credited Elvis with her trajectory. She said that she was a dancer in Vegas invited to an Elvis party and that her and Elvis ended up set apart and that Elvis spent several hours talking to her, telling her to get out of Vegas- she said it was the formative moment that changed her life. Everything I’ve read suggests (to me) that Presley had some kind of weird issue with the female anatomy- so I doubt any woman of any age had a night to remember with him in the sexual sense.
This all makes me wonder whether in a different age Elvis might have had a different view or understanding of his own sexuality.
Don’t know if you found the Elvira anecdote in Guralnick’s book (haven’t read it), but she corroborates that take on Elvis in her own memoir (unlike her encounters with Tom Jones, Eric Burdon, Jimmy Page, or any number of other ‘60s and ‘70s rock stars whose orbit she entered, all of which are varying levels of depressing).
When I was 15 I dated a 27 year old. Would do it again, he was sweet and thoughtful…I get it.