Lisa Marie Presley was upset about Sofia Coppola’s ‘shockingly vengeful and contemptuous’ depiction of Elvis Presley in screenplay for movie Priscilla in the months leading to her passing

• Lisa Marie, who died in January, was angered by how Elvis was written in biopic
• She sent a pair of emails to filmmaker in September of 2022 about issue 
• Lisa Marie died at the age of 54 this past January 12 from a bowel obstruction 
• Dailymail.com has reached out for comment from reps for Coppola, Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s estate 

The late Lisa Marie Presley had emailed Sofia Coppola multiple times about what she felt was a ‘shockingly vengeful and contemptuous’ depiction of Elvis Presley in the screenplay for Priscilla, the biopic about her mother Priscilla Presley.

Variety obtained descriptions of a pair of emails sent Lisa Marie to Coppola in September of 2022, about four months before her death at 54 this past January 12 from a bowel obstruction.

The film directed by Coppola, 52, is derived from Elvis and Me, a memoir penned by Priscilla that was released in 1985; Coppola co-wrote the script with Priscilla, 78, and Sandra Harmon, and the film stars Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla and Jacob Elordi as Elvis.

In the emails, Lisa Marie requested that Coppola ‘reconsider her vision’ about how Elvis was portrayed in an effort ‘to spare her family public embarrassment,’ Variety reported.

Lisa Marie said in a pair of emails sent four hours apart that the way Elvis was presented in the script would have created tension in her relationship with Priscilla, the outlet reported, noting the family remained reeling from the 2020 death of her son Benjamin Keough. 

Details: The late Lisa Marie Presley had emailed Sofia Coppola multiple times about what she felt was a ‘shockingly vengeful and contemptuous’ depiction of Elvis Presley in the screenplay for Priscilla, the biopic about her mother Priscilla Presley. Lisa Marie was pictured January 10 in LA, two days before she died at the age of 54

Coppola, 52, co-wrote the script with Priscilla, 78; the pair was pictured in September at the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, where the film premiered 

‘My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative,’ Lisa Marie said in the emails, according to Variety. ‘As his daughter, I don’t read this and see any of my father in this character. I don’t read this and see my mother’s perspective of my father.

‘I read this and see your shockingly vengeful and contemptuous perspective and I don’t understand why?’

Lisa Marie told Coppola in the emails – which were sent before production on the film had begun – that she would ‘speak out against the project and her mother’ over the movie, Variety reported.

‘I will be forced to be in a position where I will have to openly say how I feel about the film and go against you, my mother and this film publicly,’ Lisa Marie said in the email reviewed by the outlet.

Coppola’s rep shared with Variety text from a response the director sent to Presley reassuring her that she would handle things with care.

‘I hope that when you see the final film you will feel differently, and understand I’m taking great care in honoring your mother, while also presenting your father with sensitivity and complexity,’ Coppola said in her response email, the outlet reported.

A source close to the film told Variety that Lisa Marie and Coppola had exchanged the emails on September 2, 2022, weeks before filming began on the movie.

Filmmakers went to lengths to ‘tone down’ certain aspects of the relationship that would have shocked modern audiences, the source said, as Elvis was 24 when he met a 14-year-old Priscilla in 1959.

Stars Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny were pictured with Coppola on the set of the movie 

In the emails, Lisa Marie requested that Coppola ‘reconsider her vision’ about how Elvis was portrayed in an effort ‘to spare her family public embarrassment’

The source said that Coppola’s focus on the film was depicting ‘a love story’ and how Priscilla adapted to the limelight amid life with the musical icon.

The draft Lisa Marie had read was an early one, about 10 pages more than the edited final project when principal photography commenced on the film on October 24, 2022, the source told Variety.

In her emails, Lisa Marie expressed skepticism over how well Priscilla would be able to tell the family story.

‘I am worried that my mother isn’t seeing the nuance here or realizing the way in which Elvis will be perceived when this movie comes out,’ Lisa Marie said, the outlet reported. ‘I feel protective over my mother who has spent her whole life elevating my father’s legacy.

‘I am worried she doesn’t understand the intentions behind this film or the outcome it will have.’

Lisa Marie pointed to Coppola’s shared experience as a member of a famous family, as her father is The Godfather filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

‘I would think of all people that you would understand how this would feel,’ Lisa Marie said. ‘Why are you coming for my Dad and my family?’

Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter Riley Keough were also aware that Lisa Marie had corresponded with Coppola about the movie, the source said.

Priscilla in recent months ‘has clarified that she and Elvis were not sexually intimate when she was 14,’ the outlet reported, and has said ‘she loves the film’

Coppola last month spoke with Rolling Stone about how the film deals with the age gap between Priscilla and Elvis.

‘I try not to be judgmental of any of the characters and really be as sympathetic as I can to each of them,’ Coppola said. ‘And I’m really focused on her perspective, but even with the parents, you’re like, “How can anybody let their kid go live with Elvis that young?”‘

Priscilla in recent months ‘has clarified that she and Elvis were not sexually intimate when she was 14,’ the outlet reported, and has said ‘she loves the film.’

Lisa Marie, mother to Riley Keough, 34, the late Benjamin Keough, 27, and twins Finley and Harper Lockwood, 15, ended her email to Coppola in saying that one of her younger daughters had seen that the movie was in the works.

‘Sofia there is one more thing I’d like to add,’ she said. ‘I had to explain that we are going to have to endure another hit in our lives. 

‘That there is going to be a movie about her grandfather that is going to try to make him look really, really bad but it’s not true.

She added, ‘I had to explain that her beloved grandmother is supporting it. These two little girls have been through so much in the past 7 years, enduring my divorce and horrific custody battle and then losing their brother. We’ve all been drowning.’

Lisa Marie Presley was pictured June 21, 2022 in Hollywood, California at a handprint ceremony at TCL Chinese Theatre in commemoration of the film Elvis 

In her emails, Lisa Marie expressed skepticism over how well Priscilla would be able to tell the family story 

Lisa Marie told Coppola that the 2022 Baz Luhrmann film Elvis was ‘a true depiction of who he really was’ and made his granddaughters ‘so proud and honored.’

‘It made them feel blessed for a moment and less cursed in life,’ she said.

Lisa Marie said she could not figure out why Coppola felt the ‘need to attempt to take my father down on the heels of such an incredible film using the excuse that you are trying to tell my mother’s story, but from your very dark and jaded reality.’

Priscilla is set to open at theaters nationwide Friday.

Dailymail.com has reached out for comment from reps for Coppola, Priscilla and Lisa Marie’s estate. A rep for Coppola said they had no further comment on the story.  

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