The world owes Priscilla Presley an apology. For the past 64 years, we’ve done little to truly reckon with the fact that she was only 14 when she met a 24-year-old Elvis Presley. That information has been widely known and yet largely glossed over. Where protections should have been put in place, the world celebrated the superstar. Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” doesn’t let that slide as easily. The movie, as well as Priscilla’s memoir “Elvis and Me,” on which the film is based, reveals that the so-called legend was not just the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, more like the King of Grooming and Getting Away with It.
This makes it all the more curious that Coppola still chooses to empathize with him. When asked about “taking down” Elivs, Coppola told Rolling Stone, “I never want to, like, take someone down and disrespect them. I think it’s sympathetic to see his struggles and the human side.” And sympathize she did, so much so that she omitted a lot about Elvis’ grooming nature.
