Interview with Sofia Coppola during the air raid – about the film “Priscilla”, the war in Ukraine

The director’s new film Sofia Coppola – biographical drama “Priscilla” – became one of the most anticipated premieres of this year’s Venice Film Festival. To present the tape on the Lido Island, the performers of the main roles – Kayleigh Spaney (who, by the way, received an award in Venice for her performance) and Jacob Aylordi – received permission from the Screen Actors Guild of America, which at the time was at the height of a historic actors’ strike.

The Venice premiere of “Priscilla” ended with a seven-minute standing ovation. Present at the screening, Priscilla Presley, on whose book “Elvis and I” Coppola made her film, broke down in tears after the final credits.

The Ukrainian premiere of the biopic about the wife of the “King of Rock and Roll” Elvis Presley took place in mid-October at the seventh film festival Kyiv Critics’ Week. The story of Priscilla Presley will be released in wide Ukrainian cinema in a little more than a week, on January 11.

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Journalist UP. Culture Maria Kabatsii spoke with director Sofia Coppola during an exclusive round table.

Kaley Spaney, Priscilla Presley, Sofia Coppola and Jacob Aylordi at the Venice Film Festival. Photo: Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images

Our interview with the daughter of the legendary Francis Ford Coppola, who gave the world such iconic films as “The Godfather”, “Apocalypse Today”, “Dracula”, etc., due to the time difference from the USA, falls on a very late evening Kyiv time. Due to the busyness of Sofia, who collects honors and awards no worse than her famous father, it is held at once for six journalists from different parts of the world.

While I’m waiting for the conversation to start, an air alert is being declared over most of the territory of Ukraine, including in the region around Kyiv. The military is informed that Russian martyr drones are flying through the Kyiv region. The organizers say that Sophia is delayed for 15 minutes, so I have time to settle in a safer location during the shelling – in the bathroom.

With my unusual background for a business zoom conversation, I join the interview. Subconsciously waiting for the sounds of explosions outside the window, I ask the director of “Priscilla” the first question:

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– I am currently in Kyiv, Ukraine, where people go to the cinema and do not know if they will be able to see the movie to the end or if they will be interrupted by an air alarm. As, for example, we have now. Your movie – this is a story about a woman who defends her identity and subjectivity. My country is also fighting for its identity and subjectivity and has an army with one of the highest numbers of women. What can your film tell Ukrainians? And what thoughts and emotions would you like them to leave with after watching it?

“My heart breaks for what you are going through– Sofia begins her answer. – I think we can always gain insights and strength from other people’s stories, other women’s stories. I was really touched by her [Прісцилли] forcefully choose the harder path to find your true self. So I was inspired and hopeful that she found her independence and identity outside of a situation that I found hard to believe. Of course, nothing compares to war. But her own challenges and struggles, as well as the expectations and roles of women of that generation, moved me. And how she had the strength to go against the expectations that existed at that time.”

She adds that she wants the audience to walk with her through the emotional journey of the main character.

“I hope the tape touches them in some way. I talked about the different stages she went through to find her identity and grow up. I don’t want to tell anyone what to make of it. But I was inspired by the fact that she went against the norm. And that her sense of her true self and identity was quite important to her“, – emphasizes Coppola.

From questions about Ukrainians, their anxieties and the war, we move on to lighter topics. Colleagues from other countries ask the Oscar-winning Sofia about the selection of actors for the main roles, work with costumes and creating a soundtrack.

“We weren’t making a documentary, but we wanted it to be true. We always went back to the book, to the way it described it, but approached the matter creatively. They tried to create the dynamics that she talked about in her story and show it with the help of actors“, – the director tells about how fact and fiction were combined when creating the film.

Sofia compares her character Priscilla to Alice in Wonderland and recalls how she recreated Elvis Presley’s Wonderland – his Graceland estate – with the team. “It was fun working with the art department to recreate the bedroom because there wasn’t a single photo. I remember asking Priscilla and she didn’t remember what she looked like. So they were interested in coming up with what it should look like“, – she recalls.

A frame from the movie “Priscilla”

He says that since Elvis slept all day long, they decided to make his room “a real cave of black velvet.” “The art department did an incredible job with all the details“, – emphasizes Coppola.

The director admits that due to limited financial resources, she agreed to make costumes for the tape with her friends from the fashion world: “We decided to turn to Valentino and asked them to make clothes for Elvis. And then they asked Chanel to make a wedding dress. And that helped us because we had so many costumes to create. And very limited resources. We wanted to ask our friends in the fashion world for help. And we are very glad that they helped us“.

A frame from the movie “Priscilla”

I remind Sofia that at the world premiere, the prototype of her main character – the real Priscilla – burst into tears. And I ask, which moment during the work on “Priscilla” was the most emotional for her. “I think I was in Venice when I saw the finished tape for the first time. Watching him there with Priscilla, seeing her so emotional was very touching. I was really relieved that she liked it. She said: this was my life. That was the one thing I was really worried about: that she would feel that we portrayed her in the way that she was trying to tell. I think it was a true story for her, so it was important to me. So that was an important moment“, she answers.

Our conversation with Sofia Coppola comes to an end, participants from different continents say goodbye to each other and turn off the conference. I remain behind two walls to wait for an air raid warning to be sounded in Kyiv.

Main photo: Alessandra Benedetti – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

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