Starring in “Priscilla”, Cailee Spaeny slips into the skin of the King’s ex-wife. In front of Sofia Coppola’s camera, this 25-year-old American has not finished making people talk about her.
After Kirsten Dunst, Scarlett Johansson and Elle Fanning, Cailee Spaeny joins Sofia Coppola’s club of evanescent and melancholy heroines. In Priscilla, in theaters since Wednesday, the American actress plays, all with XXL blow-drying and impeccable eyeliner, the ex (and only) wife of Elvis Presley, aged 14 (the age when she met the singer ) at her 24th birthday (when she decides to leave the golden cage of Graceland).
As if echoing Marie-Antoinette, Priscilla depicts a naive young girl propelled into an opulent life in the spotlight. It’s about highlighting the woman who was in Elvis’ shadow and about whom little is ultimately known. To better immerse herself in the role, the actress was able to speak with the main person concerned. The screenplay by Sofia Coppola is based primarily on the memoirs of Priscilla Presley, Elvis and Mewritten in 1985. A preparation which bore fruit: in September 2023, Cailee Spaeny won the Best Actress Prize at the Venice Film Festival, where this biopic was in competition.
SGP/Bestimage Cailee Spaeny poses with her award at the 2023 Venice Film Festival
Before exploding into the eyes of the general public, it was in her hometown of Springfield, Missouri that Cailee Spaeny took her first steps as an actress, performing in plays at the Springfield Little Theater. In 2016, she appeared in the short film Counting to 1000 and released a pop single, Fallinwhich will remain his only attempt at singing.
Two years later, she landed her first film roles in the blockbuster Pacific Rim Uprising and the twisty thriller Bad Time at the El Royale, where she played Dakota Johnson’s little sister. Two biopics followed: An Exceptional Woman devoted to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Vice, about Vice-President Dick Cheney.
In 2020, she played her first leading role in the cinema in The Craft – The New Witches, the sequel to teen movie from the 90s, Dangerous Alliance. She also made her television debut in the mini-series Devs by Alex Garland, the director of Ex Machina. Her career continues on the small screen with Mare Of Easttown, where Kate Winslet leads the investigation into the murder of her character, a 17-year-old teenager and single mother. She continued with The First Lady, where she played Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.
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Cailee Spaeny (right) in “The Craft”
With Priscilla, she is now on the list of young actresses to follow. In addition to her award in Venice, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress in a drama. It was on the recommendation of Kirsten Dunst that Sofia Coppola turned to Cailee Spaeny to propose Priscilla.
The two actresses also filmed together in the dystopian Civil War by Alex Garland, in theaters next April. We will also find Spaeny in Alien: Romulus, the ninth film in the cult saga, directed by Fede Alvarez. 2024 has only just begun but is already shaping up to be a busy year for Cailee Spaeny.
Sofia Coppola talks to our microphone about Priscilla, her new film currently in theaters: