Sofia Coppola Will Now Take You Behind the Scenes of Her Priscilla Presley Biopic

Sofia Coppola has officially joined Instagram—but don’t expect to see the Oscar winner posting selfies anytime soon.

“I much prefer being behind the camera,” the filmmaker recently told Vogue. “I’m of a generation before that still believes in retaining some sense of mystique.”

Coppola has long avoided joining social media, satisfying the occasional Instagram urge with a scroll through the @sofiawine brand account. That doesn’t mean her presence hasn’t long been felt across the platform; not a day goes by without some film or fashion account posting a shot of Kirsten Dunst on the set of Marie Antoinette. But with filming set to commence on her next feature film, Coppola began to see the benefits of using Instagram to give fans a glimpse into her creative process.

“I love the steps that go into making a film and seeing how it all comes together,” she says. “I wanted to share some of that with anyone who may be interested in my work.”

Coppola’s first post shows a well-worn copy of Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me, placed on top of some script pages from her forthcoming adaptation. Starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, Priscilla will chronicle Presley’s torrid, one-of-a-kind romance with the king of rock and roll. Born Priscilla Ann Wagner in 1945, she was only 14 when she caught the eye of a then 24-year-old Elvis Presley during his military service in Germany. The pair eventually got married in 1967 and had a daughter, Lisa Marie, before separating in 1972. It’s easy to see why Coppola would be drawn to interpreting her one-of-a-kind life for the screen.

“The hardest part of writing the script was just editing down so many incredible details from Priscilla’s memoir,” she says. “I was interested in trying to imagine what growing up in that world must have looked like through her eyes.”

Currently prepping for Priscilla’s upcoming shoot in Toronto, Coppola took a quick break to chat with Vogue about joining Instagram, her favorite follows, meeting the former Mrs. Presley, and more. 

Vogue: Welcome to Instagram! Why has it taken so long for you to start your own account?

Sofia Coppola: I kinda like to exist in a bubble just for the sake of my own creativity. I don’t wanna get inundated with too many distractions. I’m a little bit weary about joining Instagram, but I love that it’s such a great source for archival images. There’s another part of it that’s all about self-promotion that’s not really my style. But with this new film I’m about to start, I thought it could be a fun way to share some of the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years for anyone interested in my work.

Have you given thought to the type of content you’re interested in sharing? 

I’m pretty shy and don’t just wanna make it all about me. Part of the reason I like being a director is because it’s more outward. I much prefer being behind the camera, so I’m more interested in sharing what I’m working on. Also in the past year or so, I’ve been looking through all of my archives, and I thought it would be fun to share those materials in a way that feels more personal.

Can you elaborate on what exactly you found in your archives?

I found a lot of BTS photos that I hadn’t revisited in a while. Back in the old days, we would take Polaroids during fittings, so there’s a lot of great shots of Kirsten and the girls from The Virgin Suicides. My mom and I found hundreds of hours of BTS footage that she shot during Marie Antoinette, and there’s still so much more from my other films that I have to look through. I hope it’ll be interesting for people who are interested in my work. My daughter Romy is about to turn 16, and she’s really into The Bling Ring right now, so it was fun to look back at that film and show her all the photos and videos we took during filming. I’ll have to send you a photo I found of me with all the girls in Paris Hilton’s closet.

Who are some of your favorite follows?

I love the Richard Avedon Foundation and people like Penny Calder, who’s this Australian woman with a great collection of old Vogue magazines from the ’70s. I’m mostly excited to follow more photographers or people whose style I like. I love when friends send me photos of models from an ’80s Chanel show or some beautiful vintage photo of Tina Chow. It’s such a useful visual database in that sense.

Do you have any social media no-nos? 

There’s so much oversharing now, and I still wanna retain some sense of privacy. I know I personally wouldn’t wanna know what my film heroes eat for breakfast everyday. I think there’s a fun way to let people in on what I’m doing without sharing that type of stuff. But who knows, maybe I’ll get so carried away and start acting out. Never say never!

Have any of your celeb friends like Marc Jacob or Elle Fanning given you any tips?

Not really, but they’re still surprised that I’m joining. I remember when my daughter Romy was trying to get me to join, Marc chimed in and said, “Oh, she’ll never do it.” He just knows I’m not that into social media. To me it’s like being the editor of a magazine, and I just don’t need another job. Especially if you wanna do it well. But I appreciate someone like Marc, who makes an art form out of it; he’s turned his Instagram into a type of performance. But I don’t think I’ll be quite as extravagant. I’m just sorta dipping my toes into that world.

Can we expect any BTS shots from the set of Priscilla?

I love the steps that go into making a film and seeing how it all comes together. But at the same time, I don’t wanna spoil too much of the magic so audiences know too much before they’ve seen the movie. We’re building our Graceland set right now, and it’s been really fun to watch it come together. I definitely wanna share some of that process.

What about Priscilla’s story made you want to adapt her memoir as your next feature?

I’ve had her memoir for years and remember reading it a long time ago. A friend of mine was talking about her recently, and we got around to discussing the book. I read it again and was really moved by her story. I was supposed to start this big Edith Wharton project that was gonna take five months to shoot and felt really daunting. I came up against a few hurdles, so I just decided to pivot to making one film with one idea. I was just so interested in Priscilla’s story and her perspective on what it all felt like to grow up as a teenager in Graceland. She was going through all the stages of young womanhood in such an amplified world—kinda similar to Marie Antoinette.

I’m reading the memoir right now and can definitely see those parallels. She writes about living with Elvis and his crew at Graceland like it’s a sort of mini Versailles.

Totally. It’s all from her perspective of being in this wholly unique world at the height of Elvis’s fame. The memoir was hard to edit down because there are so many incredible details, but we’re making a low-budget film. Not everything can be quite as epic as it was in Priscilla’s real life, so we have to recreate it in a crafty way. 

What about Cailee Spaeny made her the right choice for Priscilla?

The character goes from the age of 15 to 27 over the course of the film, so she had to be able to act and age across a big span of time. It was really important for me to have the same actress playing Priscilla at those different stages of her life, and I think Cailee can pull it off. She’s such a strong actress, and she also looks very young.

Were you familiar with Jacob Elordi from Euphoria?

Yeah but just a little bit. I’ve only watched one episode with my daughter, and it was a little too much. He also plays a real dick on that show. But he’s so sweet and humble as a person. I thought nobody was gonna look quite like Elvis, but Jacob has that same type of magnetism. He’s so charismatic, and girls go crazy around him, so I knew he could pull off playing this type of romantic icon. But we’re talking before we’ve even started filming, so I can’t get too deep into it.

I’m curious if you saw Baz Luhrman’s Elvis biopic and what you thought of that film’s portrayal of Priscilla?

I think Baz is so unique, and his take on that story was so creative. But Priscilla is such a minor character in that film, so I never felt like I was treading on the same territory. I love that people were so into his film about Elvis, and now in a few years there’ll be another film about Priscilla. I think it’ll be interesting to have two completely different interpretations of the same events and time period.

Is Elvis more of a supporting character in your script?

Yeah, Priscilla is the real focus of it. There are some aspects of Elvis’s career included, but it all sort of plays out in the background of their relationship and her developing her identity. I loved how Baz approached his story in a very collage-y way, but I’m glad it didn’t go into much of Priscilla’s story because now I can really dive deep.

Is Priscilla directly involved in your film?

She’s an executive producer! I’ve met with her a few times, and she’s been incredibly open. She’s also been really supportive of Cailee as we head into filming. It’s really unique to talk to her about the film since I’ve never made something about a real person who was still living—The Bling Ring aside. But I want it to feel emotionally authentic. She’s probably told these stories a million times, so I feel grateful that she’s been so patient. It’s amazing how much detail she can recall from that time in her life. One of my favorite bits of research was that Vogue video where she talked about some of her most iconic looks. 

What can you tell me about diving into the fashion of that period for the film?

I’m so in love with the style of the late ’60s. I’m excited to do something rooted in that Americana style for the first time. And Priscilla is a quintessential glamour icon. I love that she was always done up. Even around the house, she and Elvis would never come downstairs until they were both dressed and tailored. They were extremely dedicated to fashion, so it’s been fun to dip into an era when everyone still got dressed up. I just wish she saved some of her clothes!

She didn’t keep anything?

Not really. A lot of Elvis’s stuff got archived, but only a handful of Priscilla’s looks, mostly the more sentimental stuff like her wedding dress. She said, “Nobody thought about preserving outfits at that time.” Back then you kinda just gave everything to Goodwill and never thought about it coming back in style. Thankfully I saved all of my Marc Jacobs pieces from the ’90s so my daughters can wear them one day.

You mentioned that Priscilla took precedence over your miniseries adaptation of Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country. Is that still gonna eventually happen at Apple?

It’s on hold until after Priscilla when I can reassess where it’s at. I think I went into that project a little naively because I’d never attempted something at that scale before. It was gonna be a five-hour Gilded Age period piece that I would ultimately rather make as a long movie. But the budgets for TV are different than film, and getting enough money to make the kind of film I wanna make is just a massive challenge these days. I worked on it for a long time, so maybe I’ll revisit it eventually, but I’m excited to kinda change gears and jump into Priscilla.

More auteur directors have been flocking to cable and streaming services in recent years. As entertainment shifts toward a more at-home experience, how important is it for you to keep working within the film form?

I’m still curious about television, but it is a wholly different medium to me. It’s important for me to keep making films and try to keep that medium alive because it’s only getting harder to get them financed. Even Priscilla is a pretty small, independent production. My youngest daughter asked me where we’ll be able to watch it eventually, and I was like, “Well, hopefully in a theater.” I’m excited to make it with a studio like A24 that’s really committed to the theater-going experience.

I know you’ve gotta get back to prepping Priscilla, but before you go, what’s something you watched recently that you really enjoyed?

I’m honestly so deep into Priscilla land that it’s kinda consumed my viewing habits. I’ve been so steeped in research. I watched a lot of documentaries just to familiarize myself with old footage of her and Elvis. And I love all of her home movies on YouTube. They shot so much footage where you can see their personalities and the way they interacted with each other.

Thanks for taking the time to chat. Best of luck with the shoot this month!

See you on the other side—and on Instagram!