Cailee Spaeny gets candid on 'Today', reveals she avoided watching 'Elvis' while shooting for 'Priscilla'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'Pacific Rim Uprising' actress Cailee Spaeny recently revealed that she did not include the Oscar-nominated biopic 'Elvis' in her preparations for 'Priscilla.'
Spaeny, who is playing the title role in Sofia Coppola's portrayal of Priscilla Presley's perspective, discussed this during an appearance on 'Today' when she was questioned about the Baz Luhrmann film.
Cailee Spaeny claims to have only used Priscilla Presley as her source
In her endeavor to capture the essence of Priscilla Presley's character immediately following the success of 'Elvis', Spaeny opted to rely on the authenticity of her primary sources.
"When we were prepping the movie, 'Elvis' was coming out and I made a decision that my only resources were going to be Priscilla herself, the book, the script, Sofia, any footage that I could find online and that was it," the actress said, according to Today.
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The book Spaeny is referring to is the autobiography penned by Priscilla herself called 'Elvis & Me' which was also the source of inspiration for the film's director Coppola.
Spaeny did not leave out praise for her predecessor in bringing Priscilla to life on screen.
"Olivia DeJonge, who played Priscilla in 'Elvis', she's amazing," Spaeny said, "She's such a talented actress, but I knew if I had any of that in my head, it would influence me one way or the other."
Spaeny's primary concern remained that her own portrayal could be affected by 'Elvis'.
She continued, "Whether I was consciously trying to do something opposite or I liked something that she did and I wanted to take it on, but I didn't want any of that."
While she seems to have initially avoided watching 'Elvis', Spaeny said, "I think maybe now, I'll give it a couple of months. Everyone loves that movie and I'd love to watch it."
Cailee Spaeny's experience of working closely with Priscilla Presley
Spaeny has also been sharing snippets of being able to closely work with Priscilla, expressing her nervousness about how she would react to the portrayal.
Spaeny reflected that while Elvis' former partner might seem like an almost unreachable entity, she turned out to be a lot more relatable.
"The setting that she lives in is such as such a heightened world," she continued in the interview, "It's a story we don't think we can connect to, but as I was reading her book, and I was playing the role, there are so many milestones that young women go through."
She further added, "One of those is falling in love. It's the best feeling in the world when you fall in love, especially at that age, and you'll do anything to hold on to that feeling."
Spaeny went on to claim, "Sometimes you lose yourself along the way and you don't even realize it, then you look around and pick those pieces back up and try to come out on the other side seeing things more clearly."
Talking about the relatable moments, Spaeny concluded, "I felt that there were a lot of relatable moments as I was prepping for the movie."
