Tag Archives: On The Rocks

Jacob Elordi’s “Priscilla” to Have North American Premiere at This Year’s New York Film Festival

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Jacob Elordi is bringing his blue suede shoes to the Big Apple…

Film at Lincoln Center has set Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, starring the 26-year-old half-Spanish Australian actor as Elvis Presley, as the Centerpiece selection for the 61st New York Film Festival.

Jacob Elordi, Elvis, Priscilla

The A24 film starring Cailee Spaeny as Elvis’ wife, Priscilla Beaulieu, will make its North American premiere at Alice Tully Hall on October 6.

The festival runs from September 29 to October 15, opening with Todd Haynes’ May December starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore.

Never has there been a more obsessed-over icon than Elvis Presley, yet no one knew him more tenderly than Priscilla, whose story as Elvis’s romantic partner and only wife has rarely been told from her perspective.

Coppola, who often depicts women living complicated lives behind closed doors, follows Priscilla’s love affair with Elvis, played by Elordi, from her early years as a teenage army brat in West Germany to her surreal arrival at Graceland.

“I am honored to be back at the New York Film Festival with my new film and to be telling Priscilla Presley’s story, the unseen side of a great American myth,” said Coppola. Her screenplay was based on Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me.

Coppola’s On the Rocks (2020) and Marie Antoinette (2006) were NYFF selections.

“Priscilla is a culminating triumph for Sofia Coppola, a filmmaker with a singular gift for illuminating the interior lives of her characters,” said Dennis Lim, the festival’s Artistic Director. “It’s a showcase for a pair of star-making performances and a work of tremendous empathy and emotional nuance. We are looking forward to welcoming Sofia back to the festival with one of her very best films.”

Coppola was the second woman to win Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival for The Beguiled (2017). Her other films include directorial debut The Virgin Suicides (1999), Lost in Translation (2003 Oscar, Best Original Screenplay), Somewhere (2010 Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival), The Bling Ring (2013) and A Very Murray Christmas (2015).

She served as producer on Fairyland (2023). She also directed a production of La Traviata at the Rome Opera House alongside Valentino and production designer Nathan Crowley.

Priscilla’s cinematography was handled by Philippe Le Sourd, with original music by Phoenix.

Ximena Lamadrid Named to Variety’s 2022 “10 Actors to Watch” List

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Ximena Lamadrid’s star is on the rise…

The 26-year-old Mexican actress has been named to Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch list, the entertainment industry magazine’s list of thespians who are experiencing a major breakthrough on screen.

Ximena LamadridLamadrid is being recognized for her performance in Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s acclaimed new film Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.

Acting has always been in Lamadrid’s blood. But it wasn’t until age 5, when she rejected a role in a school play, that she experienced an epiphany.

“It was that ‘no’ that made me realize it’s a ‘yes’ for me, that for the rest of my life I’d be chasing this amazing dream.” She quickly corrects herself, “Well, what began as a dream, but no longer is a dream. It’s a reality.”

After roles in Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks and the series Who Killed Sara?, Lamadrid plays a pivotal part in Iñárritu’s Bardo as Camila, the loving daughter of a man caught in the throes of an existential crisis.

She concedes her own history — being born in Mexico, growing up in Dubai and studying her craft in New York City — greatly colored her character’s experience.

“It feels like the universe and Alejandro wrote this for me,” she says,adding: “[Camila] has just graduated from university and is figuring it out. As soon as I graduated, I was figuring it out and came back to Mexico — and it connected. I saw all of the love, warmth and everything I had missed about my country all these years.”

The ability to tackle this role has only furthered her confidence. “As an actor, I have to surrender and trust that it’s going to show up, that everything is going to come out, which it did.” She now has her sights set on the literary world, seeking a publisher for her hybrid poetry-memoir Tulip Season. “I want to make this a very big, beautiful first book.”

Variety’s alumni group of 10 Actors to Watch includes more than 35 Oscar winners and nominees including Mahershala Ali, Adam Driver, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Lupita Nyong’o.

This year’s honorees will be feted at a brunch on October 16 at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

Jacob Elordi to Star as Elvis in Sofia Coppola’s Film “Priscilla”

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Jacob Elordi has got a tale to tell…

The 25-year-old half-Spanish-Australian actor will star as Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s film Priscilla, about the King of Rock and Roll and his wife.

Jacob Elordi, Calvin KleinCoppola will direct the feature film, which is based on the memoir Elvis and Me by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley.

Cailee Spaeny will portray Priscilla Presley opposite Elordi as Elvis.

Published in 1985, Presley’s intimate account of her life with Elvis became a New York Times Bestseller and an international sensation. Coppola adapted the script as well.

Coppola had reportedly been eyeing this film for some time as her follow-up to On The Rocks and began putting the pieces together to the film off the ground by this fall. While she met with a number of actors for the Elvis role with Elordi ultimately landing the highly coveted role, Spaeny has been her top choice from Day 1 for the role of Priscilla.

The film will shoot in Toronto in the Fall.

Elordi is best known for his roles as Noah Flynn in Netflix‘s The Kissing Booth teen film franchise and Nate Jacobs in the HBO series Euphoria.