Jacob Elordi said he thought of Elvis as a ‘little boy’ who was ‘stunted’ by his meteoric rise to fame in order to play the legendary singer.
The Aussie actor plays the iconic star in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, the biographical drama which centers on the life of Priscilla Presley and her relationship with Elvis.
The movie is set to release in the US on 27 October and stars Cailee Spaeny in the title role alongside Elordi’s Elvis.
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The movie was given a staggering seven-minute long standing ovation when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival this month.
In a recent interview - given as the cast have been granted a SAG-AFTRA waiver to promote the film during the strike - Elordi revealed how he got into the role.
Speaking to the Associated Press, he explained: “I think because he’s kind of this godlike figure and he’s larger than life, the most interesting thing to me was finding this little boy in him - because he’s kind of stunted, because he became so massive, sort of so quickly.
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"So he’s stunted as just this little boy.
“That's what I tried to keep in mind the whole time - that this is a real person who came from somewhere, you know, from parents - just like everyone, which sounds silly but when you think about it, you think of him as this ginormous presence.”
The movie is based upon Priscilla’s autobiography Elvis and Me, which was adapted for the screen by Coppola.
Talking about what it was like to see her life up on the screen, Priscilla said: “It’s very difficult to sit and watch a film about you, about your life, about your love.
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“Sofia did an amazing job. She did her homework, we spoke a couple of times, and I really put everything out for her that I could.”
She also recently touched on the large age gap between her and her late husband - Priscilla met the star when she was just 14 and he was 24.
She said: "Even though I was 14, I was actually a little bit older in life - not in numbers. That was the attraction. People think, ‘Oh, it was sex.’ No, it wasn’t. I never had sex with him.
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"He was very kind, very soft, very loving, but he also respected the fact I was only 14 years old. We were more in line in thought, and that was our relationship."
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Jacob Elordi
Claire Reid