Priscilla Presley Reveals Elvis and Colonel Parker Scenes Were the Hardest Part to Watch in the Biopic (Video)
Quoting verbatim: Presley's ex-wife dropped a bombshell about something he did not love doing during his career: the classic Elvis beach movies. She told NBC's "Today", "He really wanted to do serious films." I mean, really? That's a bombshell?! Good Lord! I always imagined that he actually enjoyed starring in those crappy films. "Oh wait, Peter Guralnick, we've got a revelation! Time to update your books!"
I have the greatest of sympathies for Priscilla if she is having cognitive difficulties, certainly at 77 it’s a lot to expect of anyone. That said, outside of that I have no sympathy for her whatsoever - she has milked the false image of the grieving widow for decades. Why his ex wife lords over all of these events is beyond me. Do a lot of ex wives retain the marital name after a divorce? I see her as just another in a long line of - to quote the movie - ‘blood sucking leeches’ that sucked Elvis dry… hers being post-divorce. I’ll get off my soap box now
Yeah, I guess I was a little off on the timeline. But I like to think. in 2019, if Baz saw this film, I can hear him saying outloud "That's HIM. That will be my Elvis!" (Probably not, but it's fun to think about).
I guess my question is, if not her, then who? Maybe at this point or in recent years you could argue for someone else in the family to be leading these things, but to get to that point, somebody had to make the choices that Priscilla did. edit: there's already enough faceless corporate overlords behind the Elvis legacy besides the names we know like Priscilla, Jack Soden, Ernst Jørgensen, etc. The mind boggles at what might have happened to Graceland, in particular, if the family had just sold it off after Elvis died.
I remember reading she was the one who really resurrected Elvis' career at one time and made Graceland the historic destination that it is today. She's definitely helped keep Graceland and Elvis in the media and beyond. She was also his first love and he hers. That had to be a hell of a ride. That sort of thing stays with you. You truly never walk away from something like that.
I think in many ways Priscilla has been placed in charge of these events almost by default. If Lisa Marie had not fallen into her own personal nightmare with drugs and personal problems, I think she would have became the spokesman for her father's legacy. Lisa Marie was suppose to take over the estate many years ago and probably quite wisely waived that right to her mother. It is a shame because she should have been the rightful one in charge of Elvis's legacy and estate, but I think she has been overwhelmed with personal and financial problems of her own. I actually think Riley Keough, Elvis's granddaughter and Lisa Marie's daughter, might be the only one with potential to one day deal with the great legacy that Elvis left behind. She is a very fine actress and now a director, so I am not even sure if she would be interested in taking on that role, but I still think she might be a good choice. Yeah, I have issues with Priscilla as well, but I actually think she's doing an admirable job right now given that the rest of the family has been dealing with their own personal issues. I was really happy to see the three generations come together to promote this movie though.
But of course, history is written by the victors ones with the most money, so a cynical eye might see that all as marketing malarkey. I dunno. I tend to apply Occam's Razor here; the story is that Graceland was left to Vernon, who then left it to Priscilla who was stuck triyng to figure out what to do with it, brought in a CEO to handle things, insisted that it just not be sold off to the bank or other investors, and the rest is history. All of that tracks and makes sense to me.
Cassandra Peterson (better known as Elvira: Mistress of the Dark) had a really sweet story in Pamela De Barre's book about not sleeping with Elvis: More than a little bit of creativity rubbed off on Cassandra. At fourteen, she saw Elvis and Ann-Margret in Viva Las Vegas and, from that stimulating moment on, was determined to become a Vegas showgirl. “I thought about it all the time. When I told people, ‘I’m gonna be a showgirl in Las Vegas,’ they laughed. I might as well have said I was going to be a Martian. Even my mother said, ‘You can’t be a showgirl, they have to be talented and beautiful.’” She had already moved out of the house, but when her folks planned a trip to Sin City, Cassandra begged to go along. “We went to a big show at the Dunes, and because you had to be twenty-one to get in, I put on three hundred pairs of eyelashes and a million falls in my hair and tried to act sophisticated.” As they waited for the showgirls to shimmy on stage, the host appeared at the Petersons’ table and asked Cassandra if she was a showgirl. “I said, ‘Uh … no.’ My parents were letting me have a glass of champagne and I thought I was gonna be sent straight to jail. He said, ‘Stay right there,’ and went to get a woman named Fluff who turned out to be the dance captain. She asked, ‘Are you in any shows here in Vegas?’ When I said no, she said, ‘Would you like to be?’” Cassandra’s folks were moved to the best table in the house while she was escorted backstage. Fluff had her do a few steps, then told her she’d be perfect for the upcoming the summer show, aptly titled Viva Les Girls. Her far-fetched fantasy was in the process of coming true, but Cassandra was not quite eighteen and her parents put up a fight. “They said, ‘No way in hell,’ and dragged me out of there by my falls. I had only two or three months left of high school, and for the rest of my senior year I threatened to run away, kill myself, and finally they said, ‘OK, for God’s sake, just get out of here!’ The day I graduated, I threw my stuff into my Firebird and drove to Las Vegas. I started rehearsals and became a showgirl.” Part two of Cassandra’s determined dream-come-true involved the king of rock and roll himself. “Elvis came to see Viva Les Girls and my roommate was dating his road manager, Joe Esposito. He invited her over after the show. I said, ‘Please, please take me with you!’ and since I was the biggest Elvis freak, she took me. Up in his suite, Elvis and I sat at the piano and sang harmony together.” Cassandra has never told me her divine Elvis story in detail, and I’m palpitating. “That’s almost as good as ****ing him!” I shriek. “It was pretty hard to believe,” she agrees. “I was seventeen, and I think he had respect for young girls. He was very gallant, and respected women, even though I’m sure he screwed a million and one of ’em. We went off in a corner; just me and him, one-on-one, no one else. He talked about his parents. He asked if I’d ever smoked pot or done drugs, and when I told him I had, he said, ‘Don’t ever do it again!’ He was so anti-drug. He told me he had just met Nixon, and brought out this gigantic gold belt buckle he had given him. He was so excited! He said, ‘The president of the United States gave me this!’ He must have been thirty-five, but seemed so naive and young.” Because of his “respect” for her, Elvis didn’t escort Cassandra to his kingly boudoir. “Since Elvis knew I was a virgin, he was too damned respectful,” Cassandra mourns. “I could have kicked myself a hundred times for not … can you imagine? Unfortunately I met Elvis before I came across the cad who devirginized me. But we kissed a lot,” she smiles. “I was so busy thinking ‘Oh my God, I’m kissing Elvis, kissing Elvis, kissing Elvis …’ that I don’t even remember how good it was. From about two until eight the next morning, we never stopped talking. He told me about spirituality, numerology, religion, and I just listened. He had this whole bizarre theory and wrote down a bunch of things for me, which I still have. It was all about how numbers correlate to letters, how they spell different things like ‘Christ’ and ‘Heaven.’ And he gave me the most important advice of my entire life. After we sang together, he said, ‘You have a good voice. Have you ever taken singing lessons?’ I said no, and he said, ‘You ought to get out of Vegas. If you stay here you’ll wind up like one of these old showgirls. You won’t have anything when you get older, and that’ll be the end of you.’” Elvis suggested that Cassandra start singing lessons right away and form her own band. “If “If anybody else had told me that, I would have thought they were full of s**t. But he was Elvis” The very next day she found a vocal coach, and it just so happened a few weeks later the showgirls in Viva Les Girls were asked to audition to sing a number, and Cassandra got the part. “Not only did my money go way up, but I became a featured player. From there I moved on to Europe and became a singer in Italy. Elvis absolutely changed my life. I thought I’d peaked, reached my dream, hit the heights. I really did think I would stay in Vegas and be a showgirl for the rest of my life.” Note: I can't assert whether or not any of these stories are true. When you have two groupies talking, I suspect it's a lot like two fishermen trading fish stories - you have to pretend to believe the other guy's story, for fear that he won't believe yours. But unlike a lot of the women in Pamela's book, Cassandra got justly famous on her own talent, and doesn't have to depend on anybody else's. Hell, she's practically the patron saint of Halloween.
Elvis' experience with LSD (per Priscilla) must not have gone so well for him to be so vehemently anti-drug.
I had no idea Lisa Mary had a daughter - never bothered to look it up, really. She is so much like her grandmother!
It's been mentioned earlier in this thread, but Denzel Washington went out of his way to call Baz and recommend Austin, saying that he had a work ethic like nobody he'd ever met.
Very talented actress. I first noticed her in Zola. Her directoral debut War Pony hasn't been in wide release yet, so we'll see whether or not her talents extend into that area.
Riley Keough is a very fine actress in her own right. My gal and I loved her in The Girlfriend Experience; Season One, which I think is now available on Amazon Prime. I bought it on Blu-ray and we have already viewed the 13 episode series twice. It is a very evocative show and features a fair amount of simulated sex and nudity, but it is an extremely well done series, executive produced by Steven Sondenbergh, no less. Riley plays a second year law student who interns for a sketchy law firm and while at the same time she becomes a high end call girl. The background scenery is fantastic and it is exquisitely well done and directed. Lots of plot twists and shenanigans follow her character as she navigates both paths. I do not recommend the followup series as Riley left the show after one season, and that season stands on its own merits.
This has to be one of the best articles on why you need to see the Elvis movie, if you haven't already. My daughter asked me right after she saw the movie, "Hey Dad, did Elvis really swallow the microphone like that in That's The Way It Is?" I assured her that Elvis did indeed, "swallow the microphone" during Polk Salad Annie. The article below refers to it an another manner, Lol. 5 Reasons To Stream 'Elvis,' A Masterpiece In Absolute Chaos
Butler vs. Butler, Lol. And Austin in Elvis for the domestic box office win. $142,551,467...................... Elvis $142,502,728...................... Once upon a time in Hollywood
It's amazing how much detail they put into the Vegas stuff, the whole film actually. My buddy watched the movie recently. I had previously showed him the '68 Comeback and That's The Way It Is and he noticed all the details as well.
The first thing I saw her in, was The Devil All the Time. Small role, but she stood out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLwYHMvWIv8
Michael Bublé sang a very appropriate Elvis medley in Nashville on August 16th, just two nights ago. He actually has been singing five Elvis songs in concert, four as part of a medley and one earlier full band version of Such A Night. He also sang Fever right before he straps on the guitar, but it was not captured on this tape.
I have seen Michael Bublé four times in concert. I have seen every entertainer from Adele to Sinatra (not Elvis unfortunately, but I sure tried to in 1975) live in concert, and I have never seen a more charismatic and talented entertainer. I just asked my gal who is her favorite concert performer we've ever seen, and without hesitation, she said MB. He also plays with an extraordinary group of musicians, including a 35 piece orchestra and splendid group of background singers. Michael's three favorite male singers are Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. The man has great taste in singers too.
