He’s Elvis in Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla”. Portrait of a young actor discovered on platforms and on television, who is making his way in American auteur cinema.
He hasn’t changed much since his iconic role as Nate, a high school soccer star with the look of an American Apollo in the series “Euphoria”. Just his voice a few octaves lower and a lot of hairspray, and he’s Elvis Presley. The King’s flamboyant costumes fit him like a glove, as if he had always been destined to play this iconic role. Unlike Austin Butler, who played Elvis in Baz Luhrmann’s recent biopic of the same name, Jacob Elordi didn’t have to pass the role through the sieve of the actor’s studio and Hollywood’s finest make-up artists and prosthetists. He’s a natural Presley. It has to be said that he has the physique for the role, a slight resemblance, with a barely prominent chin and that too-perfect face you’d think was made of wax. Many have rightly hailed the talent of Cailee Spaeny, who won an acting award in Venice, in the title role of Sofia Coppola’s new film. But Elordi doesn’t disappoint.
Jacob Elordi has often laughed about it: everything he knows about Elvis he learned watching the cartoon Lilo and Stitch as a child in his native Australia (useful clarification, the young actor is only twenty-six). In his defence, the hip movements, musicals and endless Las Vegas shows are out of place in Sofia Coppola’s film, which focuses on the sacrificial life of his former wife. Working for the director of “Virgin Suicides” and “Lost in Translation”, on the other hand, was something Jacob Elordi had always dreamed of. The actor, who was revealed by the likeable but inglorious comedy “The Kissing Booth”, released in 2018 on Netflix, has posted several times his desire to shoot for a certain auteur cinema. After a stopover at Adrian Lyne’s “En Eaux Profondes” (with Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas) in 2022, his turn is well underway. He will soon be seen in Sean Price Williams’ excellent “The Sweet East”, a sort of “Alice in Wonderland” in contemporary America, which caused a sensation at the last Quinzaine des Cinéastes in Cannes. He will also star in “Saltburn”, the new film by Emerald Fennell (director of “Promising Young Woman”), soon to be released on Prime Video. Finally, we’re expecting him to appear in front of the camera of old master Paul Schrader alongside Richard Gere and Uma Thurman in “Oh Canada”, a free adaptation by Russell Banks, where he’ll play a young disciple preparing an interview with an old filmmaker. Elvis has left the building, but Jacob Elordi has only just arrived…
Priscilla by Sofia Coppola,
in cinemas from January 3, 2024.