Some may be surprised to learn that Jacob Elordi didn’t know much about Elvis Presley before portraying the legendary music figure in Priscilla.
While appearing on Monday’s episode of The Tonight Show, the Euphoria actor admitted to host Jimmy Fallon that “The most I knew of Elvis was in Lilo & Stitch. … Which is a lot.”
During the 2002 animated film, Lilo (Daveigh Chase), who is a big fan of Presley, slowly converts her adopted pet alien, Stitch (Chris Sanders), into a diehard fan of the King of Rock and Roll. The film’s soundtrack also features several of the musician’s hit songs, including “Burning Love,” “Suspicious Minds” and “Hound Dog.”
As for taking on the famous singer, Elordi noted that it was a “little bit terrifying.” The actor said he also didn’t feel very confident when he initially auditioned for the Sofia Coppola-directed film, which follows the life of Priscilla Presley and her relationship with Elvis Presley.
“Sofia had sent me these sides that said Elvis, and I kinda just was like, ‘There’s no chance that this is happening,’” the actor recalled. “I watched this clip of him when he came back from the Army in Germany and read the lines for like 15 minutes and then shot two takes not thinking it would go anywhere.”
Elordi wasn’t even sure if he got Presley’s voice right in the audition, but in the end, he said Coppola liked what she saw, which landed him the role opposite Cailee Spaeny’s Priscilla Presley.
When Fallon proceeded to ask Elordi if he was nervous to be working with the Lost in Translation director, he said it was “just exciting” and “pure bliss.”
“The whole time I was trying to take it like I was making Blue Valentine or something,” the actor said, referencing the 2010 Derek Cianfrance-directed movie. “A straight-up relationship drama, without Elvis or Priscilla, for Sofia Coppola. That was the goal.”
Priscilla will be released in limited theaters on Oct. 27.
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