In a recent interview with GQ, actor Jacob Elordi revealed that the real Priscilla Presley gave her stamp of approval on his Elvis Presley accent for his role as her late husband in Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla.” The Australian actor adopted a Memphis, Tennessee accent and 1960s vernacular to portray the late Elvis in the acclaimed A24 film.
Coppola previously confirmed that Elordi kept up with the voice the entire time he was on set. “There’s all these layers and hoops that you have to jump through to get to that voice,” he said. “So for me personally to be dropping out my voice and then coming in, it’s not going to work.”
The actor recounted running his Elvis accent by the real life Priscilla Presley prior to filming. “She said I got the voice right,” Elordi said, “which was everything I needed to get.”
The actor has been widely praised for his performance in “Priscilla,” which is based on Presley’s memoir of her marriage “Elvis And Me.” While the actor recounted the research and care that went into preparing for the role (including eating a pound of bacon every day to emulate the late singer’s diet), he never went entirely method, a different approach to that of his recent Elvis predecessor Austin Butler. Despite the media and viewer comparisons of the two actors, Elordi has expressed no desire to be compared to Butler’s performances. The actor recently spoke out about his desire to not be compared to Butler’s recent “Elvis,” calling the lengths of the comparisons “absurd.”
The Battle of The Elvises
In another recent appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon,” the Australian actor revealed ahead of the “Priscilla” release that he did not truly learn of Elvis’ career until moving stateside, and that he first saw a glimpse in Disney’s “Lilo And Stitch.”
https:/twitter.com/PopCrave/status/1716919396537639266?s=20
In the film, the titular friendly alien Stitch learns to play the guitar to the tune of Elvis Presley’s “You’re the Devil in Disguise.”
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Elordi’s honesty regarding his introduction to Elvis is largely also being praised in part due to his vastly different approach to the part than his recent predecessor Austin Butler. Butler portrayed Elvis in Baz Luhrman’s biopic on the singer last year, and notably attracted criticism over his seemingly permanent deep, exaggerated southern drawl he spoke in during method exercises to get into character. The actor also initially did not credit his ex girlfriend of ten years, actress Vanessa Hudgens, for encouraging him to go for the part during their relationship.
Social Media Reactions
The running joke surrounding Butler’s performance is that he continues to speak in the accent to this day, a year after filming. Despite the southern drawl, Butler originally hails from Anaheim, California. Fans of Elordi and “Priscilla” picked up on the ongoing humor surrounding the comparisons of the actors.
"His voice bears no traces of Elvis-speak today, @/GQMagazine writes."
I'm sorry, is that a poke fun at… someone's Elvis 😬?
— KimEunSook said F U when she wrote MrSunshine (@Ending13Sad) November 13, 2023
Others feel that it is not a fair comparison, as Butler was in character as Elvis for an entire year while “Priscilla” filmed in a month and the majority of scenes were dominated by Cailee Spaeny, who plays the titular Priscilla.
such unnecessary shade. priscilla was shot in 30 days and he was not the lead character, of course he didn’t retain the voice. butler was in near every scene in a film that took over a year to complete filming, not to mention he sung many songs in the film.
— zoe 🫶🏻 (@zoececkem) November 13, 2023
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Butler is yet to speak on voicegate.
