Lisa Marie Presley called Sofia Coppola's 'Priscilla' script 'vengeful' before her death

Lisa Marie Presley reportedly reached out to Sofia Coppola before her death with criticisms of the "Priscilla" director's portrayal of Elvis Presley, according to emails obtained by Variety.

The outlet reports that in the emails, which have not been reviewed by TODAY.com, Lisa Marie Presley called Coppola's script “shockingly vengeful and contemptuous.” Lisa Marie Presley reportedly sent two emails to Coppola in September 2022 before the film had gone into production and four months before her death in January.

Coppola’s “Priscilla” is the story of Priscilla Presley’s relationship with singer Elvis Presley — including how the two met when Priscilla was just 14 years old. It is based on Priscilla Presley's 1985 memoir “Elvis and Me.”

In the emails to Coppola, published by Variety, Lisa Marie Presley wrote that she thought her father's portrayal rang false.

“My father only comes across as a predator and manipulative. As his daughter, I don’t read this and see any of my father in this character. I don’t read this and see my mother’s perspective of my father. I read this and see your shockingly vengeful and contemptuous perspective and I don’t understand why?” Lisa Marie Presley reportedly wrote.

She also said she would speak out against “Priscilla,” which hit theaters Nov. 3.

“I will be forced to be in a position where I will have to openly say how I feel about the film and go against you, my mother and this film publicly,” she reportedly added.

When asked for comment on their September 2022 email exchange, Variety reports that Coppola responded through her rep with what she had told Lisa Marie Presley at that time.

“I hope that when you see the final film you will feel differently, and understand I’m taking great care in honoring your mother, while also presenting your father with sensitivity and complexity,” Coppola wrote, per Variety.

Reps for Coppola declined to comment further to TODAY.com.

In the reported emails, Lisa Marie Presley also said the film could strain her relationship with her mother.

“I am worried that my mother isn’t seeing the nuance here or realizing the way in which Elvis will be perceived when this movie comes out,” Lisa Marie Presley wrote. “I feel protective over my mother who has spent her whole life elevating my father’s legacy. I am worried she doesn’t understand the intentions behind this film or the outcome it will have.”

Priscilla Presley attended the September premiere of Coppola’s film, which is distributed by A24, at the Venice Film Festival, sitting next to stars Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny. (TODAY.com has reached out to A24 for comment.)

Spaeny told TODAY.com that Priscilla Presley praised her performance, while Elordi described the experience of watching the film beside its subject as "surreal."

TODAY.com has reached out to reps for Priscilla Presley for comment.

At one point in the emails, the only child of the king of rock 'n' roll reportedly asked Coppola: “I would think of all people that you would understand how this would feel. Why are you coming for my Dad and my family?”

Concluding her second email to the director, Lisa Marie Presley asked Coppola to avoid bringing further scrutiny upon her family, especially after the death of her son, Benjamin Keough. Benjamin Keough died by suicide in July 2020 at the age of 27.

She also reportedly shared a specific story about her teenage daughter Harper Lockwood finding out about "Priscilla."

“I had to explain that we are going to have to endure another hit in our lives. That there is going to be a movie about her grandfather that is going to try to make him look really, really bad but it’s not true. I had to explain that her beloved grandmother is supporting it. These two little girls have been through so much in the past 7 years, enduring my divorce and horrific custody battle and then losing their brother. We’ve all been drowning,” Lisa Marie Presley wrote, according to Variety.

She complimented Baz Luhrmann's 2022 film "Elvis" in her emails, per Variety, calling it “a break from suffering and a ray of light that hit us last year … it made them so proud and honored to be his granddaughters. It made them feel blessed for a moment and less cursed in life. It made us all so proud because it was a true depiction of who he really was.”

Lisa Marie Presley, as well as her mother and daughter Riley Keough, attended the premiere of "Elvis."

She called Coppola's rendition an “attempt to take my father down on the heels of such an incredible film using the excuse that you are trying to tell my mother’s story, but from your very dark and jaded reality.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com