Jacob Elordi admittedly didn’t know much about Elvis Presley growing up. The 26-year-old actor, who plays the rock ‘n’ roll icon in Sofia Coppola’s upcoming film Priscilla, revealed on Monday’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that his awareness of Presley was limited to the 2002 Disney film Lilo & Stitch.
“Growing up, were you an Elvis fan?” host Jimmy Fallon asked the Euphoria star, who in turn responded, “No. The most I knew of Elvis was in Lilo & Stitch … which is a lot, by the way.” In the animated Disney film, a little girl named Lilo teaches her alien friend Stitch all about the music of Presley, and the film includes several of the musician’s iconic songs, including “Burning Love,” “Suspicious Minds” and “Hound Dog.”
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In honor of the film’s 20th anniversary last year, Lilo & Stitch co-writer and director Dean DeBloid told Vulture that they had no expectation of being able to license Presley’s music or even depict the rocker in the movie. “We figured at some point someone was going to pull us aside and say, ‘You can’t do that.’ But representatives of the Elvis estate came out to look at our story reels, and they got behind it,” he said.
Going from Lilo & Stitch to a much deeper understanding of Presley to depict the late icon was a “little bit terrifying,” Elordi told Fallon, admitting that he initially wasn’t confident when he auditioned for Priscilla. “Sofia had sent me these sides that said Elvis, and I kinda just was like, ‘There’s no chance that this is happening,’” he 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 confessed he didn’t even know if he had gotten Presley’s voice right during his audition, but Coppola was pleased, casting him opposite Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla Presley. Asked if he was nervous to be working alongside the legendary director, Elordi said the whole experience was “just exciting” and “pure bliss.” He continued, “The whole time I was trying to take it like I was making Blue Valentine or something,” referencing the 2010 Derek Cianfrance film. “A straight-up relationship drama, without Elvis or Priscilla, for Sofia Coppola. That was the goal.” Priscilla hits theaters Nov. 3.
