Sofia Coppola misses ‘Priscilla’ NYFF event to be with her mom

In a written statement read by a producer, Coppola said she skipped the event to spend time “with my mother, to whom this film is dedicated.”

Coppola, 52, wrote and directed the film, which chronicles the relationship between Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) and Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi). The director was set to attend a press conference at the NYFF with her stars on Friday, but producer Youree Henley read a written statement in her absence.

“I’m so proud to have our film at the New York Film Festival in my hometown,” Coppola said in the statement, according to PEOPLE. “There’s nothing more inspiring to me than seeing a film on a screen at Alice Tully Hall. When I saw The Power of the Dog here as the first film on a [theater] screen since the pandemic, it reminded me of the power of cinema and what we love about the communal experience.”

She added, “I’m so sorry to not be there with you, but I’m with my mother, to whom this film is dedicated.”

Coppola is the daughter of Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, 84, who met on the set of the 1962 horror flick Dementia 13 and have been married for 60 years. Eleanor is also a documentarian, best known for the 1991 documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse about the production of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now.

Earlier this year in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Coppola opened up about how she identified with Priscilla Presley’s story, especially as someone who grew up surrounded by her parents’ fame.

“I know from my family what it’s like to be inside a show business family,” she said in August. “I know that growing up, people are looking at you in a different way. And also living in a house with my dad, this big personality, a great artist and a lot of our life revolving around that. And seeing my mom’s life, how she was trying to find her way within his, I could relate to that.”

Priscilla will screen Friday night at the NYFF, after debuting earlier this year at the Venice Film Festival. The film will open in theaters nationwide on Nov. 3.

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