The ‘Priscilla’ trailer is out. Will Sofia Coppola’s film top ‘Elvis’?

Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi star in the highly anticipated A24 film about the Presley marriage — from Priscilla’s point of view.

Jacob Elordi as Elvis, left, and Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla, in a scene from “Priscilla.”

Photo: Philippe Le Sourd/Associated Press

The first thing you notice about A24’sofficial trailerfor “Priscilla,” Bay Area-raised directorSofia Coppola’shighly anticipated new film based onPriscilla Presley’s1985 memoir “Elvis and Me,” is that this movie will be nothing likeBaz Luhrmann’s2022 box-office hit“Elvis.”

Whereas Luhrmann approached Elvis’ life with an epic, over-the-top grandeur, “Priscilla” seems to take a more intimate approach, operating far from the epicenter of Elvis’ fame and stardom, whether that be on the U.S. Army base in West Germany where they met or within the grounds of walled-off Graceland.

The second thing you notice about the trailer released on Tuesday, Oct. 3, is that there’s lots of great tunes, but none of it is Elvis Presley music. That’s because the Presley estate denied Coppola use of Elvis’ songs.

At first, one might think, “How can you make an Elvis movie without Elvis music?” Well, that’s because is it’s not about him. Thisherstory.

And the absence of Elvis music might actually be a strength of “Priscilla.”

Director Sofia Coppola poses for photographers upon arrival for the world premiere of the film “Priscilla” at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 4. Coppola is scheduled to present the film in person for its Bay Area premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival on Oct. 11.

Photo: Vianney Le Caer/Associated Press

Film star Cailee Spaeny (“The Craft: Legacy”) looks great as Priscilla, and Jacob Elordi (HBO’s“Euphoria”) makes for an intriguing Elvis, though it might be hard to rise to the level of Austin Butler’s Oscar-nominated performance in “Elvis” (Olivia DeJonge played Priscilla in that film).

Overall, “Priscilla” looks like a return to vintage form for Coppola, the daughter of legendary filmmakerFrancis Ford Coppolawho has carved a distinguished career of her own. Here Priscilla Presley is as trapped in her gilded cage as the girls in“The Virgin Suicides,”Scarlett Johansson’s unhappy young wife in“Lost in Translation”or even“Marie Antoinette”herself.

The first chance Bay Area film fans will have to see “Priscilla” is Oct. 11, when it will play twice at theMill Valley Film Festivalwhere Coppola will be the subject of anin-person tribute.

The film opens in theaters throughout the Bay Area on Nov. 3.

Reach G. Allen Johnson:ajohnson@sfchronicle.com

  • G. Allen Johnson
    G. Allen Johnson

    艾伦约翰逊我s a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.