Graceland, under the protective care of the singers father, Vernon.
Like Priscillas family, my family made incredible sacrifices to support that decision.
Says Spaeny, I probably wouldve done the same thing if my parents didnt help me get to LA.
Cailee SpaenyAndrew Zaeh exclusively for Deadline
I wouldve found some person and I wouldve jumped in their car, and I wouldve made it work.
I was hell-bent on that decision.
It wasnt a sort of cute, Ill try this out.
It was like, I have to make this work.
I guess she just saw something in me and Jacob and she pulled the trigger, Spaeny says.
There was no chemistry read withJacob Elordi, who would play Elvis.
Spaeny emailed Elordi and together they connected over their love of cinema.
Then we just hung out.
We were in London at the same time, and we just became really close.
Very quickly, I learned that he approaches roles in the same way that I do.
Basically, were just two nerds.
Were really intense about these things.
We barely ever hung out when we were filming because we were just so in it.
Then there were the meetings with Presley herself.
Shes a woman of a different generation, Spaeny says.
She holds herself so differently.
Im a girl of a different age.
She holds herself in that.
Presley was soft-spoken and a little shy, Spaeny says.
But she was also fiercely protective of her family and her story.
No, thats not right, thats not it.
But shed do it in a kind way.
Sometimes the two women would just talk about dogs.
It was really these precious moments that Ill always take with me.
Spaeny understood the delicacy of the material and its deeply personal telling in Presleys bookElvis and Me.
And she connected to Presleys experience of first love, she says.
You want to hold on.
Apart from reading everything she could, Spaeny studied every photo she could find, and watched every film.
I watched her interviews after she had released the book.
I even watched herNaked Gunmovies, which I laughed about with her.
I was like, I cant pin you down!
And she thought that was funny.
Spaeny and Elordi also studied the home movies that the Presleys made.
They were really great for Jacob and I.
Those were really special.
There was one piece of research that became her go-to reference.
I memorized it like a monologue and would say it over and over again.
So how did Spaeny come to see these issues?
There are definitely some shocking details in there… She tried to tell herself that whatever Presley thought of her performance, she would survive it.
But then, as the lights came up, Presley turned to her.
That was a great performance, she said.
I watched my life through you.
