ARTNEWSPRESS: Baz Luhrmann has found another important piece of his casting puzzle as he moved forward on his Elvis biopic. Set up at Warner Bros., the project has locked in Australian actress Olivia DeJonge as wife Priscilla Presley. She is perhaps best known for her role in The Society.
Born Priscilla Ann Wagner, the love of Elvis‘ life hailed from Brooklyn, New York. She was married to Elvis at a very young age, from 1967 to 1973. She also served as the chairwoman of Elvis Presley Enterprises, helping to turn The King’s mansion Graceland into one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Elvis Presley and Priscilla original met while Presley was still in the army, around 1959. She was only 14 at the time, and he was 24. They continued to see each other for 7 and a half years, and Priscilla moved in with the rock icon sometime in 1963.
Elvis promised Priscilla’s parents that he would marry their daughter. That didn’t stop her father from threatening the superstar with jail time. When news of the affair broke, Priscilla’s dad aimed to charge Elvis under the Mann Act, which entails “taking a minor across state lines for sexual purposes”. Elvis and Priscilla Presley had one child together, Lisa Marie, who went onto have quite a storied history in Hollywood on her own. Elvis and Priscilla did divorce in 1972, though they would forever be immortalized as a couple.
Olivia DeJonge is an up and coming actress, not entirely known. Baz Luhrmann had this to say about bringing in a fresh face for this important role in his Elvis biopic.
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B. ALAN ORANGE
