Kirsten Dunst Helped Cast Cailee Spaeny in Sofia Coppola’s ‘Priscilla’

Kirsten Dunst handpicked Cailee Spaeny to lead Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” as Coppola revealed in a new W magazine cover story.

Dunst, who has collaborated with Coppola in “The Virgin Suicides,” Marie Antoinette,” and “The Beguiled,” worked with “Mare of Easttown” breakout actress Spaeny in upcoming Alex Garland film “Civil War.” Dunst recommended that Coppola meet with Spaeny to offer her the role of Priscilla Presley in the A24 biopic “Priscilla.”

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“Kirsten is like a sister to me, and when she recommended Cailee, I paid attention,” Coppola said. She offered the role to Spaeny during their first meeting over breakfast.

Spaney recalled how Dunst “passed the torch” to her by recommending the casting. Spaeny co-stars alongside Jacob Elordi, who plays Elvis in the Coppola A24 film.

“Sofia pulled out her iPad and showed me some photos of Priscilla,” Spaeny said. “She said, ‘I think you could do it!’ I felt like Kirsten had passed the torch to me.”

Spaeny continued, “I’ve had an obsession with Sofia since ‘The Virgin Suicides.’ That movie rocked me in a way that I had never felt before.”

Spaeny ended up winning the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for “Priscilla.”

In the accompanying W magazine video, “Priscilla” writer-director Coppola called Dunst an “important collaborator and like a sister to me. As soon as I met her, I just instantly had a shorthand with her.”

Coppola previously told Vanity Fair that Dunst-led “Marie Antoinette,” which received a mixed reception upon its Cannes premiere in 2006, is still one of her favorite films. “I was happy we got to make that movie, but nobody saw it,” Coppola said. “It was a flop. So the fact that it’s lived on and people talk about it has been really satisfying because so much work went into it. It makes me happy that now it’s kind of found its way and people enjoy it.”

Coppola added that she was hesitant to helm the Presley memoir adaptation because it seemed “too similar” to the “Marie Antoinette” story at first.

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