Thomas Mars mastered the soundtrack for Sofia Coppola’s new film “Priscilla” despite not having the rights to Elvis songs.
Thomas Mars, lead singer of Phoenix, told in a recent interview how he managed to create a soundtrack for Sofia Coppola’s latest film “Priscilla” without music rights to Elvis songs.
In the new biopic about Priscilla Presley and Elvis, it was the years of collaboration between Thomas Mars, Phoenix and Sofia Coppola that made this possible: “Their many years of work and their deep mutual understanding enabled them to compose a soundtrack that combines classic Americana and indie music. Songs cleverly combined,” wrote the “GQ”.
The lack of music rights: This is how you can get around the problem
The lack of rights to Elvis songs could have meant the end of the music biopic. However, the film’s musical design now includes the integration of similarly great songs from different eras, including “Crimson and Clover” by Tommy James & the Shondells and Dan Deacon’s “Crystal Cat”.
The film’s closing song is “I Will Always Love You” by Dolly Parton. “Venus” by Frankie Avalon also appears in various versions in the film.
More about “Priscilla”
“Priscilla” is a biopic by Sofia Coppola (release: November 3, 2023), in which Cailee Spaeny takes on the role of Priscilla Presley and Jacob Elordi takes on the role of Elvis Presley. The film’s screenplay was based on the 1985 biography Elvis and Me. In this, Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon wrote down their memories of their relationship with Elvis Presley.