Sofia Coppola Misses Priscilla NYFF Appearance to Be with Mom Eleanor, 'to Whom the Film Is Dedicated'

Sofia Coppola missed a New York Film Festival appearance for her movie Priscilla in order to spend time with her mom Eleanor Coppola.

On Friday, Priscilla stars Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi spoke at a press conference in New York City, where producer Youree Henley read a written statement from Sofia, 52, regarding her absence.

"I'm so proud to have our film at the New York Film Festival in my hometown. There's nothing more inspiring to me than seeing a film on a screen at Alice Tully Hall," Sofia said in that statement. "When I saw The Power of the Dog here as the first film on a [theater] screen since the pandemic, it reminded me of the power of cinema and what we love about the communal experience."

"I'm so sorry to not be there with you, but I'm with my mother, to whom this film is dedicated," she added.

A rep for Sofia had no further comment.

Sofia, who made her feature-length directorial debut with 1999's The Virgin Suicides, is the youngest of Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Jessie Coppola's three children.

Francis, 84, is known as the director behind The Godfather movies and 1979's Apocalypse Now. Eleanor, 87, is a filmmaker and writer known for behind-the-scenes documentaries about her family members' works, namely 1991's Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse.

Eleanor has also directed documentaries regarding the making of Sofia's Virgin Suicides and 2006's Marie Antoinette. She most recently made two narrative movies, 2016's Paris Can Wait and 2020's Love Is Love Is Love, according to her IMDb.

Eleanor has also published two nonfiction books: Notes: The Making of Apocalypse Now and Notes on a Life, which examines her and Francis's life together.

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“I know from my family what it’s like to be inside a show business family," Sofia told The Hollywood Reporter in August, as she and Priscilla Presley spoke about the new movie, which is based on Priscilla's 1985 book Elvis and Me.

“I know that growing up, people are looking at you in a different way. And also living in a house with my dad, this big personality, a great artist and a lot of our life revolving around that," she said.

"And seeing my mom’s life, how she was trying to find her way within his, I could relate to that," she added.

Aside from Sofia, Eleanor and Francis also share son Roman Coppola, 58, and Gian-Carlo Coppola, who died at 22 in 1986 after a boating accident in Maryland, per The Washington Post.

Sofia recently told W Magazine how she connected to Priscilla's story and how it related to her own mother's experiences.

"Truthfully, I was never that interested in Elvis. I liked that he was committed to style, but his personality didn’t intrigue me at the time. I was so impressed that Priscilla left Elvis,” she said.. “She was always trying to be his fantasy, his ideal woman."

"I think about my mom’s generation and how hard it was to be independent," the writer-director continued. "Women without any power or money at that time had nothing when they left their husbands. Priscilla had courage, and that seemed, to me, to be a universal theme.”

Priscilla is in theaters Nov. 3.