Few have worn a black cat eye quite like Priscilla Presley—her eyeliner was a signature part of her glamorous look during her marriage to rock legend Elvis Presley, which is now being reexamined in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. Based on Priscilla’s 1985 memoir, Elvis and Me, and starring Cailee Spaeny in the title role, the film spans over a decade of her life, starting when she first meets Elvis (Jacob Elordi) on a U.S. Air Force base in Germany at the age of 14, and spans their courtship, marriage, and the birth of their daughter, Lisa Marie.
Coppola is, of course, no stranger to unraveling the complicated lives of young women, and Priscilla fits perfectly into her canon. We see Spaeny as Priscilla first as a naive girl in a ponytail, who enters a controlling relationship with an older (and incredibly famous) man, eventually growing into a woman who has finally come into her own. During this coming-of-age journey, Priscilla’s look morphs and changes, taking her from naturally glowing teenager to a siren in winged eyeliner.
Behind the liquid liner is the film’s makeup department head, Jo-Ann MacNeil (Mean Girls, 2021’s Dune, Nightmare Alley), who transformed Spaeny into the cultural icon. The makeup designer tells Harper’s Bazaar about her research process, working with Coppola, and how she collaborated with the costume and hair departments to create Priscilla Presley for the big screen.
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How did you get involved in working on the film?
I had a call and asked if I would be interested in doing the film, and I was like, “Oh, absolutely,” because I’ve been an Elvis Presley fan my whole life, so to get the opportunity to tell this side of the story was an absolute dream.
As an Elvis fan, how was the research process for putting things together before filming began?
I almost feel like I’ve researched this story my whole life. For this particular film, I started my research for the periods that we were going to show in the movie, and that was from 1959 to 1972. And so we pulled all references and we categorized everything, me and Cliona [Furey, head of the hair department]. We had about five different looks for Priscilla, and we named them so we would know exactly what part of the story we were at, and how her hair and makeup would be for that part of filming.
You had to work closely with both hair and costume to make sure all of Priscilla’s looks made sense. How was it collaborating with them and Sofia to make sure everything fit together?
[Sofia] was very approachable, very collaborative, and had a very clear idea of how she wanted everybody to look. She also allowed us to express our visions and ideas, as well. Working with Cliona and Stacey [Battat, head of costume design], we all worked very closely with each other. Basically, right from the beginning we shared lookbooks, concepts, research materials. I think we worked together to complement each other’s looks and bring together a complete look that worked for all of us, but still true to Sofia’s vision.
You really see Priscilla’s character arc through her makeup, hair, and clothing throughout the film. How did you all break down that process?
It was very important that we were all in sync with what we were doing. We broke the looks down so that we all knew exactly where we were all at in certain parts of the script, because there were shooting days where we were changing [Cailee Spaeny] five to six times a day. And these were big makeups and big hairdos, and we really didn’t have 18 hours in the day to film all this.
We had her “Young Germany” look, her “Natural Glam” look, her “Baby Glam” look, her “Memphis Glam” look, and the “Family Portrait” look, which was her starting the era of the ’70s. When we get into the period of the ’70s, Priscilla has a glowing, California sun-kissed tan. We couldn’t go from her Memphis Glam or her Baby Glam look to her tan, [and] we can’t go from the tan back to the others. So it was really important in our breakdowns and scheduling to get all of this done in the amount of time that we had to do it.
Did you take any liberties as you were going through these different eras of looks?
I had to take a few liberties because a lot of the products that were used at that time, I couldn’t use. So I had to reference the color palettes and match things as close as possible to what was used back then and pull it off. When I’m doing a period movie, I don’t want people to watch the movie and notice the hair and the makeup. I want you to feel like you’re in this period and that it’s so natural that you’re not noticing things. You just feel like you’re back in 1966. That was my whole mission going into this project. My research process was very detailed, and I wanted to make sure that I got as close as I possibly could to what was used back then.
I’m so curious about how the products were different from today’s.
Back then, maybe you had five or six red lipstick shades you could pick from. Right? Today you have about 2,000 red lipstick shades you can pick from. So to be as close as possible to what was used back then, I had to figure out what products and lines and brands would work best for this movie, to get that same effect. I used a lot of Chanel, Tom Ford, Charlotte Tilbury. I found all these brands gave me the color palette that I needed to use in this movie.
I love the makeup montage where you see Priscilla doing her cat eye. Did you have to work with Cailee to get the cat eye right?
She was amazing. Honestly, she did not need my help at all. She knew exactly how to do it. We just did it in one take or two takes, because she just nailed it. She did tell me at the beginning of the movie and [as] part of her process of becoming Priscilla, it was something she practiced herself. So when we came to that part of the movie, she knew exactly what to do.
One of my favorite parts of the film is Priscilla’s first trip to Graceland, and then when we see her and Elvis leaving the casino in Vegas, where she’s very rumpled and glam. It feels like the turning point of the elevation of her look.
That scene was kind of her introduction into the lifestyle of Elvis Presley. It was the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. She was a simple girl with a simple style. And with this makeover, she really embraced it and actually liked the attention that it brought to her, because it wasn’t only that she was Elvis Presley’s partner, but that look brought attention to her on her own as well. And [Priscilla] has even said publicly that she liked the attention of all of it. I think a big part of the turning point for her is that she embraced it.
How did you have Priscilla’s makeup echo Elvis and his look and style?
Her makeup always echoed Elvis. When he wanted her to dye her hair, the heavy eyeliner, it was really to kind of look like him. All the way up to 1967, where it’s the cut crease, the kitten lashes, and the dramatic cat eye. Basically throughout the ’60s was really a reflection of him.
There are almost too many great looks to choose from—such as Priscilla’s cat eye and ’70s tan. What looks were your favorites?
I almost feel like every time we did a look, I’d be like, “Oh my God, this is my favorite look.” I loved doing the one where she gave birth to Lisa Marie, because it was a very mod-style eye. It took us some time to get it, because it had to be so precise. I just love the way it looked on her.
Probably my most favorite look [was] when she got into the ’70s, that whole sun-kissed look and stripping everything back a bit. I just thought Cailee looked so beautiful, and she glowed. It was a very different look from everything else we had done in the movie with her. It’s very hard to pick one, because I just thought they all looked so beautiful on her.
