Going to see the new 'Priscilla' movie? Here's why you won't hear any Elvis music

The possibilities were many: "Love Me Tender." "Can't Help Falling in Love." The theoretically sweet yet (to modern ears) threatening "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck."

Even so, no Elvis recordings will be heard in director Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla," which opens in wide release Friday in cinemas across North America, including eight locations in the Memphis area that was home base to Elvis and Priscilla.

Adapted from Priscilla Beaulieu Presley's memoir "Elvis and Me," a best-seller in 1985, "Priscilla" presents what Coppola has called "the dark side" of Elvis' personality, as witnessed by the 10-years-younger Priscilla during the couple's courtship and marriage.

Priscilla Presley herself is an executive producer. Nevertheless, Elvis Presley Enterprises majority owner Joel Weinshanker said the estate would not let Coppola use Elvis music in the film. He said the estate only licenses or authorizes use of the recordings for projects "that Elvis would be proud of." Said Coppola, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: "They don't like projects that they haven't originated, and they're protective of their brand."

One might think the lack of Elvis music in an Elvis movie might be a problem. (Director Baz Luhrmann didn't face that problem: His recent biopic, "Elvis," is loaded with Presley music, sometimes presented in remixed or altered form.) But Coppola likely wasn't particularly invested in using Elvis' music in the first place. The absence of Presley recordings "made us be more creative," she said.

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Generally, Coppola favors what she calls "melodramatic" songs for her films — recordings that convey a mood, even if they seem alien to the historic period recreated onscreen. For example, Coppola's "Marie Antoinette" (2006), largely set in late 18th-century Paris, is scored with post-punk and rock songs by The Cure, Gang of Four and The Strokes.

Similarly, "Priscilla" — which, like "Marie Antoinette," is the story of a young woman married into isolating royalty — uses sometimes anachronistic music by Alice Coltrane or the Ramones, along with songs by artists who might have challenged Elvis on the charts, including Tommy James and the Shondells and Brenda Lee, to express emotion. The soundtrack liberates the Priscilla character from the overpowering presence of Elvis' famous and inescapable voice even as the story chronicles her emergence from other forms of his control.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Why is there no Elvis music in 'Priscilla' movie from Sofia Coppola?