This Double-Ended Eyeliner Was the Key to Cailee Spaeny's 'Priscilla' Transformation

For most, Barbie was hands-down the movie event of the year. But for a certain set of Lana Del Rey-listening, ballet flat-wearing, Silvia Plath-reading young women (and film lovers far and wide), it's all about Sofia Coppola's Priscilla.

Hot off the tail of Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, Coppola gives us a more intimate look at America's royal family with her new film based on Priscilla Presley's memoir, Elvis and Me. With the director's famous candy-colored sets and masterful depictions of teenage loneliness, Priscilla's untold side of the story (the real Priscilla Presley served as an executive producer on the film) finally gets its due.

Of course, Priscilla Presley is also a beauty icon, and Coppola puts this fact front and center in her adaptation. The film's opening credits quite literally show Priscilla (expertly played by Cailee Spaeny) applying winged liner and lashes, so it was clear from the jump that hair and makeup would play an important role in the character's arc.

Ahead, the Priscilla hair and makeup leads, Cliona Furey and Jo-Ann MacNeil, unpack all the beauty details, sharing everything from products used on set to the behind-the-scenes hair secrets of Cailee Spaeny's transformation into Priscilla Presley.

The Inspiration

Furey and MacNeil felt the pressure recreating famous Elvis and Priscilla Presley looks, but more importantly, they wanted to honor Priscilla's perspective. In the end, the duo, alongside Coppola, decided on an approach that captured the essence of Priscilla rather than aiming for a direct copy or impersonation.

"I took some creative license with the hair design. My approach was to include looks that Priscilla may not have worn in her life but would have liked," says Furey, adding that there were a few public moments that the team recreated more precisely like Elvis and Pricilla's wedding.

"The film isn't about public and stage life. It's more about Priscilla's journey growing up as a woman in that relationship and in that environment," she explains. "[We] filmed many scenes that were at home in private, in their bedroom or getting ready for bed. Nobody knows what they looked like in the bedroom."

Furey and McNeil studied photos of the Presleys for inspiration—as an Elvis fan, MacNeil says she feels like she's been preparing for this project her whole life—but they mostly used home movies for inspiration. This created a more intimate, relaxed feel with the beauty direction.

The Transformation

Priscilla spans over a decade, which presented an interesting challenge for Furey and MacNeil: They had to depict Cailee Spaney from 14 to around 27. The one constant? "The one thing Sophia always wanted me to do with Cailee, no matter what period I was in with her, was to give her a fresh face," says MacNeil. "Even though at times the makeup seemed quite heavy, we could always see her fresh skin. Underneath the makeup, you would see her freckles," she adds. "It did give this look of the innocence of this person on this journey."

Priscilla's changing hair and makeup anchors the film and shows not only the passage of time but Priscilla's development as a person. At the start of the film, when Priscilla is 14, she's wearing a no-makeup look. As her relationship with Elvis develops, she slowly starts to add in a touch of lipstick, blush, and a little mascara.

Of course, it's not until Priscilla moves to Graceland that Elvis gives her a makeover, creating the '60s look that she's most known for ("black hair, and more eye makeup," says Jacob Elordi in the film in a perfect Elvis drawl). Furey decided to underscore this transformation by opting for a lighter shade of brown in the early scenes of Priscilla's life as a teenager in Germany, making her dyed jet-black hair an especially dramatic change.

Towards the end of the movie, as Priscilla enters the '70s and her marriage begins to crumble, her look changes again with lighter, less-done hair and barely-there makeup. "You almost see the makeup pull back again. It was to show her independence coming into her own," says McNeil. Furey agrees, adding that "it was about her independence, her strength, and her future."

The Hair

To recreate Priscilla's most iconic look—towering, jet-black hair—Furley says she used seven wigs on Speany, courtesy of wig maker Stacy Butterworth. She also used three different wigs and hairpieces for Elordi's portrayal of Elvis. Matching the famous couples' hairlines was paramount, which she says are full and round for both Elvis and Priscilla.

For styling, Furley swears by "good old-fashioned back-brushing and hairspray." She also used vintage 1950s hair toppers (which, for the uninformed, are basically like a half wig) on the more sculpted bouffant in the film.

The priority, says Furley, was to ensure all the wigs suited Spaeny—who is very petite—so that it never looked like the hair was wearing her. The one exception is a scene when Priscilla leaves the hospital after giving birth to Lisa Marie in full glam. "I can tell she was wearing a hairpiece by looking at the photos [of Priscilla Presley], and I used to hairpiece there."

The Makeup

Chanel created custom costumes for the film, and MacNeil says that most of the makeup products she used on Spaeny were also Chanel. However, to recreate Priscilla's signature eyeliner, the makeup lead swears by Tom Ford's Eye Defining Pen ($62), which she likes for its dual-ended tip that creates "such a sharp, crisp line."

For skin, MacNeil used Armani Luminous Silk Foundation ($69) because of its sheer finish. "I could get coverage but sheerness so you could still see her skin through it." Priscilla's lips mostly took a backseat to her eye makeup, but MacNeil color-matched neutral Chanel lipsticks to photos of Priscilla for consistency.

Elvis's Hair and Makeup

Though Elvis Presley is a crucial figure in the film, it's not his story. So, Jacob Elordi's look is a little more subdued than in other portrayals of The King. When the story begins, Elvis is 24 and in the army, so MacNeil gives him a clean-shaven and youthful look.

After he leaves Germany and his star rises, however, Elordi has more of a tan, an intentional nod to Elvis's time shooting movies in LA. The makeup artist also used three different sets of sideburns to take Elvis's look from the '60s and into the '70s. In addition to the sideburns, Furey used three wig pieces in different colors and lengths to show the passage of time.

"In some cases, you'll even see that we made it a little bit obvious—not too much—that you could see that Elvis was wearing a little bit of makeup. We would have a little eyeliner on him, maybe give him a little something on his lip," says MacNeil. "We didn't go over the top with that. We still kept it subtle and not in-your-face. But you could see how he was growing."

The Final Look

At its heart, the film sheds new light on two American icons. For Elordi, that meant doing less. Furley wanted to keep Elvi's hair less-than-perfect to show what he'd look like at home with Priscilla, a stark contrast to Elvis's perfectly coiffed public persona. "The hair was a little tamer because that's how his hair was at home, according to the research that I looked at," she says.

For Priscilla, the team focused on mirroring her growing independence with her hair and makeup choices. But, if you want to channel Priscilla at home, here's a simple tip from Furley: "Cover [your] ears with the hair. Her hair was like these big thick velvet curtains that frame [the face]. You hardly ever saw her ears."