Jacob Elordi Prepared For His Role As Elvis In This Surprising Way

To take on the role of Elvis Presley, Jacob Elordi tapped into his psyche — and his eating habits. In a Nov. 1 interview with Entertainment Weekly, alongside his Priscilla director Sofia Coppola and co-star Cailee Spaeny, the actor revealed how he prepared to play the music icon, which included eating surprising food every day.

The stars and director received many pointers from Elvis’ widow Priscilla Presley, as the film is based on her memoir Elvis and Me, which included a peek into his diet. “Priscilla told us that Elvis liked really burned bacon,” Coppola remarked.

It turns out that Elordi took the singer’s favorite food to heart. “I averaged like a pound of bacon a day,” he said, laughing. “It’s not that noticeable because I’m quite long. But I was the biggest I’ve ever been.”

Coppola also had her cast eat another well-known Elvis delicacy, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, after Priscilla explained the story behind the snack. “Priscilla told me because they were so poor, that they would just live off peanut butter and banana sandwiches, so when he got more successful, it reminded him of being a kid,” she recalled.

Other Ways The Cast Prepared

The trio went on to explain how Priscilla gave them access to unseen home videos and photographs of her and Elvis, allowing them to capture their essence beyond Graceland.

“Probably the most helpful part was ignoring the mythology and trying to find out where the real person lies in that,” Elordi said.

“We had the freedom of going to a place where he wasn’t so well documented, behind closed doors, so I could play with it a little bit and try to make it a bit more grounded and attempt to make it sound more human.”

How He Discovered Elvis

Elordi may be receiving positive reviews for his portrayal of Elvis, but he hasn’t been preparing for it his whole life. In a recent interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Elordi revealed that before auditioning for Priscilla, his Elvis knowledge primarily came from a classic Disney movie.

“The most I knew of Elvis was in Lilo & Stitch,” he said. “Which is a lot, by the way.”

He went on to explain that Elvis was “not on my list of people to play,” and was surprised when Coppola sent him a script that said Elvis’ name.

“I kind of was just like, ‘There’s just no chance that this is happening,’” he said. “So I watched this clip of him when he came back from the Army in Germany and I read the lines for like 15 minutes and then shot two takes, not thinking that it would go anywhere.” Clearly, he was wrong.