Elvis Presley's granddaughter makes directorial debut alongside biopic about him

CANNES (France) • Actress Riley Keough, granddaughter of Elvis Presley, made her directorial debut last Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival where a biopic of the rock 'n' roll legend will also make its world premiere next week.

During a panel discussion with entertainment trade publication Variety, Keough, 32, spoke about her admiration for Australian film-maker Baz Luhrmann, who wrote and directed the upcoming Elvis.

"The first movie I ever watched in the theatre and said I wanted to make movies was Moulin Rouge, I was 12. It was a real honour to know Baz was doing this movie (about Elvis)." Luhrmann, 59, also wrote and directed Moulin Rouge, starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, in 2001.

Keough, whose acting credits include Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Magic Mike (2012), said she had watched Elvis with her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, and her grandmother, Priscilla Presley - an experience she described as "very emotional".

"I started crying five minutes in and didn't stop. There's a lot of family trauma and generational trauma that started around then for our family. I felt honoured they worked so hard to really get his essence, to feel his essence."

On Instagram, 76-year-old Priscilla - who was married to Elvis Presley from 1967 to 1973 - said the film was "beautifully done", while Lisa Marie, 54, said it was "nothing short of spectacular".

The movie, starring Austin Butler in the titular role, is said to cover the early part of Presley's career. It also stars Tom Hanks as his manager,and is set for a wider theatrical release late next month.

Keough says she has always wanted to be a director: "As a child, I'd make little movies with my friends. I'd never act in them. Acting was something that I did want to do, but it came later… My original desire was to direct and write."

However, she did not expect to bring her directorial debut to a stage as prestigious as Cannes. Her film, War Pony, was co-directed with fellow first-time director, Gina Gammell. The coming-of-age story follows two Native American boys from the Oglala-Lakota community growing up on a reservation in South Dakota. "It started with notes in our phone. We didn't really have a goal. We certainly didn't think we were coming to Cannes," Keough said.