Recently announced, Sky Ferreira will be co-starring in the film Elvis & Nixon. The film already has Kevin Spacey signed on to play President Richard Nixon and Michael Shannon who will be portraying Elvis Presley. Kevin Spacey currently has some Oval Office experience as Frank Underwood on Netflix’s House of Cards. The other cast members include Johnny Knoxville, Evan Peters, Colin Hanks, and Alex Pettyfer. Sky Ferreira isn’t necessarily a stranger to the cinema either. The twenty-two year old musician had a small part in Eli Roth’s horror-flick The Green Inferno last year. She also had larger roles in the 2013 short film IRL and 2010’s Putty Hill.
Liza Johnson is set to direct Elvis & Nixon. Johnson’s most recent work is the 2013 quirky indie drama Hateship Loveship, which starred Kristen Wiig of Saturday Night Live fame. The film is based around a peculiar meeting between Elvis Presley and President Nixon on December 21, 1970. Elvis showed up at the White House in the early morning and demanded to talk with the president. They discussed drug policy, hippies, and patriotism in America. Elvis, otherwise known as “The King” even brought Nixon a gift: a Colt .45. After the notorious meeting, Elvis wrote a six page memo to President Nixon, in which he further discussed drug policy and even asked to be made a “Federal Agent-at-Large” for the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
Ferreira will be playing the love interest of Jerry Schilling, who is portrayed by Alex Pettyfer. Jerry Schilling was apparently Elvis’ best friend at the time of the meeting, and even went with him to the White House to speak to President Nixon. The White House meeting became even more scandalous after a few years later when Nixon resigned amidst scandal, and Elvis Presley died from an overdose on barbiturates.
The film already started shooting earlier this year and will continue production for the next few months in Atlanta. Ferreira showed her excitement earlier on Instagram, when she posted a black-and-white photograph of President Nixon and Elvis Presley shaking hands at the Oval Office, and she captioned it with “#Blessed.”