'Confused' and 'honored,' Springfield's Cailee Spaeny talks Golden Globe nomination

Springfield native and breakout actress Cailee Spaeny had a lot on her mind as she prepared for the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, including whether or not she would meet Travis Kelce.

"My family, they're not big about Taylor Swift but my nephews just want me to say, 'Hi,' to Travis Kelce," Spaeny said with a laugh while speaking with the News-Leader on Friday. Unfortunately, Spaeny didn't have the opportunity to meet the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, who did not attend the awards ceremony with Swift.

Spaeny, who got her start acting in the Ozarks, was nominated for her first Golden Globe, "Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama" for her role as Priscilla Presley in "Priscilla." She did not win the award — Lily Gladstone for her role as Mollie Burkhart in "Killers of the Flower Moon" did, but Spaeny expressed her honor and surprise at the nomination while speaking with the News-Leader via phone call.

Released in Oct. 2023, "Priscilla" is based on Priscilla's 1985 memoir, "Elvis and Me: The True Story of the Love Between Priscilla Presley and the King of Rock N' Roll." The movie follows Priscilla Beaulieu meeting and falling in love with Elvis Presley as a teenager.

Spaeny shares the screen with Jacob Elordi as Elvis — most popularly known for his role as Nate Jacobs in the television series "Euphoria." The film, which was directed by Sofia Coppola, grossed more than $21.3 million at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo, an affiliate of IMDb.

In addition to Spaeny and Gladstone, nominees for the award included Annett Bening for her role as Diana Nyad in "Nyad," Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre in "Maestro," Greta Lee as Nora in "Past Lives" and Sandra Hüller as Sandra in "Anatomy of a Fall."

"Confused" and "honored" by nomination

Spaeny vividly recalls learning about her nomination, which she received while with family.

"I got a text message from my team saying, 'Oh my god. You have a Golden Globe nomination.' I saw it and I froze and I put my phone down immediately and I told everyone and they were over the moon happy for me," Spaeny told the News-Leader. "I then got so freaked out because of (the amount) of messages coming in that I turned my phone off."

Spaeny said she was both "confused" and "honored" to have been nominated alongside Bening, Mulligan, Lee, Gladstone and Hüller.

Despite not winning the "Best Performance" title on Sunday, Spaeny has already been recognized and awarded for her work in the film.

In September, she received the award for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. She has also received nominations from the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards, Satellite Awards, Gotham Awards, London Critics Circle Film Awards, DiscussingFilm Critic Awards, among others.

Spaeny was also listed on IMDb's Top 50 Stars to Watch in 2024, alongside Jenna Ortega, Ncuti Gatwa, Cole Sprouse, Dallas Liu and others who have been turning heads recently.

Preparing for Priscilla

Preparing for her role as Priscilla Presley was both rewarding and nerve-racking for Spaeny.

"It was nothing like anything I had done before in terms of prep," she said.

Leading up to production, which was executed in just 30 days, Spaeny met up with Priscilla Presley a few times in Los Angeles. She said their first meeting over lunch was about four hours long.

"You email back and forth with Priscilla Presley and then for her to walk into the room on our first meeting, all the words and all the questions I had just completely fell out of my head because she's the queen of rock-and-roll," Spaeny told the News-Leader. "To have that time with her was really special."

More: Priscilla Presley coming to Nixa in January to tell story of her life, marriage to Elvis

When it came to working with her co-star, Jacob Elordi, Spaeny said she "got incredibly lucky."

Before production, Spaeny organized a few activities for them to do together, like horseback riding and going to the movies, so they could get more comfortable being around each other.

Pickleball on set

Though the cast and crew were limited to a short 30-day production period, Spaeny said they still made time for fun, notably, by participating in pickleball tournaments.

"Something fun that Sofia did is that she built a pickleball (court) on the set, so in between set-ups and takes, the whole crew was out there playing pickleball," Spaeny said. "Jacob and I would come out and watch those tournaments in full Priscilla and Elvis costume.

"By the end of the shoot, there was a huge competition going on. There were judges and there were teams. And of course, Sofia was in the finals because she's very good at pickleball."

Springfield still a safe haven

Spaeny got her start on The Landers Theatre stage with Springfield Little Theatre and at Silver Dollar City in Branson at the age of 13. She performed in A Dickens Christmas Carol at Silver Dollar City for seven years.

Spaeny's breakout role was as Amara Namani in "Pacific Rim: Uprising," released in 2018. The same year, she also played Jane Ginsburg in "On the Basis of Sex" and Rose Summerspring in "Bad Times at the El Royale."

Despite all of the experiences she's had since leaving the Ozarks, she said the people who supported — and challenged — her in Springfield and Branson made the biggest impact on her.

"They all believed in me and made me work really hard," she said. "It wasn't, 'Oh, we're just putting on cute, little shows' ... They didn't ever let me slack. They really taught me a lot about discipline and why entertainment and performance is so important."

When asked how often she visits home, Spaeny said she was in Springfield the previous week visiting family. She enjoys having a place she can get away. Springfield cashew chicken and Andy's Frozen Custard are perks, too.

"I go there every chance I get," Spaeny said of Springfield. "It can get really crazy in LA and New York. It's very fast-paced, so it's really like a haven for me, going back to Springfield."

Two more blockbusters this year

Life doesn't appear to be slowing down for Spaeny.

On April 26, "Civil War" will hit the big screens. Directed by Alex Garland, the writer of "28 Days Later," "Ex Machina" and "Annihilation," the film tells the story of a Civil War breaking out in the United States during present day. Spaeny is one of the key actors in the film, alongside Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst and Nick Offerman.

Later in the summer, "Alien: Romulus," the seventh movie from the "Alien" franchise will be released. Featuring the youngest cast of the entire franchise, "Alien: Romulus" is directed by Fede Álvarez, known for "Evil Dead" and "Don't Breathe."

Spaeny plays the lead role in the new "Alien" film, which follows a group of young people discovering the xenomorphs, the franchise's iconic monster.

Miss the live broadcast? Here's how to re-watch the ceremony

If you missed the live broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards on CBS, no need to fret.

The Golden Globe Awards are available for streaming on Paramount+. The streaming service is offering a one-week free trial for both the Paramount+ Essential ($5.99/month) and Paramount+ with SHOWTIME ($11.99/month) subscriptions.

Subscribers of online cable channels like FuboTV, DirecTV Stream, Sling TV and Hulu + Live TV will also be able to access the Golden Globe Awards.

A red carpet pre-show can also be re-watched on the Variety YouTube channel. And if you're interested in what celebrities had to say after the ceremony, the Associated Press has a nearly four-hour video on its YouTube channel featuring interviews with Ali Wong, Jeremy Allen White, Emma Stone and others.

Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretacrossphoto. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield native Cailee Spaeny nominated for Golden Globe Award