When is a museum not a museum? When it’s your family home.
Riley Keough, the granddaughter of the undisputed King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis Presley, has just dropped a cinematic bombshell. Her newly released short documentary, In Process, has sent shockwaves through the Elvis fandom, igniting a fierce debate over legacy, preservation, and the right to privacy. The controversy? Keough and a cast of actors bypassed the velvet ropes and filmed scenes lounging, drinking, and swimming in virtually every sacred room of the Graceland estate.
For purists, it’s absolute sacrilege. For Keough, it’s just Tuesday.
“Pretend Living” Among Priceless Artifacts
The 6.5-minute, black-and-white documentary, co-created and co-directed with Gina Gammell, was designed to showcase Keough’s creative writing process—specifically regarding her late mother Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir, From Here to the Great Unknown. However, the backdrop has stolen the show.
Fans were left clutching their pearls as the film showcased a backyard picnic, actors interacting with the Graceland horses, and a raucous pool party that spilled into the legendary basement pool room.
“Anybody else get a bit nervous when people were using the pool table and drinking in the pool room, too?” one frantic fan commented online. “OMG, what if they rip the pool table even more and what if they spill something?”
Another tourist, fresh from a visit to Memphis, expressed utter disbelief: “The reverence to all these rooms and places is astounding. So seeing these people on the couches and in the pool and actually pretend living is so crazy to me.” To these loyalists, every thread of fabric in Graceland is an irreplaceable artifact.
The Heir’s Defiant Stand: “It Did Not Feel Like a Museum”
Despite the uproar, Riley remains unflinchingly unapologetic. While millions of tourists see Graceland as a frozen-in-time shrine to the King, Keough sees the dining room where she ate Southern food with her cousins.
“The house felt very full of family… and did not feel like a museum,” Riley narrates in the film. “It had that family home feeling for us.”
Many fans have fiercely rallied behind her, clapping back at the critics. Their message is clear: It is Riley’s house. Left to her by her mother, Lisa Marie (who famously threw wild holiday parties in the mansion), Keough has every right to breathe life back into the estate.
Eerie Echoes of Elvis and Lisa Marie
The documentary is packed with hidden, emotional easter eggs that will give hardcore fans chills.
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The Bedroom: A striking shot shows Riley lying on the bed in her great-grandparents’ (Gladys and Vernon) first-floor bedroom, perfectly mirroring a 1950s photo of Elvis. Later, a teddy bear shot echoes both Elvis’s iconic staircase poses and Lisa Marie’s 2012 Storm & Grace photoshoot in that exact same room.
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The Jungle Room: Riley is filmed sitting on the hidden staircase leading to the sun deck—an angle tourists are strictly forbidden from seeing.
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The Living Room: Riley flawlessly recreates a famous portrait pose of Elvis and Priscilla while sitting on the living room floor.
As the film concludes, a worker casually strings a velvet rope across a room as the public tours resume, while Riley remains sitting inside. “It was just a very human story set in an unusual place,” she notes. “But for me, it’s the most usual place in the world.”
Real-Life Drama: Foiling the Graceland Heist
The release of this intimate film, premiered at a special Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program event, comes on the heels of staggering real-life drama. Since becoming the sole trustee of Graceland two years ago, Keough has faced unimaginable pressures—including a literal criminal plot to steal the estate!
In May 2024, headlines exploded when a fraudulent scheme attempted to force Graceland into foreclosure. Justice, however, is being served: in February 2025, a Missouri woman pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection to the plot, facing up to 20 years in prison at her upcoming June sentencing.
What’s Next for the King’s Castle?
With the annual Elvis Week approaching in August, and the monumental 50th anniversary of Elvis’s death just two years away, Riley Keough is firmly in control of her grandfather’s empire. She is proving that she isn’t afraid to make mistakes or ruffle feathers, telling Vanity Fair: “I think that’s a great talent actually to be able to be okay with failing, messing up, and not being perfect.”
The velvet ropes may keep the public out, but the Queen of Graceland is making it clear: the house is still very much alive.