50 Things You Might Not Know About Sofia Coppola And Her Movies
BuzzFeed
·10 min read
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If you're a big fan of Sofia Coppola's movies, there's a good chance you already know quite a bit about her.
Like Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson, she's one of those directors who attract fans (like myself) who like to know what goes on behind the scenes.
Here are some things you might not know about Coppola and her films:
1.Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore recommended Jeffrey Eugenides's novel The Virgin Suicides to Coppola.
2.Until then, she wasn't interested in taking part in the family business of filmmaking.
3.Reading The Virgin Suicides changed her mind.
4.There was already an adaptation of The Virgin Suicides written when Coppola finished her script, but the production company wasn't happy with it and went with hers instead.
5.The Virgin Suicides is the first of four collaborations between Coppola and Kirsten Dunst.
6.Coppola also directed the music video for Air's "Playground Love," which followed the actors and their characters on- and off-set of The Virgin Suicides.
7.Robert Schwartzman, who played Baldino, is Coppola’s cousin.
8.According to Scarlett Johansson, Coppola wanted her to appear in The Virgin Suicides after seeing the young actor in Manny & Lo.
9.Johannsson was just 17 when she filmed Lost in Translation.
10.Coppola has said she wouldn't have made Lost in Translation if Bill Murray, who she'd written the lead role for, hadn't agreed to star in it.
11.With Lost in Translation, Coppola became the first woman nominated for directing, producing, and screenwriting during the Oscars all in the same year.
12.Lost in Translation also won Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes and Independent Spirit Awards.
13.Charlotte's husband, John, was loosely based on Spike Jonze, Coppola's former husband. There were rumors that Anna Faris’ character, Kelly, was based on Cameron Diaz (who starred in Jonze's Being John Malkovich), but Coppola has never confirmed this.
14.Nearly 20 years later, only Murray, Johansson, and Coppola know for sure what Bob whispered to Charlotte at the end of the movie.
15.Marie Antoinette is the second of Coppola's collaborations with Kirsten Dunst.
16.Dunst and Jason Schwartzman, who played Antoinette and Louis XVI, respectively, were both about a decade older than their teenage characters at the time of filming.
17.Jason Schwartzman, who played Louis XVI, is Coppola’s cousin (and the aforementioned Robert Schwartzman's brother).
18.Coppola was allowed to film Marie Antoinette at the actual Palace of Versailles.
19.Manola Blahnik designed hundreds of shoes for the movie.
20.Popular French patisserie Ladurée, meanwhile, made the pastries for the film.
21.The look of Count Axel Fersen, played by Jamie Dornan, was based on Adam Ant.
22.Marie Antoinette was Dornan's onscreen debut.
23.Somewhere was loosely inspired by Coppola's own relationship with her very famous father, Francis Ford Coppola.
24.Coppola wrote the role of Johnny Marco, the main character in Somewhere, with Stephen Dorff in mind, because he had both a "bad-boy actor" vibe and "this really sweet, sincere side."
25.Dorff and Elle Fanning, who plays his daughter in Somewhere, bonded after Coppola instructed them to spend an afternoon together.
26.The first 15 minutes of Somewhere feature no dialogue.
27.The camera lenses Coppola used in Somewhereare the same ones her father used in 1983's Rumble Fish.
28.Benicio del Toro's Somewhere cameo, was spoiled when Robert Schwartzman and other members of the band Rooney (who also appeared in the film) blogged about it.
29.The Bling Ring is the third of Coppola's collaborations with Kirsten Dunst.
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Dunst appears very briefly in a cameo as herself at a nightclub.
30.Paris Hilton, who was a victim of the IRL Bling Ring burglaries, also cameoed as herself at the club.
39.Coppola wrote The Beguiled screenplay with Nicole Kidman in mind.
40.On the Rocks marks the third collaboration between Coppola and Bill Murray.
41.It's also her first film distributed by a streaming service.
42.Rashida Jones, who plays Laura in On the Rocks, was a student in an acting class Coppola used to workshop her script for Lost in Translation. Jones played the role of Charlotte.
44.Coppola screenedOn the Rocks for her family — including her parents — during the COVID-19 lockdown.
45.On the Rocks is one of the rare occasions Coppola inserted a personal part of herself into a character.
46.Coppola prides herself on providing a feminine point of view with her movies.
47.Coppola's husband, Thomas Mars, has appeared on every one of her film's soundtracks.
48.Coppola's films are often reactionary to the movie preceding it.
49.Coppola prefers to work with smaller budgets, which she's said provides more creative freedom than larger ones.
50.While Coppola involves her father in her projects, it's important to her to remain independent (which is why she made a point to secure the rights to The Virgin Suicides without his help).
What's your favorite Sofia Coppola movie? Sound off in the comments!
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