feature on sophia coppola for filter magazine by drew tewksbury

T flm f f Cl TT .They are provocationsto those big-budget extravaganzasthat expodetheirway into egapexesacrossthe word, showing so uch but saying soitte. bockbusters are brighty shining naeson a arquee, Coppoa’sis are handwritten notes, roed up, pacedinto a botte and thrownto the sea. he akes the stateent that biggeri sn’t aways better—that inscribed to those oentsin between, there are songs in sienceiporing usto coe coserandisten.

The detais in Coppoa’s is deine the whoe and in Somewhere,heratest project aswriter anddirector, she exporesthe ie o an agingactor in los ngees.er subject is Johnny marco, payed by tephenDor,a ading oywoodactorwho anguisheshis daysaway at the iconicoywoodhaunt,the Chateau maront.

Johnny’sie issoakedin contradictions.e speedshis ferraridownl..’scongestedstreets,awaysooking overhisshouderor paparazzithataren’t there.Woen throw thesevesat hidaiy whie phones buzz withangry textsrospurned overs.ex hasost itseaning,andJohnny evenas aseepduring hoteroo visits rotwin strippers.Then,when hisex-wie dropso his11-year-oddaughter Ceo (e fanning) ora week,hiscenteressie suddeny gainsa ocus.

like Coppoa’s Lost in Translation, thisi revisits the stories oactors in hotes, but whereas that i about Tokyo was a andscape,Somewhere is a portrait. he reveas the bizarre word that actorsoccupy where their ony conduit to the outside word is theirproessionaentourage o anagersand peope who shepherdtaent aong astheyseepwak through ie.

cross the spectru o Coppoa’s work, i t becoes evident that sheis interested in states o rest. n The Virgin Suicides (and her irst i,

1998’s Lick the Star), she opened the door on idde cass econoic (noteotiona) stabiity; Lost in Translation exained istessness at a hoteset apart ro Tokyo’s sensory stor; and Marie Antoinette presented agir who had everything—incuding an epire. Coppoa oten sees to ask:What happens when peope have everything they want? When aterianeeds are uied, does eotiona uient oow? for any, theword o weath is as aien as mars, and her i s expore these ar reacheso spiritua space.

Coppoa dety creates a story that oves with inertia,not energy.er isoat aong,a drop o oi that seeps across the water. heakes ordinary oents extraordinary by extending a scene to thepoint past where ainstreadirectors woud have caed cut. n theseongeroents, she akesreection unavoidabe asthe vieweris acedhead-on with the question:What doesthis aean? fisro Coppoa’sather’s heyday typicay had no probe with taking their tie, butost odern erican cinea reuses to et audiences avish in theoent,instead reying on seight-o-handtricks—exposions,coputergraphics,quick cuts—to distract itsviewers with a-out sensory assautso escapis.Coppoa stripsit a away,eaving a story nakedandexposed,unencuberedby pot additionsro studio execswho sacriice art orthe bottoine.

erhaps Coppoa’s extraordinary ineage gives her a odicu oreedo ro the pressures o coercia success, but Somewhereprovesthat a aousast nae isn’t everything.s Somewhere receivedcriticaaccai at the 67th Venice nternationa fifestiva andCoppoaearnedthe prestigiousGoden lion or Best icture (she’sone o the ewwoen andony the ourth erican to win),she has proven that she’sneverbeen sipy a nae to watch.he’sthe new paradig. ››

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How doyou begin the processof writinga movie? Do you startwithcharactersorthe story?

With Lost in Translation, it wasthe pace; wantedto write about Tokyo because ’dspent tiethere.Then on Somewhere, startedwith the characterthat tephen Dor pays,this actorcharacter cae into y ind.’ve aways reatedto l.. so guessthe starting point washi.

When you finisha scriptdoyou run itby yourfather[FrancisFord Coppola] and yourbrotherRoman before you take itto the studios?

usuay try to inish it andshow y brother eary on when ’writing. showedthisone to ydadwhen wasinished andhe wasipressedwith how short it was—ore that hadthe nerveto subit such a short script to production copanies. try not to get too uch input because have an idea about how want to do soething.

Whichofyourfather’sfilmsinfluenced you?

ne o y avorite is is Rumble Fish, ove that i. o any o the,reay. reeberseeing Apocalypse Now on iwhen they re-didit. saw it asa itte kidat seven oreight; kindo grew upwith it, so seeing it asan adut on iagain wasbown away.

Yourfilms have gotten agreat reception in Europe.Do you think yourwork ismore European,and ifso,whatdoesthatmean?

[Thateans]soooow.wasn’ttryingtoakea uropeanibutaa anohowsoeuropeanisareapproachedand ikestoriesthatare esspot-drivenandareore oan atosphere.eethat[uropeansdirectorshavea]traditiono takingtheirtieandnot havingaot odraa.

Did you write the role in Somewhere specifically forStephen Dorff?

We,it wasn’t basedon hi;it was basedon a ot o other peope.But didthink o hiwhen waswriting it. knew pretty eary on he woudbe a goodl.. actor. cobinedit ainto one guyandthought he coudpay it. hadn’t seen hiin a ong tie,aybe ike six years,and sent hithe script andhe reay connectedto it. hadn’t sent it out to very any peope so it wasnice.ehasa rea sweetnessanda ot o heart andsincerity that you woudn’t expect rohis persona. thought he woudbe reay goodwith the daughtercharacterbecause the character is prettyawed;you have to get soeone pretty ikeabe to keeppeope watching andoowing aong.e hadto carry the ovie.But it was a chaenge ore to write roa guy’spoint o view.

The female character,Cleo, seems toresonate wellwith the female perspective.

When started,she wasbased on y riend’sdaughterwho is that age, and’d put in detaisroher ike hercooking andher coputer. Then put in eoriesro y own chidhood.can reate to being a kidaroundthat grown-upoywood word;y dad taught e how to paycrapsat a casino when wasa kid. put yse in ao y characters,but especiay with Ceo. reeberedbeing her age andgoing on tripswith y dad;y big brotherhad a orsche andwouddrive e around. my dad’snot anything ike the characterin the story, but put thingsroy ie into it.

Thisis yourfirstmovie aboutL.A.Why did you choose tomake thismovie now, afterhaving

lived away from the city forso long?

think awaysike to write about thingsro a distance.When wasiving in l.., wrote about

Japan andfrance. guessit just seesore exoticwhen you’re ar away. o, being in arisater Marie Antoinette, y daughterwas born and took the yearo and think was a ittehoesick or Caiornia.There were awaysl.. oviesthat ovedthat hadgood stye andthink that we haven’t hadone orthe atest era o odern-day l..

How longagowasit thatyou lived in L.A.and how has the city changed since then?

ovedthere in coege,in the eary ’90s,and ivedthere orabout 10years. o think o l..i nthe ’90s. ee ike there are thingsthat have changedabout it andthings that are stithe sae. reebergoing to the Chateau maront a ot back then,beore UsWeekly existedandwhenthere weren’t paparazziaround. t just et a itte ore innocent.Being in aris, noticing howreaity showsare such a big thing [in the U..]—that isdeinitey soething that doesn’t exist infrance,especiay reaity starsbeing in the centero popcuture. o these thingswere on yindwhen waswriting Somewhere.

LosAngeles,as acity, lacksa center. Atthe beginningof the film,Dorff’s characterlacksa

centerorpurpose in hislife.He’s acenterlessperson in acenterlesscity,drivingaround but

notgoing anywhere.Can you talk aboutthis?

That’sa goodobservation on yourpart. didn’t think about that connection,but it seeedr ightthat he ivesin l.. in the Chateau maront andhe’snot very rooted. et ike he was at a criticaoent in hisie where he coudeitherhave a aiy anda rea ie orbe the od guy at the cub. wasthinking ore o an l..that peope who want to be starsor whateverare drawn to,but it’strue that it iskindo spreadout andvague.

The Marmontis like apurgatory:it’s only when you leave thatyou have to dealwiththe real

world.You addressed the notion ofhotelsas placesofstasisin Lostin Translation.Butwhatdoesitmean here?

think ainterestedin charactersthat are in transition andin crisisand not deined. hoteis usuay a goodpace because you’re in ibo andit’s not peranent.t sees ike the rightsetting or that kind o character.nd it’strue that your rea ie ison hod—soeone’stakingcare o you.

Johnny’sview ofwomen isskewed,too.Tohim, they’re allPR flacks,strippers,ex-girlfriends

and groupies.Is thisdecision to depictwomen assuchmeantto be taken literally orare these

 just archetypes?

wasn’t trying to ake a stateent about woen. just know the peope in y ie are woenandthey have a ore nurturing side,so they’re kindo taking care o hi.t’s not a we-roundedidea o woen,it’s just a sice o thisword that he’sin, surroundedby groupies. isdaughterisa contrast.

Hisdaughter then hasto try tounderstand these women in hislife and try toreconcile the factthatherfatherisa sexualbeing.Whatinterestsyou aboutsexualpolitics?

was thinking that it ust be copicated or hi, a guy with a daughter who’s on the vergeo becoing a teenager and a woan, with the way that he reates to woen. he’s aware.You see when there’s soe young gir irting with hi, she’s aware. he kind o gives hia ook and busts hi. ee ike kids are ore aware than peope give the credit or. F

A Conversation with Sofia CoppolaFROMLEFT: LOSTIN TRANSLATION, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, SOMEWHERE ,COPPOLAON THE SETOF SOMEWHERE.

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