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Monday, Nov 9, 2009
Sofia Coppola talks about her crazy childhood, the "Dolce Vita" energy of Tokyo, and casting Bill Murray as a romantic lead in "Lost in Translation."
Sep 23, 2003 | When Sofia Coppola's directorial debut, "The Virgin Suicides," wowed critics and audiences in 2000, there was an unspoken sense of surprise. Before then, her only public involvement in film had been a much-maligned supporting role in her father's 1991 film "The Godfather Part III."
Now Francis Ford Coppola's daughter has bucked expectations again. The dreaded sophomore slump has been avoided with her acclaimed "Lost in Translation." For starters, the picture does the wonderful service of creating a great role for Bill Murray, allowing the actor to blend his genius for absurdist improvisation with an underrated, untapped ability as a serious lead, seen only in the disappointing "Razor's Edge" and for fleeting moments in two fantastic Wes Anderson pictures, "Rushmore" and "The Royal Tenenbaums." More than that, though, "Lost in Translation" shows a filmmaker of exceptional control, able to fuse the simple acts of photography and writing in a subtle and elusive manner. How many movies can you say resemble the poetic, contemplative work of Japan's midcentury master Yasujiro Ozu one moment and an irreverent Harold Ramis comedy the next?
As the daughter of one legendary filmmaker, the wife of another very talented one, Spike Jonze, the sister of up-and-coming director Roman Coppola, and the cousin of actors Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman, Sofia Coppola has had to claim a place of her own. And she's done just that.
With apologies to the man who made the "Godfather" trilogy, "Apocalypse Now" and "The Conversation," not to mention Jonze, the mind behind "Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation" and some superb music videos, Sofia is arguably the one in her family making the best movies. (Where has Francis been lately? Has he exiled himself from the director's chair after "Jack"?) Her style is unquestionably distinct; her pictures aren't the pageants of Francis Ford Coppola, nor the bizarre struggles for sincerity amid an ocean of irony that characterize her husband's movies. As slight and soft-spoken as her father is burly and boisterous, Sofia Coppola is beginning to cast a shadow of her own.
What was your environment like in the Coppola household as a child? Were you told things like, "Daddy can't make it to your birthday party because he's losing his mind in the Philippines shooting 'Apocalypse Now'?"
Actually, I was in the Philippines with him. We were always around my dad, so he wasn't absentee at all. I don't think it was normal, but it was exciting. You always had lots of creative people around, and my parents took us everywhere. I got exposed to so many different cultures and people. I mean, I got to go to Kurosawa's house as a child.
So when other kids your age were obsessing over "Star Wars" as a child, did you just think to yourself, "That's Dad's friend George?"
I was pretty excited too. I had all the action figures.
I know you wrote "Lost in Translation" with Bill Murray in mind. Can you tell me what films of his you were a fan of over the years?
I always loved "Groundhog Day" and "Tootsie." Of course "Rushmore." And I remember watching "Saturday Night Live" when I was little. Oh, and "What About Bob?" too. Not so much the older ones like "Meatballs" or "Stripes," though, to tell the truth.
Was it a conscious move on your part to give Murray the chance to play a more serious romantic lead?
Yeah, definitely. I thought he often showed that side but hardly anyone framed a whole movie around that. The one time someone did, in "The Razor's Edge," I thought he was really good. I thought you could just tell he had the depth to pull it off, not just doing slapstick but showing a more touching side. I think he's really romantic, but not in a cheesy way.
There are a lot of famous relationships on- and off-screen in Hollywood involving older men and younger women, be it Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart or the sort of "Autumn in New York" genre. How did you negotiate the potential for that kind of cliché with "Lost in Translation"?
I know what you mean. I don't mean to put down movies like "Autumn in New York," but that doesn't appeal to me at all. I wasn't thinking of making a May-December romance. That wasn't the point. But I did like the idea of these characters that were on the opposite ends of their lives, looking at these same kinds of issues. It really came from me looking back on my early 20s, and that kind of angst that had me in crisis. I think this movie is romantic, but it's not about an affair.
