Director Sofia Coppola has spoken about the influence of her mother, the risks of guerrilla filming in Tokyo, and the legacy of her film Marie Antoinette in a reader Q&A.
Mother's influence and early inspiration
Asked by 14-year-old aspiring filmmaker Cherry about the successful women in her family, Coppola said she learned from her mother to be true to herself and to notice beauty in her surroundings. "My mom always noticed odd details in life, so a lot of my films are made up of those kinds of things," she said.
When asked which memory she would preserve if forced to erase another, Coppola recalled a recent party at Versailles for the anniversary of Marie Antoinette, where New Order played. "When they started playing Ceremony [from the soundtrack] and the lights went on, I just know that in the future when I have to remember a happy memory, that's going to be it," she said. "Even painful memories are part of making you who you are, and you learn from them, so I can't think of anything I would erase."
Guerrilla filming in Tokyo
Coppola acknowledged that some scenes in Lost in Translation were filmed without permits, including shots of Scarlett Johansson on the subway and an overhead shot at the Shibuya crossing. "We just went into Starbucks because it had this incredible view, but we would have never got permission to film there," she said. "So we stole a few things in the spirit of guerrilla film-making. And I'm glad we didn't get kicked out, yes."
On the set of The Virgin Suicides, Coppola said the five actresses' personalities emerged during rehearsals and bonding. "Chelse Swain was the most eccentric one," she noted.
Marie Antoinette's soundtrack and music video
Discussing the postmodern soundtrack of Marie Antoinette, Coppola said she wanted to convey that Marie Antoinette and Louis were teenagers, drawing on new romantic music from her own youth. "I was lucky that I had a big brother who exposed me to good music at a young age," she said. "When the film came out, some people were offended because it just wasn't usual to put contemporary music in a period film."
Asked about her 2003 video for the White Stripes' cover of "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself," Coppola said the idea of Kate Moss pole dancing was her own. "I just asked Kate to do that, she said yes, and the band was into it."
Tim Burton and family legacy
Reflecting on working on Tim Burton's 1984 short film Frankenweenie, Coppola described it as a fun experience. "I think Tim Burton was right out of school," she said. "He used to do drawings for me." She added that she remains "never jaded" about film sets.
Coppola also discussed her mother filming 80 hours of behind-the-scenes footage during Marie Antoinette, calling it "a real treat to have this home movie to revisit." On the mysterious whisper at the end of Lost in Translation, she deferred to Bill Murray's view: "It's between them."
Making Marie Antoinette, directed by Eleanor Coppola and Sofia Coppola, is in US cinemas from 23 October and streams on Mubi from 6 November.
