Sofia Coppola has described the experience of revisiting her third feature film, Marie Antoinette, through footage shot by her late mother as deeply moving. The 55-year-old director, daughter of The Godfather filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and documentary maker Eleanor Coppola, is marking the film's 20th anniversary with a new documentary titled Making Marie Antoinette.
The documentary features footage from the 80 hours Eleanor filmed on the set of the 2006 film, which starred Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman and was shot at the Palace of Versailles near Paris. Eleanor, who died in 2024, had expressed a wish for the footage to be compiled, and Sofia reviewed the previously unseen material to fulfil that request.
A Personal Look Behind the Scenes
Making Marie Antoinette explores the craftsmanship and care behind the film, while also offering insight into what it meant to be a young female director at the time. Eleanor is voiced by Diane Lane, a regular collaborator with the Coppola family, who reads excerpts from Eleanor's journals reflecting on her experiences on set and her relationship with her daughter.
Sofia, who won the Academy Award for best original screenplay for the 2003 romantic comedy Lost In Translation, told the Press Association: "It was so touching to go through this footage and see that time through my mum's eyes. Now I have grown children of my own, I can see it from a mother's perspective."
"It felt like a gift to have all this footage that she wanted to be put together. I felt so lucky that she had shot almost 80 hours, and it was daunting to work out how to put it all together in the way she would have wanted," she added. "That was challenging, but I'm really happy to have had it done and to be able to share it."
Reflections on a Young Filmmaker
Sofia, who was 34 when she made Marie Antoinette, said it was strange to see herself as a young filmmaker. "I feel like I was such a baby, and I can see that I was hesitant about asserting myself in a way that I'm not all these years later," she explained. "There's an evolution, and I hope that's helpful for young filmmakers to see, too, that you don't just go in there as an experienced person."
The film won best costume design at the 2006 Oscars, and the documentary includes interviews with costume designer Milena Canonero. "Watching the footage, I'm proud and impressed with how our whole team came together, how so many people can co-ordinate to put something in the frame where everything fits together," said Sofia. "I'm in awe of Milena Canonero's incredible costumes and her power of compartmentalisation. I'm still impressed by movie magic and how it all comes together, and I hope people get some insight into how we work together."
Looking Ahead to Narrative Films
Asked whether she would make another documentary in the future, Sofia said she is happy to return to her screenwriting roots. "I learned a lot from this," she said. "It was so different, but I'm looking forward to going back to writing a script and creating a world, because I really enjoyed that."
"It was a really interesting experience finding our way through the footage, working with the editor and seeing how the story evolved. I learned a lot from it, but I'm excited to go back to my narrative films," she added. Making Marie Antoinette is in UK and Irish cinemas on Friday.
