Page 25 - Exploring Taste Magazine N.2

PEOPLE—SOFIA COPPOLA

hile acting families in Hollywood easily num- Coppola’s unusual, minimalist approach to film-making is the
ber into the dozens, it’s rarer to f nd famous result of an open mind, one allowed to wander – perhaps reflec-
f lm directors who have passed on their innate tive of so much time in her father’s vineyard in Geyserville, Cal-
W talents and acquired skills to their children. ifornia. “There is certainly something free and inspiring about
Laura Dern, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson and yes, even Ivanka being outside,” she admits. “That combination of a glass of wine,
Trump, have all benef ted from their parents’ exploits, while Sof a the murmur of conversation outdoors in the early evening is very
Coppola, the daughter of directing legend Francis Ford Coppola, special.” Indeed, when preparing for a new project, detachment
has proved beyond doubt that, while she has clearly inherited her from the chaos of Los Angeles is Sofia’s modus operandi. “I love
father’s abilities, her own ef orts to move a step beyond have been to get away and will start working on a few things before waiting
considerable – and well received. Aside from a few attempts at act- for one to stick. Then I’ll find the time to write and start filling
ing – including a particularly critically-mauled turn in her father’s up my ‘mood boards’ with visual ideas I can pass on to my collab-
saga-closing The Godfather: Part III – Coppola’s career has f our- orators. I’m a very visual person, so I don’t like to rely on dialog
ished on the other side of the camera, although, she says, there was so much,” reveals Coppola, whose approach could be described
no conscious decision early on to head in that direction. “It makes as “quiet yet intense”. “My mother, Eleanor, is the intellectual one
sense now, in hindsight,” says the ef ortlessly stylish 46-year-old. “I in the family; she loves the arts and was always taking me and
went to art school after college and didn’t really have any idea about my brother to museums and galleries, particularly to see work
going into f lm-making. But it seems obvious now, considering I had by new artists. What she passed down to me is my calm exterior
spent my whole childhood hanging around my dad’s f lm sets, and – sometimes what’s going on inside is more like a raging storm,
just about everyone in my family is in the f lm business. My mother not that you’d notice!”
encouraged us to be creative in everything we did, and of course As for what her father contributed, “He is quite the opposite.” Re-
my dad was always talking about his love for making movies – and I ferring to a “yin and yang” upbringing, Coppola says the house-
always felt I had something interesting to say about the world.” hold was “high-volume”, so to be heard she would go the opposite
The spark that ignited her career was the book behind what way – curbing her enthusiasm in the midst of general excitability.
became Coppola’s f rst feature – The Virgin Suicides – a Seven- She does admit, though, to being a daddy’s girl, mostly due to the
ties-set coming-of-age drama with a star-studded cast including male-dominated nature of her upbringing. “I grew up with so many
James Woods, Danny De Vito, Kathleen Turner and a young men in my family,” she nods, “and in some ways I think that helped
Kirsten Dunst. “That’s what led me into it,” she says. “It was the to condition me – having all those strong men around. My genera-
book – I just felt I wanted to make it into a f lm.” That f rst foray tion in the family is me – the only girl – and my two brothers, and
into f lm-making demonstrated that Coppola’s style was all her my cousins [one of whom is actor Nicolas Cage] are all male too! I
own, not some derivative of her father’s. But it was Lost in Transla- guess with my f lms I’m trying to bring a bit of balance back with a
tion, the screenplay which won her an Academy Award along with female voice.” Indeed, the Coppola family bond is very strong and
a Best Director nomination, that really set out her stall. It’s a f lm she speaks animatedly about their closeness. “They’re amazing par-
in which very little happens plot-wise, but there’s a tender and ents and incredible grandparents – they spend a lot of time with my
complicated story to be told all the same. children and are very loving, and always telling them stories.”

The reflections on her own childhood are very strong, and wine was always very central to bringing
people together. “When my father first bought his vineyard in the mid-Seventies I was very young,
but it was an investment not just in a business, but in having a place where family
could all come together and relax.”

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