Coppola, Sofia

May 12, 1971 • New York, New York

Director, screenwriter, producer, designer, photographer

Sofia Coppola was born into Hollywood royalty, the daughter of one of the most applauded film directors of the twentieth century, Francis Ford Coppola (1939–). From the beginning, it seemed she was destined, like her father, for a career in the movies. A few weeks after her birth, Coppola took on her first acting role: as an infant boy in her father's epic film, The Godfather (1972). Throughout her life, she continued to live and work under her father's wing, but his wing often cast a long shadow. In 2004 Coppola finally stepped out of that shadow to claim her own celebrity. She became the first American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director, for her movie Lost in Translation (2003).

An artistic household

Sofia Coppola was born May 12, 1971, in New York City, during the production of The Godfather. She was the youngest child, and the only daughter, of director, producer, screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola, a designer, artist, and documentary filmmaker. Sofia, and her older brothers, Roman and Gian Carlo, grew up on the sets of their father's movies, with their mother close at hand, often documenting the movie-making process.

The youngest Coppola loved traveling to such exotic film locations as Manila, located in the Philippines, where the filming of Apocalypse Now (1979) took place. Apocalypse Now is Francis Ford Coppola's powerful look at the Vietnam War (1954–75). Seven-year-old Sofia entertained herself for hours by drawing elaborate pictures of palm trees and helicopters and weaving the pictures together to form a story.

When not on location the family settled in a small town in Napa Valley, California, away from the glare of Hollywood. Even at home, however, family life was far from ordinary. The Coppolas had summer creativity camps, where the children were encouraged to write stories and plays, to design and experiment. Sofia's parents inspired her, but Eleanor Coppola has also noted that her daughter was a very imaginative child from the beginning. According to a now-famous story, Francis Ford Coppola claims that he knew his daughter was destined to be a director when she was about three years old. As Coppola has told it, he and wife were driving in their car, bickering back and forth and not paying attention to Sofia, who was sitting in the backseat. Tired of her parents arguing, Sofia called out, "Cut!"

"I felt a little bit this time, a little bit, like people were able to see my movie without seeing my family."

The acting bug bites back

Coppola not only visited her father's movie locations, she also had small roles in his films, including Rumblefish and The Outsiders, both released in 1983 and both based on the popular novels of author S. E. Hinton (1948–), who writes books for children and young adults. Coppola also appeared in The Cotton Club (1984) and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). Her biggest role, however, came in 1990 when her father tapped her to play Mary Corleone in The Godfather, Part III.

The Family Business

Under the circumstances it is not surprising that Sofia Coppola went into the family business; her family tree reads like a who's who of Hollywood. Grandfather Carmine Coppola (1910–1991) was a flutist, conductor, and composer who worked with a number of symphonies across the United States. He found fame in his later years when he migrated to Hollywood and wrote music for the movies, especially those directed or produced by his son, Francis Ford Coppola. In 1974, he won an Oscar for writing the score for Francis Ford's The Godfather, Part II.

Sofia's aunt is actress Talia Shire (1946–), the sister of Francis Ford. Shire is probably best known for her role as Adrian in Rocky (1976), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Shire's son is actor Jason Schwartzman (1980–), who starred in Rushmore (1998). Sofia's more famous cousin is actor Nicolas Cage (1964–), son of August Coppola, Francis Ford's brother. Cage won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas (1995).

Sofia's brother, Roman Coppola (1965–), is also in film and was a familiar face on the set of The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation. He served as his sister's assistant director on both movies.

Sofia Coppola even married a filmmaker, director Spike Jonze (1969–), whom she met while a student at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Some claimed that the character of the flashy photographer husband in Lost in Translation was based on Jonze and that Coppola wrote the story because she was having trouble in her marriage. Coppola denied the rumors, although she admits that most of what she writes comes from her personal experiences. In 2003 Coppola and Jonze separated after four years of marriage.

When the movie was released, critics had a field day. Reviewers openly criticized Francis Ford Coppola for showing favoritism and casting his own daughter in such an important role. His daughter, however, was never his first choice. Actress Winona Ryder (1971–) was originally cast, but backed out at the last minute because of illness. As a favor to her father, Sofia agreed to take the part. This was a big step for her because, although she had been in several movies, she was extremely camera shy. "I never wanted to be an actor," Coppola told Karen Valby in Entertainment Weekly. "It's not my personality." Coppola was not rewarded for her bravery. Instead, critics raked her over the coals, poking fun at her accent and claiming that she gave a horribly wooden performance.

Coppola was so upset by the harsh criticism that she gave up acting, appearing in only a few more films, including Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (1999). The camera-shy young woman, however, had other interests.

What's a girl to do?

While still in high school Coppola was already dabbling in fashion and design. She modeled for American designer Marc Jacobs (1964–) and interned at Chanel, a famous fashion house in Paris, France. As an intern, she mostly answered phones, made photocopies, and ran errands, but the experience, says Coppola, was remarkable.

After graduating from Napa Valley's St. Helena High School, Coppola briefly attended college in Oakland, California. She then enrolled at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, California, where she studied painting for several years before dropping out. By now, Coppola was in her early twenties. She toyed with the idea of going to film school in New York, but school did not seem to be the place for her. Instead, she began to explore different career options. For a while she worked as a photographer, taking pictures for such fashion magazines as Paris Vogue and Allure.

Eventually Coppola turned to fashion design when she and a longtime friend started a sportswear clothing label called Milk Fed. Coppola focused on design while her friend took charge of production. Over the years the venture grew, and eventually became quite successful. The current line consists mostly of logo imprinted T-shirts and clothing inspired by 1980s fashion. Coppola also launched her own boutique, Heaven-27, to sell the hip Milk Fed line. Stores are based in Los Angeles and Japan, where Heaven-27 is considered one of the coolest stores in the country.

Coppola worried that she was going in too many directions, and that maybe she should focus her energies. Coppola went to her father for advice, asking him if she should settle with one thing and specialize. The senior Coppola recalled telling his daughter "that she didn't have to, that she should pursue everything and anything that interested her, that eventually they'd come together in something on their own."

Everything comes together

Coppola tried her hand at painting, photography, fashion design, acting, and even hosting a show on television. In 1995 she and Zoe Cassavetes, daughter of director John Cassavetes (1929–1989), appeared on Hi-Octane, a weekly show on Comedy Central that was geared toward teens and focused on movies, fashion, and celebrities. The program was short-lived.

In 1998, however, everything finally seemed to come together. That was the year that Coppola wrote, directed, and produced her first film, a short comedy called Lick the Star. It was not the first time that she had tried her hand behind the camera. In 1989 she helped her father write the script for a short film titled Life without Zoe, which was part of the anthology movie New York Stories. She also designed the costumes for the movie. Lick the Star, however, was Coppola's first attempt at taking creative control of a film project, and, after making the movie, she declared that she had figured out what she wanted to do.

Coppola lost no time in pursuing her dream. In 1999, only one year later, she released her first feature-length film, The Virgin Suicides. Coppola wrote the screenplay, which was adapted from the 1993 book by American author Jeffrey Eugenides (1960–). The movie was produced by Zoetrope, her father's film company. This time, although some critics focused on the fact that a Hollywood kid was being given a boost by her famous father, most were not as harsh as they had been in 1990 when Coppola appeared in The Godfather, Part III. In fact, the majority of reviewers embraced the very bizarre story of a group of teenage boys in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, obsessed with five sisters who, by the movie's end, kill themselves.

Many of Coppola's skills helped her to make The Virgin Suicides a success, especially her photographer's eye and her flair for design. Since the story is told from the perspective of several different boys, she used a lot of quick camera shots as if the boys were taking snapshots. And, because the story is set in the 1970s, she wanted to get the right feel in the look of the film and in the clothes the actors wore. Coppola was viewed as a young, new director who had a lot of potential, and critics looked forward to her next film.

A story all her own

The success of The Virgin Suicides led Coppola to try her hand at writing an original screenplay. She had been thinking about a story for several years, one that would take place in Tokyo, Japan, where she had spent a lot of time working on her clothing line and shooting ads for fashion magazines. The outcome was Lost in Translation (2003), which Coppola not only wrote, but produced and directed.

The movie is a look at two unhappy Americans who cross paths in Tokyo. One is a middle-aged celebrity named Bob Harris, played by Bill Murray (1950–), who is alone in Japan to shoot a whiskey commercial. The other is Charlotte, a young girl just out of college, whose photographer husband leaves her behind as he goes off on extended photo assignments. Coppola explores how the two cope with the unfamiliar neon culture of Japan. Bob and Charlotte are also two people, at different points in their lives, who are unsure of who they are and what their places are in the world. According to Coppola, who spoke with Entertainment Weekly in October 2003, that is how she felt when she was younger: "I just remember feeling overwhelmed by 'How do you figure out what you're supposed to do?'"

Coppola shot the movie on location in Tokyo in just twenty-seven days, for only $4 million, which in movie-making, is a very small budget. There is no fast action, no special effects, just a simple story about two people who connect. As she did in The Virgin Suicides, Coppola drew on her background in design and photography to create her own personal style of filmmaking. Her cast and crew noticed. Her critics noticed. According to David Ansen, in Newsweek, "Coppola is a warm, meticulous observer, with an intimate style that's the polar opposite of her famous father, Francis Ford. He's grand opera. This is chamber music."

Coppola makes history

Critics heaped additional praise on Lost in Translation, describing it as elegant and lyrical. Some even called it flawless. With the praise came the awards. The movie took home three Golden Globes: Best Picture and Best Director for Coppola, and Best Actor for Murray. The Golden Globes are awarded each year by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for outstanding achievement in film and television. Coppola also received top honors from the New York Film Critics Circle and at the Independent Spirit Awards, which honor smaller films that are not made by huge Hollywood studios.

In 2004, however, the thirty-two-year-old filmmaker made history. She became the first American woman to be nominated as Best Director by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Each year the academy, composed of members of the film community, gives awards, known as Oscars, to individuals who excel in such areas as screenwriting, acting, editing, and directing. Coppola followed in the footsteps of only two women: Italian director Lina Wertmuller (1928–), nominated in 1976 for Seven Beauties, and New Zealand-born director Jane Campion (1954–), nominated in 1993 for The Piano.

Coppola won the 2004 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, but she lost the award for Best Director to Peter Jackson (1961–), director of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Her place in history, however, and her reputation as a respected filmmaker was set. All the years of dabbling and searching, observing and experimenting, had finally paid off.

Interviewers describe Sofia Coppola's films as dreamy or dreamlike. They use the same words to describe Coppola the filmmaker. Still a shy, quiet person, Coppola seems uncomfortable in the spotlight of her new-found fame. According to Anthony Breznican, who interviewed her in 2004, she is "polite, pensive and as unpolished" as the character of Charlotte in Lost in Translation. She is also eager to move on to her next film, which is expected to be about the life of Marie Antoinette (1755–1793), the notorious eighteenth-century queen of France.

For More Information

Periodicals

Ansen, David. "Scarlett Fever." Newsweek (September 15, 2003): p. 64.

Betts, Kate. "Sofia's Choice." Time (September 15, 2003): p. 70.

Corliss, Richard. "Sundance Sorority." Time (January 24, 2000): pp. 68–69.

Gehring, Wes. D. "Along Comes Another Coppola." USA Today (January 2004): p. 59.

Krueger, Lisa. "Sofia Coppola." Interview (April 2000): p. 46.

Valby, Karen. "Fresh Heir: By Following in Her Father's Footsteps, a Young Filmmaker Finds Her Own Way." Entertainment Weekly (October 3, 2003): p. 51.

Valby, Karen. "Sofia Coppola: Lost in Translation." Entertainment Weekly (February 6, 2004): p. 94.

Sofia Coppola

Filmmaker

Born May 14, 1971, in New York, NY; daughter of Francis Ford (a filmmaker) and Eleanor (a photographer and documentary filmmaker) Coppola; married Spike Jonze (a director), 1999 (divorced, 2004). Education: Attended California Institute of the Arts, early 1990s.

Addresses:

Agent—William Morris Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019.

Career

Actress in films, including: The Godfather (uncredited), 1972; The Godfather: Part II (uncredited), 1974; The Outsiders, 1983; Rumble Fish, 1983; The Cotton Club, 1984; Peggy Sue Got Married, 1986; Anna, 1987; The Godfather: Part III, 1990; Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace, 1999; CQ, 2001. Writer of screenplays, including: "Life without Zoe" for New York Stories, 1989; Lick the Star, 1998; The Virgin Suicides, 1999; Lost in Translation, 2003. Director of films, including: Lick the Star, 1998; The Virgin Suicides, 1999; Lost in Translation, 2003. Has also worked at the Paris offices of the House of Chanel, and as a photographer for Vogue and Allure; co–hosted a Comedy Central show called Hi–Octane, 1993; launched clothing line, Milk Fed, 1995.

Awards:

New York Film Critics Circle Award for best director, for Lost in Translation, 2003; Golden Globe Award for best screenplay, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, for Lost in Translation, 2004; Academy Award for best screenplay, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for Lost in Translation, 2004.

Sidelights

Sofia Coppola emerged from her family's shadow to become one of Hollywood's most surprising success stories. The daughter of auteur Francis Ford Coppola, she was roundly excoriated in her teens for her performance in The Godfather: Part III. Moving behind the lens, however, Coppola has since become an acclaimed filmmaker in her own right. At the age of just 32, she won an Academy Award for best screenplay for her first original work, 2003's Lost in Translation, as well as critical praise for creating a stunningly subtle yet luminous film as its director. "I can't believe I am standing here," a clearly unnerved Coppola said during her acceptance speech, according the New York Times. "Thank you to my dad for all he taught me."

Coppola's film debut came just after her birth in May of 1971, when her father cast her as the infant in the baptism scene that concludes his epic, The Godfather. The senior Coppola is perhaps best known for his adaptation of the Mario Puzo saga about an Italian–American family and the criminal underworld, which regularly appears on lists of the greatest films of all time. As a toddler, Coppola also appeared in an uncredited role in the sequel, as a child onboard a boat approaching New York's Statue of Liberty scene in 1974's The Godfather: Part II. She and her brothers, Roman and Gian Carlo, were often taken along to locations where their father was shooting his films, including the grueling, trouble–plagued Philippines production of his other classic, Apocalypse Now. She also took bit roles (under the screen name "Domino") in The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, and The Cotton Club, her father's films from the early 1980s.

Most of Coppola's childhood, however, was spent in California's Napa Valley, where her parents owned a vineyard. Both recalled her as an imaginative, persuasive child. Eleanor Coppola, a photographer and documentary filmmaker, told Time writer Kate Betts that when her only daughter "played with her friends, she always wanted them to play her way—her story, her costumes. And I would have to say, 'Sofia, not everyone wants to play your way.' She had that pattern of somehow gathering everyone's enthusiasms, which is very much like a director." Her teen years were at first charmed ones, and included a stint as an intern at the Chanel atelier in Paris, working for Karl Lagerfeld, when she was just 15. "At one point I tripped over the phone wire and disconnected his call," she told W writer Christopher Bagley, "but he was always really nice." Tragedy struck Coppola and her family, however, in 1986, when Gian Carlo was killed in a boating accident. Coppola was at home in Napa Valley with her mother, and recalled it as "a heartbreaking time," she told New York Times writer Lynn Hirschberg. "You never really get over something like that."

Coppola's first foray into screenwriting came when she and her father wrote a segment for Woody Allen's 1989 trilogy, New York Stories, which he then directed. Their short film, "Life without Zoe," featured a precocious 12–year–old who lived at the Sherry–Netherland Hotel. Critical reviews were mixed, but journalistic venom came out full–force for the senior Coppola's next project, the long–anticipated final installment of The Godfather: Part III. Actress Winona Ryder had dropped out after being cast as Mary Corleone, daughter of Al Pacino's Michael Corleone, and Coppola's father put her in the part instead. The film was judged a half–baked conclusion after the cinematic accomplishment of the first two, but Coppola's performance was singled out as particularly regretful. "Though Mary is not on screen that much, she is crucial to the action," noted National Review film critic John Simon. "To have a gross–looking, totally non–acting, personality less person impersonating the movie's love interest is a costly impertinence. And to think that, because of daughter Sofia's Valley–girl accent, someone else had to dub her voice! But at least the dubbing is perfect: the voice is as inept as the body."

Mortified, Coppola steered clear of Hollywood for a time. She took classes at the California Institute of the Arts, appeared in a few music videos—including an early Black Crowes production—and co–hosted a 1993 cable television show with her friend Zoe Cassavetes, daughter of another cinematic legend, John Cassavetes. The show, Hi–Octane, featured the pair driving around the Los Angeles area in a vintage muscle car and interviewing their celebrity friends. She also learned photography, got a photo agent, and did work for French Vogue and Allure, but felt like she was floundering, career–wise. "I became a dilettante," she confessed to the New York Times' Hirschberg about this time in her life. "I wanted to do something creative, but I didn't know what it would be." In 1995, she started her own clothing company, Milk Fed, with a friend from grade school, Stephanie Hayman. The company became such a success in Japan that it gave Coppola a certain degree of financial freedom.

Coppola's varied interests in music and fashion eventually led her back into film. She was friends with designer Marc Jacobs, who introduced her to Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore. They, in turn, introduced her to her future husband, video director Spike Jonze, but Moore also gave her a copy of Jeffrey Eugenides acclaimed debut novel, The Virgin Suicides. Coppola was enchanted by the story of five sisters in a posh Midwestern suburb who commit suicide one by one. The story is narrated in flashback by one of the boys that knew the ethereally lovely Lisbon sisters, and when Coppola heard about a screenplay adaptation in the works that would add a bit more sex and violence to the story, she decided to write her own. She did so, quietly, without telling anyone and landed the project and the director's job as well.

Coppola had actually made her directing debut with a little–seen 1998 indie film called Lick the Star, but The Virgin Suicides was her first her major studio release. The work earned laudatory reviews, with critics noting she seemed particularly skilled in creating a pitch–perfect period piece of 1970s teen life. "Coppola has carefully preserved the spirit of her source and, for the most part, succeeded in her efforts to find a visual idiom appropriate to the lush melancholy of the novel's language," remarked A. O. Scott, the New York Times critic. Esquire called it "hypnotic," with its critic asserting "the film has a deeply photographic quality, like a romantic, super-saturated snapshot capturing the surrealism of 1970s suburbia. Entirely absent of the mocking condescension of films such as Welcome to the Dollhouse or the glibness of American Pie, it is one of the most authentic portraits of adolescence in years."

The Virgin Suicides was not only a tour–de–force of a movie, but also served to redeem Coppola's reputation in Hollywood after the Godfather debacle. Scott, writing in the New York Times, conceded that any filmmaker who tackled the Suicides story was working with a project with some holes, for Eugenides' novel had little in the way of character development or plot. As director, Scott noted, Coppola was required to make a film that would "hold the viewer's interest through moods, associations, and resonant images. That she has done so is impressive, and The Virgin Suicides should quiet the buzz of skepticism that has preceded this film. Yes, Ms. Coppola is the daughter of one famous director and the wife of another, but she is also an assured and imaginative filmmaker in her own right." In the profile for W, Bagley asserted that though Coppola had enjoyed a few "quasi–careers" that included "muse to Marc Jacobs [and] all–around poster girl for low–key West Coast cool," her filmmaking debut "was so assuredly deft and original that it lent an instant credibility to her new calling and, retroactively, to her old ones."

Coppola's forays to Tokyo, Japan, inspired her next screen project, the luminous Lost in Translation. She and Hayman, her business partner, traveled there often for Milk Fed, which was manufactured in Japan and had its own Tokyo store called Heaven 27. They preferred to stay at the ultra–modern Park Hyatt, and Coppola wrote a screenplay about two drifting Americans who meet in its hotel bar. She was determined to film only at the Park Hyatt, and equally determined to have actor Bill Murray play the lead—that of an aging Hollywood star who comes to Japan to appear in a whiskey commercial for a $2 million paycheck. While there, he meets a young, moribund American woman, played by Scarlett Johansson, whose flighty fashion–photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi, who provided the wistful narrative voice–overs in The Virgin Suicides) leaves her to fend for herself in the strange city.

Lost in Translation won unanimously positive reviews. The New York Times's Elvis Mitchell called it "the first grown–up starring part that Mr. Murray has had," and "one of the purest and simplest examples ever of a director falling in love with her star's gifts." David Denby, writing in the New Yorker, also assessed it in glowing terms. "Not much happens, but Coppola is so gentle and witty an observer that the movie casts a spell," Denby wrote. "She captures the sleek pomp of a luxury Japanese hotel, with its intimidating high–tech look, its abundant staff mysteriously stepping out of the shadows and offering unwanted assistance in beautifully mangled English." BusinessWeek critic Thane Peterson hailed her as one of American film's new visionaries. "At the moment, Coppola is the only woman in a band of young auteurs who represent the best and brightest of Hollywood's next generation," Peterson declared, and listed her only rivals as Paul Thomas Anderson (Punch Drink Love), Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums), and her husband, who had a hit with Adaptation the year before. Yet the Business-Week writer further noted that the men of the bunch "tend to fall back on quirkiness to make their movies distinctive.… Coppola doesn't bother with that sort of thing. She just comes straight at you with an unabashed art film that unfolds at a languid, European pace—but is also sufficiently unpretentious to appeal to a wide audience."

Coppola, taking a cue from her father, enthusiastically mixes her professional and personal lives. Her film soundtracks are supervised by Brian Reitzell, drummer for the French band Air whom she knew when he played with the cult–favorite L.A. punk outfit Redd Kross. Another old friend, Lance Acord, became Lost in Translation's cinematographer. Her brother, Roman, served as its second unit director, and in turn she appeared in a brief but glamorous cameo in his 2001 paean to Sixties Euro–cool, CQ. Ribisi's photographer character, meanwhile, was said to bear an uncanny resemblance in mannerisms to Coppola's husband. She and Jonze, born Adam Spiegel, wed in a 1999 Napa ceremony at which Tom Waits sang and an all–star guest list from the worlds of film, music, and fashion intersected. The couple had a home in Los Angeles, but Coppola spent much of the summer of 2003 in New York City editing Lost in Translation, prompting rumors that their union was on the rocks. Their split was announced later that year.

Coppola avoids publicity and the outspokenness for which her father is known. His battles with Hollywood studios over the years were legendary, and in some cases even involved litigation. Coppola's style is a more reticent one. She recalled in the New York Times interview with Hirschberg that her famous parent "came on the set of The Virgin Suicides and told me, 'You should say "Action" louder, more from your diaphragm.' I thought, 'O.K., you can go now.'"

Sources

Books

Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television, volume 30, Gale Group, 2000.

Periodicals

Back Stage West, September 11, 2003, p. 8.

BusinessWeek, October 21, 2003.

Cineaste, Winter 2003, p. 26.

Daily Variety, November 12, 2003, p. A14.

Entertainment Weekly, October 3, 2003, p. 51.

Esquire, May 2000, p. 146.

Independent (London, England), January 2, 2004, p. 8.

Independent Sunday (London, England), December 21, 2003, p. 9.

Interview, April 2000, p. 46; October 2003, p. 54.

Nation, January 7, 1991, p. 22.

National Review, January 28, 1991, p. 65.

New Republic, March 27, 1989, p. 24.

New Yorker, September 15, 2003, p. 100.

New York Observer, September 29, 2003, p. 29.

New York Times, April 21, 2000; August 31, 2003, p. 35; September 12, 2003; February 3, 2004, p. E8; March 1, 2004.

Observer (London, England), February 13, 2000, p. 6; May 21, 2000, p. 8.

Time, September 15, 2003, pp. 70–72.

USA Today Magazine, January 2004, p. 59.

W, September 2003, pp. 350–54.

WWD, June 16, 2003, p. 7.

Online

"The Coppola Clan's Best Director?" Salon.com,http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/int/2003/09/23/sofia_coppola (September 23, 2003).

"Lost in Translation," Salon.com,http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2003/09/12/translation (September 12, 2003).

"Sofia Coppola," Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm00010681 (February 11, 2004).

—CarolBrennan

COPPOLA, Sofia 1971–

(Domino Coppola, Domino)

PERSONAL

Full name, Sofia Carmina Coppola; born May 14 (some sources cite May 12), 1971, in New York, NY; daughter of Francis Ford (a filmmaker) and Eleanor (a set decorator and artist) Coppola; sister of Roman Coppola (an actor, producer, and director); several other family members involved in the arts; married Spike Jonze (a director, producer, writer, and actor), June 26, 1999 (divorced December 9, 2003). Education: Studied photography at Mills College and painting at the California Institute of the Arts.

Addresses: Agent—Bart Walker, Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Manager—Directors Bureau, 1641 North Ivar Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028.

Career: Director, producer, writer, and actress. Affiliated with the Directors Bureau, Los Angeles and New York City. Appeared in advertisements. Milkfed (fashion label), designer.

Member: Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America.

Awards, Honors: Sierra Award nominations, best director, best adapted screenplay, and best female newcomer, all Las Vegas Film Critics Society, 2000, Young Hollywood Award, best director, Movieline, MTV Movie Award, best new filmmaker, and Empire Award nomination, best debut, all 2001, all for The Virgin Suicides; Special Achievement Award, writing, directing, and producing, National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle Award, best director, Boston Society of Film Critics Award, best director, Toronto Film Critics Association Award, best screenplay, Screen International Award nomination, European Film awards, Seattle Film Critics awards, best director and best original screenplay, Southeastern Film Critics Association Award, best original screenplay, Best New Director Award, FIPRESCI Prize, and nomination for Golden Spike, all Valladolid International Film Festival, Lina Mangiacapre Award, Venice Film Festival, Golden Athena, Athens International Film Festival, and Critics Award, best in competition, Sao Paulo International Film Festival, all 2003, Academy Award, best original screenplay, Academy Award nominations, best director and best picture (with Ross Katz), Golden Globe Award, best screenplay for a motion picture, Golden Globe Award nomination, best director of a motion picture, Independent Spirit awards, best director, best screenplay, and best feature film (with Katz), Independent Features Project/West, Screen Award, best screenplay written directly for the screen, Writers Guild of America, Golden Satellite Award, best original screenplay, International Press Academy, and Golden Satellite Award nomination, best director, Chicago Film Critics Association Award, best screenplay, Florida Film Critics Circle Award, best screenplay, Comedy Film Honors, best first-time comedy director and best screenplay, U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, Chlotrudis awards, best director and best original screenplay, Discover Screenwriting Award nomination, American Screenwriters Association, Film Award nominations, best original screenplay and best film (with Katz), and nomination for David Lean Award for Direction, all British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Directors Guild of America Award nomination, outstanding directorial achievement in motion pictures, Directors Guild of Great Britain Award nomination, outstanding directorial achievement in international film, Silver Ribbon, best director of a foreign film, Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, Guild Film Award in Gold, best foreign film, Guild of German Art House Cinemas, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award nominations, best director and best writer, Australian Film Institute Award nomination (with Katz), best foreign film, nomination for David, best foreign film, David di Donatello awards, Golden Kinnaree Award nomination, best film, Bangkok International Film Festival, German Film Award, best foreign film, Online Film Critics Society Award, best original screenplay, and Online Film Critics Society Award nomination, best director, all 2004, Cesar Award, best foreign film, Academie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema, Critics Award, best foreign film, French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, Robert Award, best American film, Robert Festival, Bodil Award, best American film, nomination for Czech Lion, best foreign language film, nomination for Guldbagge Award, best foreign film, and Fotogramas de Plata Award, best foreign film, all 2005, all for Lost in Translation.

CREDITS

Film Director:

Bed, Bath and Beyond (short film), 1996.

The Virgin Suicides (also known as The Lisbon Sisters and Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides"), Eternity Pictures, 1999.

Lost in Translation, Focus Features, 2003.

Marie-Antoinette, Sony Pictures Entertainment/Pathe, 2006.

Film Producer:

Lost in Translation, Focus Features, 2003.

Marie-Antoinette, Sony Pictures Entertainment/Pathe, 2006.

Film Work; Other:

Designer for main titles and costume designer for "Life without Zoe" segment, New York Stories, Buena Vista, 1989.

Costume designer, The Spirit of '76, Castle Rock, 1990.

Film editor, Bed, Bath and Beyond (short film), 1996.

Cinematographer, Torrance Rises (short film), 1999, Palm Pictures, 2003.

Film Appearances:

(Uncredited) Michael Francis Rizzi, The Godfather (also known as Mario Puzo's "The Godfather"), Paramount, 1972.

(Uncredited) Child on boat in New York Harbor, The Godfather: Part II (also known as Mario Puzo's "The Godfather: Part II"), Paramount, 1974.

(As Domino) Donna, Rumble Fish, Universal, 1983.

(As Domino) Little girl, The Outsiders, Warner Bros., 1983.

(As Domino) Anne Chambers, Frankenweenie (short film), Buena Vista, 1984.

(As Domino) Child in street, The Cotton Club, Orion, 1984.

Nancy Kelcher, Peggy Sue Got Married, TriStar, 1986.

Noodle, Anna, Vestron Pictures, 1987.

Mary Corleone, The Godfather: Part III (also known as Mario Puzo's "The Godfather: Part III"), Paramount, 1990.

Herself, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (documentary), Triton Pictures, 1991.

Cindy, Inside Monkey Zetterland (also known as M2), IRS Releasing, 1992.

Sache, Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace (also known as The Phantom Menace and Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1999.

Torrance Rises (short film), 1999, Palm Pictures, 2003.

Enzo's mistress, CQ, United Artists, 2002.

Television Work; Series:

Producer, High Octane, Comedy Central, beginning 2002.

Creator, director, and producer, Platinum, UPN, 2003.

Television Work; Specials:

Director and producer, Lick the Star, Independent Film Channel and Bravo, 1998.

Television Appearances; Series:

Host, High Octane, Comedy Central, beginning 2002.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Herself, The Godfather Family: A Look Inside, HBO, 1990.

The Independent Spirit Awards Nomination Show, Independent Film Channel, 2004.

Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:

2001 MTV Movie Awards, MTV, 2001.

The 76th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 2004.

The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards, NBC, 2004.

The 2004 IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards, Independent Film Channel, 2004.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

(As Domino Coppola) Gwendolyn, "The Princess Who Had Never Laughed," Faerie Tale Theater (also known as Shelley Duvall's "Faerie Tale Theater"), Showtime, 1986.

Guest, The Charlie Rose Show, PBS, 2003.

(In archive footage) Herself, "Silenci? 100" and other episodes, Silenci?, Televisio de Catalunya, 2004.

Guest, The Late Show with David Letterman (also known as The Late Show), CBS, 2004.

(In archive footage) Herself, Cinema mil, Televisio de Catalunya, multiple episodes in 2005.

RECORDINGS

Videos:

Britney, Ciao L.A., 1994.

Beastie Boys DVD Video Anthology—Criterion Collection (also known as Beastie Boys: Video Anthology), 2000.

Janet the gymnast in "Elektrobank" music video, The Work of Director Spike Jonze, MTV2, 2003.

Janet the gymnast in "Elektrobank" music video, The Chemical Brothers: Singles 93-03, Virgin Records, 2003.

Herself, Lost on Location: Behind the Scenes of "Lost in Translation" (also known as Lost on Location), Universal Studios Home Video, 2004.

Video Work:

Coproducer, Ciao L.A., 1994.

Music Video Director:

Walt Mink, "Shine," 1993.

Air, "Playground Love," 2000.

Kevin Shields, "City Girl," 2003.

The White Stripes, "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself," 2003.

Garbage, "Why Do You Love Me," 2005.

Music Video Appearances:

Black Crowes, "Sometimes Salvation," 1992.

Madonna, "Deeper and Deeper," 1992.

(As Janet the gymnast) Chemical Brothers, "Elektrobank," 1997.

WRITINGS

Screenplays:

"Life without Zoe," New York Stories, Buena Vista, 1989.

The Virgin Suicides (based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides; also known as The Lisbon Sisters and Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides"), Eternity Pictures, 1999.

Lost in Translation, Focus Features, 2003.

Marie-Antoinette (based on the book by Antonia Fraser), Sony Pictures Entertainment/Pathe, 2006.

Teleplays; Series:

High Octane, Comedy Central, beginning 2002.

Teleplays; Specials:

Lick the Star, Independent Film Channel and Bravo, 1998.

ADAPTATIONS

Coppola's appearances in the Godfather films were included in the video compilation The Godfather Trilogy: 1901–1980 (also known as The Godfather Saga and The Godfather Trilogy), released in 1992.

OTHER SOURCES

Periodicals:

Empire, June, 2000, pp. 82-83.

Entertainment Weekly, October 3, 2003, p. 51.

Filmmaker, Volume 8, number 2, 2000, pp. 64-67, 101-102.

New York Times Magazine, August 31, 2003, p. 35.

Premiere, March, 2000, pp. 90-93.

Times (magazine), April 22, 2000, pp. 14-18.

Urban Cinefile, October 8, 2000.

US Weekly, May 15, 2000, pp. 66-69.