WEBVTT - 'The Godfather’ Made Sofia Coppola Protective of Actors 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:06.040 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the thing, 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:11.119 My chance to talk with artists, policymakers and performers, to 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:15.480 hear their stories, What inspires their creations, what decisions change 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:23.159 their careers, what relationships influenced their work. To be the 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:28.000 offspring of filmmaking genius Francis Ford Coppola is to eat, sleep, 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:33.159 and breathe cinema. Sofia Coppola should know. His youngest child 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.720 and only daughter, appeared on screen before she could talk, 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.960 playing an infant in his nineteen seventy two masterpiece The 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:47.479 Godfather as Hollywood Royalty. Coppola's success may have been predestined, 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.440 but her path to greatness was far from paved in gold. 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.360 Before turning twenty, she endured the sudden death of her 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:59.240 oldest brother, followed by a vicious media storm from critics 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:04.440 regard her performance in The Godfather Part three, and then 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:08.800 things changed. Now an Academy Award winning filmmaker in her 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:12.160 own right, it's safe to say Sofia Coppola has found 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:18.080 her stride. Her movies are extraordinary, arresting, and elegant these days, 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.840 the critics agree. At forty six, she's taken home more 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.679 rewards than some get in a lifetime, including an Oscar 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.399 for Best Original Screenplay and a Golden Lion Award for 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:34.160 Best Picture for My personal favorite Somewhere. This March, she 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.160 made history again as the second female filmmaker to win 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:43.360 Best Director at can. Finishing her most recent film, The Beguiled, 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:48.000 has sent Coppola into a familiar space wondering what's next. 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:52.440 I wait until I finished a film, and then there's 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:54.840 always kind of a panic I'm ever going to do 0:01:54.920 --> 0:02:01.760 anything ever again? And then somehow something you know, sparked 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:04.240 some interest, but then you never know if that's really 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.800 what you're going to focus on. So yeah, usually after 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.760 I finished a project, I sort of think about what 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:12.600 I'm interested in and then and trying to be open 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:15.960 to different things. And then finally something keep snagging at 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:18.440 you that wants attention. And did that work with this 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:20.399 last film? Was that the case with The Lastime? Yeah? 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:22.959 This one was my my friend and Ross, who was 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:26.519 my production designer. She we were working on a commercials 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:28.560 after a film, and I didn't know what I was doing, 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:30.800 and she just said in passing, like you have to 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:33.040 see this Don Siegel film. The beguiled. I think you 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:35.079 need to remake it. And I was like, what, I 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:38.600 would never remake a movie. And I knew that people 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:40.560 I never saw the film. I didn't know about the film, 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.919 but people that really know, like Cinophiles, you know, love 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:47.040 that movie. It's it's a classic in that genre. And 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.520 I watched it and it was so not what I expected. 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.440 It takes a turn, and I just it just stayed 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:55.519 in my mind. It was so weird and just to 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.400 my mind. And then I kept thinking about how I 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.760 would do it this way, and I it's it's it's 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:02.840 you know, a story about the household of women, but 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.880 told from a real kind of macho guys point of view. 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.440 I thought it would be interesting kind of to tell 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.399 the same story, kind of flip it intil a different version. 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:13.280 So I found the book, which is out of print, 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.280 and it's told by the story of all the different characters. 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.200 But who wrote the book, Thomas Culligan? When did that 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:21.840 come out? How long ago? It looked like a kind 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.360 of pulp fiction of the sixties, not it's not quite 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:30.120 classic literature, and you know, very like genre. And then 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.720 I try to forget about the film. But had I 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:34.480 always hear people say that, and then I forget about 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.160 the film. Yeah, yeah, because you have things in the 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:38.720 back of your mind. I tried. I didn't watch it 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:40.760 again for you know, a few years, but it still 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:42.120 stays in the back of your mind, kind of like 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:44.680 a dream. I don't know if it's a memory, how 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.320 much is my imagination or what I remember from the 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.960 other film. But but yeah, I feel like it's always 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:53.720 different how you end up starting a project. Now, for 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.640 the uh, the film you shot? What was the location? 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.480 We shot in New Orleans, New Orleans. Yeah, we shot 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:01.000 in town one for the in two years and then 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:05.160 we shot at a plantation which one Madewood Plantation in 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:10.280 Napoleonville shot down that one Hampton and you know, we 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.240 were at the what's that famous hotel than the better one. 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:15.360 I don't know, there's something it will come to me. 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:17.719 But we shot at a place called not Away Plantation 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:20.800 which was out there and you'd have to uh, there 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:22.720 was a bit of a drive and when then we 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:28.480 we created a set of buy you Home in City 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.440 Park in the middle of town park one day. Yeah, 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:33.880 it's pretty amazing that that's in the middle of the city. 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.279 We shot like our wood scenes in City Park there. 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:38.840 You know, you've made how many films now is at 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.359 eight or nine or um? I think it was my 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:45.159 six six And when you make one, when you're there, 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:50.000 it's an exhausting process. And you have little kids. So 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:53.480 there's your life with your children mirror your childhood because 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:57.400 I read where you weren't parked in northern California going 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.719 to school and dad was in the Philippines for a year. 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.400 You went with your father and you guys were all together. Correct. Yeah, 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:05.520 we always went on location, which which I thought was 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:09.160 fun because it was exciting to go to set. And yeah, 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:15.200 my education is a little patchy. Yeah, yeah, I can't multiply, 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.360 but but yeah, but it was always exciting to live 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.839 in all these places. And we lived, you know, in Oklahoma, 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:22.760 and you know, but I would go to the local 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:26.599 schools everywhere. So it was a fun adventure. But you're 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.440 the same with your kids. They come with you. When 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:30.839 they were smaller, I brought them everywhere. But now the 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:33.760 older ones in fourth grade, it's harder to leave school 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:35.880 for them. So this it was a short shoot is 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.360 six weeks. So they just came and visited over Thanksgiving 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:41.440 and um, they stayed in New York with my husband 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:45.280 whom he's a musician, and he was now he's on tour, 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:47.279 so somehow it worked out that he could be here. 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:48.840 But they will come and visit, but they will come 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:54.280 to set. And they're older now little seven, seven and ten, 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:57.200 but they like being on set and and it's funny 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:59.520 because I remember, Yeah, it was always fun to hang 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.600 out on on set. Craft service is probably the most exciting. Well, 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:03.880 I was wanting to do any of them where they 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:05.600 like you like, do you see yourself? Whether they get 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.840 the bug and like you turn around, there's your You 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:09.480 have a boy and a girl. I have two girls. 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:10.960 And one of the girls got like an eyepiece and 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.160 they're looking through the lens and find the little one 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.440 was into looking through the lens and and her school 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:17.640 they did a little project and she was a cinematographer. 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.520 So um, the photography is extraordinary. And then film is 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:24.159 a beautiful film. You're a film the big guild. And 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:28.799 who's the cinematographer. His name's Felippe Lassore. He's a French cinematographer. 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.640 And yeah, I loved working with him. He's a real artist. 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:33.320 I think the last film he did was the Grand 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:36.919 Master with One car Y and he has a lot 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:41.279 of commercials in between. But he's been great and you 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.560 hadn't worked with him before. No, we shot a few 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.800 commercials and I knew about him from another cinematographer friend, 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:48.240 but it's the first time we did to film together. 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:51.040 Do you find for a director that as you grow 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.200 and as you change, you need to have your staff 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.640 change with you need to change partners in certain I 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:01.000 can't think of any more important than that cinematographer relationship. Yeah, 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:02.760 a lot of my crew we've worked together on a 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.400 lot of projects and it's great to work together and 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:07.719 have that shorthand and they really know me. But with 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:09.440 a cinematographer, No, I think it's nice to have his 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:13.440 ongoing relationships. I had a cinematographer, Harris VDS that I 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:15.240 did a few films with, who the one I did 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.880 in New Orleans He did no way. Harris was a 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:21.960 cinematograment I loved Roco with Harris, so when I met him, 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:23.560 I felt like, Oh, he's my guy, and he really 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.440 helped me so much. And then he passed away. UM, 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.760 so sorry to lose him as a friend and as 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:33.840 a collaborator, but he introduced me to Philip so Um, 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.640 and I really trusted him because because he was an 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:40.880 artist and and Philip really is about being, you know, 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:43.840 his priority is to make a beautiful being an artist. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.440 You acted in a film, in one of your dad's films, 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.400 and how did that experience. Did that have any impact 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:52.160 on the way you deal with actors? And beyond that, 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:54.320 how do you deal with actors when you You've got 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:57.760 some pretty famous movie stars in this movie, and how 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.240 what does that experience like for you? Yeah, I mean 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.960 I think, um, having acted in a movie, it was 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.960 not my thing at all. Wasn't comfortable doing it, but 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:07.240 I was kind of an age We're like, oh, I'll 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.720 try anything. But now I feel like when I must said, 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.240 I know, I think I'm I know how vulnerable an 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:14.440 actor could be. Or I feel protective because I feel 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:16.440 like they have to try to make it as comfortable 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:18.640 as I can, because I feel like it's you have 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:23.200 to be comfortable to reveal yourself. And I don't know, 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.200 I try to make the atmosphere as much in the 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.119 feeling of the way you want the scene to be 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:32.079 and the tone of the room. Yeah, yeah, the whole 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:33.880 the whole, I think, the whole feeling on set and 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:35.480 where you are. I was fun it easier to shoot 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:37.760 on location than in a stage because you sort of 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:42.439 get the atmosphere of the real place. And I'm very collaborative. 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.160 I'm open to like I never like to plan out 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.040 how the scene is going to look before the actors 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.440 block it, because you don't know what the actors are 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.960 going to do and work ins from them. Yeah, yeah, definitely. 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.520 I could never storyboard before doing the scene because I 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:57.000 really it really starts from me when I see the 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:00.520 actors block the scene and you get ideas of, um, 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.559 you know what feels right, but working with them, it's 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.000 just from my experience, it is kind of an either war. 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.080 You know, there's people who walk in and in the 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.240 sense that someone has to decide what's going to happen. 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:13.640 A director will walk in and be very hands on 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:16.480 in terms of what you do. I have an idea before, 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:18.400 and the difference is how they sell it and how 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.000 they convey it. Some people will walk in and be 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:25.440 very precious about it and very polite about it and deferential. 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.840 Go well, I thought maybe, And there's other people were like, okay, 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:29.679 you walk over here and you do this, there's always 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:34.080 like a puppetry, which wouldn't makes sense. It's uh, it's 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.240 it's it's kind of exciting when someone is that clear. Yeah, 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:39.439 I always have to work really fast because it's low budget. 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:41.880 We don't have a lot of time to mess around. 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:43.240 So I felt we had to get in there and 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:45.640 block it. And then you see right away you can 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.520 tell what works. Did you have to luxuriate the most 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:50.760 in the schedule, Wi, I don't think I ever had, 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:58.160 I know, yeah, never. Now, when you cast, did someone 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.920 have a different title? It was always where? Yeah, but 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.240 that was probably we meandered the most in that because 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:07.560 there's not a lot of plots. Thank you. We were 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:09.920 being really indulgent. But when you cast, I mean that 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:14.720 was dorif uh and uh, you've got Nicole and Colin Farrell. 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:16.800 I mean you have these people in these films and 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:21.080 Kirsten Dunst. I would assume that an independent film this 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:25.319 cast consciousness has become suffocating. Yeah, yeah, I know it's 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.960 still like that. No, it's definitely like if you want this, 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.480 then you get this, And what is the words going 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:36.600 to do? Is there a vein of investors and financiers 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:38.400 who are in the Sofia couple of business, and you 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:40.280 go back to them to that well again and again. 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:42.560 I do have a few distributors that I always go 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:46.280 to and and um, and luckily they've supported what I've done. 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.320 But this film, the story was owned by Universal from 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:53.200 the previous film, so um, I asked him if they 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.440 would take it out of their library and let me 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.800 reinterpret it, and so I was really beholden to them, 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.599 and Focus as part of Universal came on board, and 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.400 I was happy that they let me do it. But um, 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:07.960 I think it's kind of odd project. So you know, 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:12.200 they was, you know, a small production. It's odd in 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.000 your mind, it's odd. Why why is it odd? Oh? 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:16.640 I don't know. I mean, I guessing I want to 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:19.559 redo this on Seagull Movie. Just the premise is pretty 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.400 I don't know on paper. Yeah. Yeah, and then that genre, 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:24.960 I mean, I think it's entertaining, and now when I 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:26.240 see it, I don't think it's but I think the 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.880 idea of pitching it was was sort of out there. 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:33.480 I think it's a conservative time right now for it wasn't. Yeah, 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.800 there's no Cathy Bates hobbling moment. Forever. It just wakes 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:40.640 up and it's bad news. Yeah for me, there's a 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.280 more gore than I've ever done with a little bit 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:47.280 of blood. But yeah, no, it's pretty discreet. So your 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:50.360 father was very kind and very gracious. I did this 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:55.200 documentary film about ken. Remember that we had fun. We 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:57.640 had fun. We did this movie Seduced An Abandon, and 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:00.360 we shot your dad. And I'm wondering for you as 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:06.000 your child was film watching film going both ordinary and extraordinary, 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.000 like did you watch the movies at all? The girls 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:11.079 your age did and go see movies and or were 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:14.120 you heavily influenced by your dad or both? Yeah, I 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.480 think I remember the first movie. I don't know if 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.720 it was Greece or bugsy Malone, but so I did 0:12:19.760 --> 0:12:22.440 see some movies that were part of kid culture. But 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:24.880 my dad was a screening room and he was always 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.680 there's always movies being shown and we were always around, 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:31.800 and you know, so I remember they're watching Kurasawa or 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.560 you know, some movie that kids would normally watch, but 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:36.000 they were just around. So I feel like we were 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.520 exposed two interesting films. But then I would also go 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:44.800 to the local movie. Yeah, I remember Purple Rain was 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.120 my really seeing that in the theater when I was twelve, 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:52.040 like blew my mind. So I had a mix. What 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:53.800 was the first moment that when you were watching the 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.640 Kurasawa that that stable the film you sat there and said, 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.360 wait a second, there is cinema. Yeah, I don't, but 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:03.480 I feel we were. He was always watching all these 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:05.760 movies and I don't think it really registered. And then 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:09.040 somewhere has to have had lateness like that. Yeah. I 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:11.520 don't remember the time, you know, but remember him like 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.640 being on the I think on the porch watching you Jimbo. 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.600 Our dog was called Yo Jimbo after that movie. But um, 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.320 and and then like really weird, um there was this 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.320 movie like hitler Manamore. There was there was some really 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:27.360 weird German art film that was like it was creepy 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:28.959 and I remember seeing this a little kid, But there 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.920 was there was always he was watching cinema while we 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:35.760 were Um, so we were doing yeah exactly, so we 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:39.600 were kind of half watching it. And was there ever 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:43.040 a film that I'm not assuming your father was in 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.320 openess or was there ever a film that you turned 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.280 your father onto? Was there like a whole continent of 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.920 films your father wouldn't get near and you probably said, oh, 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:52.760 you gotta watch this, and he watched. He was like, hey, 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.720 that's not you know, it's really funny. Like years ago, 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.560 did you ever se this R Kelly hip hopera called 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:00.760 Trapped in the Closet? You know what that is? It's 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:05.280 so far out it's him doing this kind of Yeah, 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.000 trapped in the Closet R Kelly, it's really out there. 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:09.400 And we had the video and we were watching it 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:11.720 and my dad started watching it with us, and he's like, 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.199 this is really creative, but it's really this like it's 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:18.000 like a long hip hop video, but it's so everything's 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:21.040 really acted out and it's really out there. So it's 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:24.240 funny to see him get get into this. Yeah. I 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:25.800 feel like he would have never seen that, but he 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:28.640 watched it and he really appreciate it. And I remember 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.320 when I was a kid, we um for the screen 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:33.000 when we could pick movies we wanted to see. And 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.040 I had read about Prick Up Your Ears with and 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.840 so my favorite Yeah, And I was like, I don't know, teenager, 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:40.720 and I didn't really know what it was about, but 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.000 I had read about it and some of London it 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.000 was cool. So he got the movie, and then everyone 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:48.320 was like, Sophia, what is this movie? But he I 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.680 ended up knowing about Gary Oldman and appreciated him for 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:54.520 when he was casting Um Dracula. So Oldman is my 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.840 favorite actor. Oh he's great, He's amazing. He can do anything. 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:00.000 If you ever wanted to write something, did you write 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:03.480 Lost in Translation for Murray? I? Did? You did? I did? 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:05.800 It helps me a lot to picture an actor when 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:09.960 I'm when I'm writing, and I was picturing Bill and 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:11.520 and so then I was determined that it had to be. 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.440 Had you met him before? No, I had never met him. 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:16.480 I'd never met him, and I spent like a year 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.520 trying to track him down, and anyone I met as like, 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:22.040 do you know Bill Murray? And yeah? So but I 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:23.520 had I really had him in mind. I wasn't going 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:25.920 to make it unless he was doing it. So and 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:30.280 then what happened? How did you? Well? Mitch Glazer helped me. 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:31.960 He had showed it to him and I knew he 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.720 worked together. Yeah, he's a writer, and so I and 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.040 I was. I showed him something early drafts as a writer, 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.520 and then I said, you know, I want to get 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:41.840 Bill first. What do you think, and I think he 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.560 was impressed that I saw this kind of side a 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:48.080 Bill or He thought it was worthwhile and finally asked 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.440 Bill to to meet me. But it was a long process. 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:54.000 But thanks too much, I got. When you met him, 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:58.040 I'll never forget. He was wearing a Sear Sucker suit 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:01.040 and I think they were like El continor that restaurant. 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:03.760 Mitch called me, said you know, I'm here with Bill. 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.120 He says, come over, and I've been trying to meet 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:08.760 him me after a year. And I went over and yes, 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:10.720 and I remember he was in sure Sucker. He was very, 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.840 very gentlemanly, and we were walking out after and I 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.880 turned to Bill and there's a moment in sixteen Candles 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:20.360 where she's with the guy that she likes and she 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:22.960 sees her dad and she's like, Moles, that's the one. 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.200 And I had that moment with him, like, oh my god, 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:27.840 to Mitch about Bill. But I was thrilled for him 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.800 to even, you know, look at it, because it was 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.240 so hard to track him down, and it was a 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:34.920 tough to convince him to do the movie. I mean, 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:37.520 he's not the easiest person to corral. He's just not 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:39.360 comme at all. And like he didn't have an agent 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:41.520 or anything. And I was just trying an eight hundred 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:43.960 number and leave a message. Yes, I was leaving messages 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:47.120 on that eight hundred number and um for luck a 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:50.440 year and and then finally the NT he looked at 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:51.760 it and he said, yah, yeah, yeah, I might be 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:53.640 inclined to do it, but he never would say for sure. 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:55.720 And so we went to Japan, just like hoping he 0:16:55.760 --> 0:17:00.160 would show up, and luckily he did desire wracking, but 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:07.280 didn't have a backup. Coming up, Sophia Coppola reveals her 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:16.920 father's advice for getting actors to do their best. In 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:21.200 her early days, Coppola struggled to find funding for her movies. 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.560 I talked with Jimmy Toback, with whom I co produced 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:29.000 Seduced and Abandoned, about just that. I found myself with 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:34.000 two million dollars cash, which I won in Vegas. By 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.240 the way, less the I R S be listening, my 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.919 net figure with Vegas is about minus fifty millions, so 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.080 please don't tell me I made money that way, as 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.840 anyone in Vegas will vouch. But in any event, I 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:51.040 had that two million. This is one and I thought, 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.040 christ I'm not going to hang around here anymore, pounding 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.920 on doors, chasing money. I'll just bribe Bagelman and get 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.879 the movie done. To hear more about Jimmy Toback's story, 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:16.080 go to Here's the Thing dot org. This is Alec Baldwin, 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:20.400 and you're listening to Here's the Thing. Sophia Coppola's Academy 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.680 Award in two thousand three made her the second ever 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:28.800 third generation Oscar winner, alongside Angelica Houston. But while the 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.600 soft spoken New Yorker caught the filmmaking bug early, her 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:37.720 mother didn't. After making a few documentaries, Eleanor Coppola released 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:41.000 her first feature of film last year, a movie titled 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:45.120 Paris Can Wait, in which I Appear for Sophia. Her 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:49.920 mother's new passion is a happy, albeit unexpected turn of events. 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:52.040 I was surprised. I mean, she was too kind of 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:54.360 art projects and she made her documentary, but I never 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.719 thought she would make this kind of film, you know, 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:01.080 kind of a narrative, because she's because she's more avant 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:04.040 garde with her art projects. So yeah, I was. I 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:06.280 was really surprised. Yeah, it's funny. Does she want to 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.720 make another one? I think now she's making the short 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:10.600 phone and she's like, I've got the bug. So yeah, 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:12.280 it's fun. It's fun to see that, you know, in 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.480 her early eighties, she's younger than all of us. She's 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:19.040 very entertaged, she's in she just wanted Tokyo yesterday to 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:22.359 her movie is coming out there. But but yeah, I know, 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:24.919 it's it's fun to see. It's a total surprise. What 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:26.760 I loved about her was that, and I don't not 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:28.760 have just saying this because it's your mom. What I 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:30.399 loved about her to be on the set with the 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.880 director who doesn't transmit their attension. Pachino had a line 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:39.760 once he said, we were shooting The Godfather's Funeral out 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:44.639 in Queens of Brooklyn, wherever it was. That's perfect, and 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.800 he said, I remember Francis was sitting on a slab 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:52.399 and he was crying. And I said, Francis, we just 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:55.600 had a great day and everything is fantastic. And I said, 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:57.680 why you're crying. He said, they won't give me one 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:00.639 more set up. I remember I've heard that start. And 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:02.760 he said that's when I knew we were onto something. 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:06.640 That Francis scared that much. And I thought to myself, wow, 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:09.359 you know it was like I remember him telling me, 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:10.720 and I don't know, I can't remember if it was 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.840 a quote from like von Brando or our original that 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.120 whenever I get the urge to act, I sit down 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:18.480 and wait for it to pass. Is that a famous one? 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:23.600 But I mean when you're when you're on a set, 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:28.720 let's assume ideally that of the time people are doing 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:31.080 basically what you want them to do. That's you know, 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:34.919 casting is a big part of directing. But when they're not, 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:37.600