Sofia Coppola Is ‘Happy to Be Considered’ an Auteur: My Father Raised Me to Be a ‘Personal Filmmaker’
Sofia Coppola is “happy” to be counted among modern auteurs in Hollywood.
The “Priscilla” writer-director told IndieWire during the Chanel x W Magazine party celebrating the launch of the book “Sofia Coppola Archive: 1999 – 2023” that she was raised by father Francis Ford Coppola to admire auteurs, or rather, the style of “personal filmmaking.”
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“I’m proud to be part of a history of personal filmmakers. My dad raised me to be,” Coppola said. “Personal filmmaking was an art form that we aspired to. I admire auteurs like Antonioni and Godard, so I would be happy to be considered one.”
“Priscilla” premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where lead actress Cailee Spaeny won the Volpi Cup award for her turn as Priscilla Presley in the adaptation of her memoir.
“I loved working with Cailee,” Coppola said of collaborating with the “Mare of Easttown” alum. “I think she’s so talented and I loved her performance and it’s everything that I hoped to express in this film.”
Coppola continued, “Priscilla really felt like she represented her experience. I was thrilled. And then her getting an award is just exciting because she worked so hard and I’m always happy when someone is acknowledged for their hard work. And I’m so excited because she can do so many different things so I can’t wait what she does [next].”
Coppola, who started her professional career as an intern at Chanel under Karl Lagerfeld in 1986, made her directorial debut with 1999’s “The Virgin Suicides.” Coppola previously reflected on her diverse filmography leading up to the intimate portrait of “Priscilla,” comparing the film to her 2006 period piece “Marie Antoinette” starring Kirsten Dunst.
“I was just so interested in Priscilla’s story and her perspective on what it all felt like to grow up as a teenager in Graceland. She was going through all the stages of young womanhood in such an amplified world — kind of similarly to Marie Antoinette,” Coppola told Vogue earlier this year. “I’m excited to do something rooted in that Americana style for the first time. And Priscilla is a quintessential glamor icon.”
She later added that “Priscilla” spoke to a personal relationship growing up in the spotlight.
“I know from my family what it’s like to be inside a show business family. I know that growing up, people are looking at you in a different way,” Coppola said to The Hollywood Reporter. “And also living in a house with my dad, this big personality, a great artist and a lot of our life revolving around that. And seeing my mom’s life, how she was trying to find her way within his, I could relate to that [with Elvis Presley].”
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