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Everyone wants to be found.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION |
| This page was created on September 22, 2003
This page was last updated on
September 22, 2003
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| ABOUT THIS FILM |
Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) are two Americans in Tokyo. Bob is a movie star in town to shoot a whiskey commercial, while Charlotte is a young woman tagging along with her workaholic photographer husband (Giovanni Ribisi). Unable to sleep, Bob and Charlotte cross paths one night in the luxury hotel bar. This chance meeting soon becomes a surprising friendship. Charlotte and Bob venture
through Tokyo, having often hilarious encounters with its citizens, and ultimately discover a new belief in life's possibilities.
Shot entirely on location in Japan, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation is a valentine to the nature of close friendships and to the city of Tokyo. Ms. Coppola's film, from her original screenplay, contemplates the unexpected connections we make that might not last - yet stay with us forever.
Ms. Coppola studied Fine Art at California Institute of the Arts. She then wrote and directed the short film Lick the Star (which world-premiered at the Venice International Film Festival), followed by the feature The Virgin Suicides (which she adapted from Jeffrey Eugenides' novel, and which world-premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival).
Focus Features presents in association with Tohokushinsha an American Zoetrope/Elemental Films production. Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson. Lost in Translation. Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris. Music Producer, Brian Reitzell. Production Designers, Anne Ross, K.K. Barrett. Costume Designer, Nancy Steiner. Editor, Sarah Flack. Director of Photography, Lance Acord. Executive Producers, Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Roos. Produced by Ross Katz, Sofia Coppola. Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola.
Lost in Translation
Let's Get Lost: Translation Talk with Sofia Coppola and Ross Katz
Q: Sofia, the vantage point of a young woman has been a constant in the work you've done so far. But here, working with Bill Murray, you explore the older man's as well.
Sofia Coppola: .and he's having a midlife crisis in Japan - where it's already so confusing. In the film, Charlotte is having that early 20s, "what do I do with my life" crisis. She and Bob are two people at opposite ends of something comparable; she's just going into a marriage and he's on the other end, having been in one for years. There is camaraderie between them at the moment in time that they're at. It's two characters going through
a similar personal crisis, exacerbated by being in a foreign place. Trying to figure out your life in the midst of all of that.I always do that on trips, just start to think of these issues when I'm away from home.
Ross Katz: One of the exciting things for me was what Sofia said to me when we met: "Bill Murray is my leading man." We did not conceive of this movie without him. I genuinely believe that Sofia would not have made it if he didn't agree to do it. He is a real leading man and his performance is, I think, wonderful.
Q: What was the genesis of the idea for Lost in Translation? Did it come from a specific trip?
SC: It was inspired by spending time in Japan in my early and mid-20s. I went there six or seven times over a couple of years. Just from spending time there, being in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, I wanted to do something set in Tokyo, and I liked the idea of how, in hotels, you keep running into the same people. There's this sort of camaraderie even though you don't know them or even talk to them. And, being foreigners in Japan - things are
distorted, exaggerated. You're jet-lagged and contemplating your life in the middle of the night.
Also, I love Bill Murray and I really wanted to write something for him showing his more sensitive side - what you felt a little bit of in Rushmore, I wanted to see more of that side.
And there's just something funny about being stuck in a situation that you don't really want to be in.
Q: The Park Hyatt hotel that you stayed at, that's the one in the movie, right?
SC: Yes, although I didn't stay there when I was younger because it was expensive [laughs].I stayed there a few times later on. There's something very specific and odd about that hotel. The city is so chaotic and here's this silent floating island in the middle of Tokyo. They have the "New York" bar and a French restaurant - but it's the Japanese version.
RW: The pool is pretty amazing too. And the view - we would often sit by windows, look out at Tokyo from 40 stories above and say, "How the hell are we going to make this movie in a few weeks?"
Q: Ross, when and how did you come aboard the project?
RW: We were brought together. I was finishing up The Laramie Project and was in L.A. on behalf of In the Bedroom, and Bart Walker - Sofia's agent - thankfully put us together for a meeting. Bart had asked me, "Would you be interested in meeting Sofia?" I said, "Are you kidding? She's one of the most exciting filmmakers around." I had just loved The Virgin Suicides so much. We met and
it was a little bit like asking someone to the prom. I left our meeting thinking that she has a great sense of humor and perspective. She really understands the movies that she wants to make. Every nuance is so clear to her. I wanted to help her realize that. I waited by the phone and then she called - the best call you could get.
When we were talking about Lost in Translation it was clear that she would evoke Charlotte's [(Scarlett Johannson)] journey. In addition, she really had the Bob Harris [(Bill Murray)] character down. She saw the film in terms of those special times in your life where you make a connection, and it doesn't make any sense and it doesn't fit into your world but somehow you connect with someone. Everybody comes from different places in their lives yet a lot of things are the same. Sofia talked
about a memory of something that only lasts a short time yet stays with you forever - and I thought it was a great way of describing the movie.
Q: Sofia, had you gone to Japan to write the screenplay, or for further inspiration?
SC: I didn't write it there. I'd been there a lot and had my photos. A lot of the places in the movie are places I've gone. My friend Charlie
Brown always takes me around. That's his nickname; his real name is Fumihiro Hayashi. I met him a long time ago and he has a fashion magazine there. Charlie is in Lost in Translation, he sings "God Save the Queen"; he always sings that, and that was one of the first images I wanted to make a movie around.
I did go back a year before we shot, with friends, and videotaped anything that looked interesting and worked on the script after that. Some of that stuff I did put into the script: staying in the hotel and seeing the "aquaerobics" in the pool and having the shabu-shabu dining experience.
Then there are these advertising campaigns that you see in Japan: American actors endorsing products and being a little bit embarrassed about it. I'm affectionately poking fun at it; I don't look at it as hypocritical. It's just so weird to be in Japan and to look up and see Brad Pitt selling coffee, and see a Brad Pitt head floating in a vending machine. It's one of those out-of-context things in Japan, like a replica of a French café.
Q:
This film was made entirely on-location in Japan. How does a purely American filmmaking team plan on and prep for such an adventure in an exotic break from the familiar - especially as an independent feature with a modest budget?
SC: It was a big adventure. One of things I love about Tokyo is that it's so different than being in Europe - much more foreign and unfamiliar with regard to the culture, the language. Everything's
different, even getting the groceries. There's different rules and traditions that you learn as you go. We got there a little bit in advance. There were about eight of us from the U.S. and the rest were local.
RW: Very different than what I'd been involved with. You can't really embark on this kind of a journey without a total willingness to have your plans change, your ideas thrown back in your face, and reinvent your plan
on a daily basis. The only way you can do that is with a true partner, and that's Sofia; she was really up for the adventure. It was completely exhilarating - and terrifying at times.
It's not as simple as a language barrier. A lot of people work with language barriers. More than 90% of our crew was Japanese, many of whom were non-English-speaking. In Japan, there's a different kind of cultural protocol, there's a different way that things are done, including on the filmmaking side of things - the structure of a crew and how a crew works. So, there were a lot of big adjustments on both sides. Sofia and I didn't want to jump into Japan and make an American movie, American
style. I think a lot of people plop down in their location and say, "Well, we're just going to do it the way that we do it."
But there were certainly examples of the language barrier. One night, we were shooting the fire alarm sequence that comes toward the end of the movie and takes place in the middle of the night. Our casting folks were great - mainly non-English-speaking. They had arranged for us to have about 50 extras there. When the extras arrived, we were ready to shoot, the camera was there, everything was set, great night for shooting - and all of the extras were dressed in business suits. We looked
around and went, "Uhhhh.it's the middle of the night.?" And the casting people, through the translator, were saying, "Yes, yes, we're ready!" And we're saying, "Well, in the middle of the night, people are generally in their pajamas, nightgowns." So our costume designer, Nancy Steiner, had to make a mad dash to the wardrobe van. We went into the Park Hyatt and pulled every robe, nightgown, casual attire, kimono that we could get and basically re-dressed all of our extras in the parking
lot.
Those kind of things happened a lot. But I think the other thing that happened to us, which is probably more exciting, is that the experiences and extremes of making the film were just like the experiences in the film. A lot of what was happening in the film was pure for us.
SC: Respect and honor are central to Japanese culture. We wanted to do it more Japanese style, not walk in and say, "Well this is how we do it in America."
However.I remember when we were at the shabu-shabu restaurant, we were only permitted to shoot 'til 4:00 P.M. We went about 10-15 minutes over, and the owner pulled the plug - pulled the lights out. We were disrespecting the owner because we weren't done. The location manager felt we had dishonored him, too.
Q: You were on a tight shooting schedule of 27 days, including 6 days a week.
RW:
"Stamina" is the word that best describes it. We pushed hard to make sure we got the movie that Sofia wanted to get. First, we had a sensible director who's not only assured but understands her actors. She has incredible intuition yet was incredibly adaptable. Second, we had a remarkable cinematographer in Lance Acord, who'd worked with Sofia on her short film Lick the Star. Lance is this great guy who you can drop from a helicopter into the middle of wherever with a camera and he'll be
climbing up a tree and finding the best angle and constantly be excited and enthusiastic, always fighting to get the best shot.
SC: Lance and I had both spent time in Tokyo and like the look of the city. There's a spontaneity that we wanted to include - I wanted the informality of running around and taking snapshots. My memories of being there are snapshots. He wanted to be quick and non-invasive, and not to have to light it.
We were stealthy; we relied on people in the streets being our extras. The camera was very small and portable. You're not allowed to shoot in the subway; we had to keep moving so we wouldn't be stopped - to get those shots it was just me, Lance, Scarlett, and 1-2 other people.
RW: Sofia always said, "I want to be able to move, I don't want to be burdened with having so many people that we can't actually run out and get a great
shot." It was very run-and-gun, for two reasons: (1) in terms of the amount of time we had, and (2) we also wanted to have an openness to where we were. In other words.a lot of times, when you make a movie everything is so rigid in terms of "you can only shoot at this point, this is what the schedule is, and on this day we're shooting this." We wanted the ability to throw away the map and go and get what we wanted.
SC: We did
steal a lot of shots on the streets. But, one day, my brother Roman was shooting second unit and ran into some Yakuza. They said we'd have to pay up, because they have their neighborhoods. And that was the end of that neighborhood for us. Our crew helped us navigate and steered us away from other Yakuza neighborhoods.
RW: One day, we had an entire interior sequence planned. And it started to rain in a very interesting place
- the intersection with the elephants and the dinosaurs and all of that. And Sofia really wanted to see Charlotte in the midst of hundreds of Japanese people heading to work, heading to lunch and carrying umbrellas. We wrapped up at the arcade we were shooting in and scrapped everything, grabbed the equipment, ran several blocks away and started shooting in the rain. We completely reworked the plan because the weather was really unreliable and we just knew it was never going to look this
good again, so let's get it. I'm really happy that we did, and you can see it in the film.
Q: Many independent filmmakers would have opted for DV or HD. But you remained committed to film. How was that discussed?
SC: We were encouraged to consider DV, but I wanted the movie to feel romantic.like a memory. Film does that. With the high-speed film stock [Kodak's 5263]
that we were using, we could go anywhere, not light it and just shoot. Film might not be around that long, so we wanted to shoot on film while we still can. It has the nostalgic and romantic feeling of the past; that's how I remember things, through film and photos. Film gives a little bit of a distance, which feels more like a memory to me. Video is more present tense, there isn't that stepping back.
RW: None of us wanted to
shoot on video. We just didn't want to do it. Basically, the philosophy going in was, let's be lean and mean in terms of the size of our crew and our ability to move. And on top of that, we wanted beautiful lighting in our film - without the standard lighting package that you would use for a scene in a big movie. We didn't want the hassle and time of that many people and that many lights. There were some people on Lance's crew that were saying - in Japanese - "There's not enough light,
it's not going to be bright enough." Lance said to them, "You've got to trust me on this." And it looks stunning; we basically used less light on this movie than I think any of us have ever used. It's glowing, it's beautiful.
Q: What with all the Japanese crew, liaisons, featured actors, et al., were there alternate modes of communication?
SC: It was like that scene
in the movie where Bill's doing the commercial and it takes 10 times longer because of the translation. And we were always in a rush, so just talking to an extra in the background became a project.
RW: There was also a lot of Pictionary and Charades. We'd be trying to describe something and, if there wasn't a translator around, we'd go up on the big grease-pencil board, we'd make a picture and we'd point to it, and everyone
would go, "Ah! Hi, hi, hi, hi! O-kay, o-kay, o-kay!"
There was an understanding through eye contact, through pictures, through animated hand-waving, through bits of broken Japanese and English - and a mutual desire to make the same movie. We had a really terrific gaffer, Yuji Wada, "Wada-san" - he's worked with Godard and others. He's Japanese but his English is very good. Many times he served as an on-set translator for everyone.
Our first assistant director, Takahide "Taka" Kawakami, has lived in New York for 16 years but was born in Osaka, Japan. He's fluent in both languages, so poor Taka had to not only AD the film but also, every time someone said, "OK, the next shot is a close-up," he would yell out the English, the translation, and then get the responses back from all the various parties and filter them back to us. People can find ways to communicate when they're rallying around the same thing.
Q: In addition to Bill Murray, Sofia has been able to elicit something from young actresses that we haven't seen them express previously onscreen.
RW: Scarlett has a worldliness, a sense of having lived a life that is well beyond her years. She was the most exciting candidate; she connected to the material and to Sofia's work in general. It was great watching all three of
them - Scarlett, Sofia, and Bill - all immensely talented and all from very different walks of life and points of view. Scarlett embodied the role of Charlotte, and she's playing a young woman in her 20s, which people haven't seen her do.
SC: For the shots where Scarlett is alone in the room, I tried to keep it to as few people as possible, to keep it intimate, more like a photo shoot. I can shoot a girl sitting around in her
underwear and it's not creepy because I'm not some big guy. There's an understanding between us because I've been that age. There's a shorthand.
RW: The role called for a certain complexity. Scarlett brings out what Sofia had written very specifically about this character.
Q: What was it like working with Bill Murray?
SC:
It was everything I hoped for - fun to be in Tokyo with him. He's enthusiastic, great with the crew, hung out with everyone. He's great at improvising, and added so much to the scenes.
RW: I remember we were having trouble with an owner of one location, and Bill ran over and was very funny, literally scooped the guy up in his arms and swung him around and said, "C'mon, c'mon! We just need another hour! C'mon!" He was incredible,
and he was a big part of why we were able to make the movie in the way that we were able to make it.
I was awed being around him. On the personal side, he's generous and kind. He's also one of the most thoughtful, intelligent, articulate, and literate people that I've ever met.
He'd wrap up equipment with the crew. And for those of us who were exhausted from shooting all night, he'd ask us to come down to his room and enjoy some eggs and bacon and champagne, and watch the World Series game.
SC: Breakfast and the World Series, that was fun.
Q: Giovanni Ribisi had worked with you before, as the narrator of The Virgin Suicides.
SC:
Yes, and I've always wanted to do something with him in front of the camera. To me he's fun in this part because usually he plays more serious roles. He's one of my favorite actors.
Q: What were Giovanni and Scarlett told about their characters' marriage?
SC: We did some rehearsals together in L.A. so they would have a familiarity between them. I talked to them a
bit about it in our rehearsal.
Q: And what were the parameters set with Bill and Scarlett for Bob and Charlotte's friendship? Is it just a friendship?
SC: It's supposed to be romantic but on the edge. Those relationships you have in real life - a little bit more than friends but not an actual romance. They get each other and it's flirtatious. They both know it's not
going to go anywhere. To me, it's pretty un-sexual between them - innocent and romantic, and a friendship.
Q: The karaoke selections in the film are so specific. Who chose them?
SC: Brian Reitzell and I picked these together. It was hard to find songs for Bob, especially as he's letting loose for the first time. At a karaoke booth, Bill Murray and I were talking about
Roxy Music, and I asked him to sing "More Than This." He did, and I thought it was so sweet I asked him to sing it as Bob in the scene. Luckily, we got permission to use the song.
RW: Music is one of Sofia's signatures in her films, in terms of creating mood and tone. We were in a real karaoke joint, in the Shabuya area of Tokyo. Watching Bill singing "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding" and "More Than This"
was surreal and funny and moving.
Q: At the other extreme, Anna Faris' rendition of "Nobody Does It Better" lays waste to the song - did she have to be talked into that?
SC: No, and that's why I'm impressed by Anna - she's totally up for anything. She cracks me up; she's fun to watch.
Q: The music for the
film is unusual in that it's two musicians doing it. How are they working together?
SC: We didn't really end up having a composer. Brian Reitzell and I had worked together on The Virgin Suicides; he plays drums with Air. He made me "Tokyo dream-pop" compilations to listen to while I was working on the script. We ended up using a lot of that in the film.
RW: Brian
got involved at the script stage because he gets what Sofia is trying to relay. It's something that is hard to capture on the page, but Sofia knows exactly how to shoot it and Brian knows how to help find the sounds. There are a couple dozen distinctive pieces of music in the finished film. It was a real coup for us to have Kevin Shields, of the band My Bloody Valentine, write original pieces for the film.
SC: I'm a big fan
of My Bloody Valentine and of Kevin's original work.
Q: With Lost in Translation, you're taking audiences to an exotic and teeming city in a very private manner. Often hushed and intimate despite all the hubbub. Were you able to steal moments like that for yourselves during production?
SC: Friends would take us to little hidden bars and alleyways. That's the fun of
Tokyo, if you know someone who lives there. There are little hidden places that change all the time. I enjoy finding new places there and looking around. I haven't been back since we finished shooting. Looking at the movie now, finishing it up, makes me want to go back. I look forward to showing the movie to our crew there.
RW: All of us that were in relationships were calling home at really odd times of day - when it was night
for them, it was day for us - you're in sort of this weird oasis where your real life doesn't exist, the only life that exists is the one of making the movie and the one of living in Japan. It's odd but also wonderful. We didn't stay in hotels and hide from where we were, we really lived in Japan and had a great, great time doing it, meeting people, befriending people, having wonderful nights out and really experiencing being there.
Q:
When the cab leaves Tokyo at the end, the camera goes with it and you sense that it was goodbye for the filmmakers too.
RW: There's a beautiful line in Sofia's script which sums up Bob Harris' experience and probably a lot of ours: "Bob gets into the Presidential limo and heads towards the airport, happy he came to Tokyo, happy to be going home." The experience can't last but it wouldn't be what it is if it was something that
could last.
There was so much friendship born throughout the process, we ended up actually having three wrap parties because people didn't want to let go or say goodbye. On Bill's last night of shooting, we had assembled the American crew and the Japanese crew, and we had a party at a funky Chinese restaurant. We had the best time. The vibe was so great, the energy was so great, everybody wanted to be there to say goodbye to Bill. It was Bill and all of us dancing until 4:30 in the morning. We all
went home, showered and changed, and about 40 minutes later Sofia and I and a small amount of the crew got on a train to Kyoto to shoot the entire Kyoto sequence.
Q: What would you like audiences to take away from their experience of watching the film? A mood? A moment? A specific emotion?
RW: I hope that people relate to it in the way that I do. I think it doesn't
matter if you are the Charlotte character or the Bob character, or neither. Everybody, at a certain point, is a little lost and sometimes we just find a connection to someone that helps to re-inspire or center us. And it's something we'll never forget. I feel that, with Lost in Translation, in addition to making a very funny movie, Sofia has crafted a film that is very specific - warm and contemplative - with experiences we can all relate to.
SC:
I can only say why I wanted to make the movie: to convey what I love about Tokyo and visiting the city. It's about moments in life that are great but don't last. They don't go on, but you always have the memory and they have an effect on you. That's what I was thinking about.
Lost in Translation
About the Cast
BILL MURRAY (Bob Harris)
Bill Murray has been praised for his performances in both seriocomic films and blockbuster movies.
His portrayal of Herman Blume in Wes Anderson's Rushmore brought him the New York Film Critics Circle, National Society of Film Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and Independent Spirit Awards for Best Supporting Actor. He has twice been nominated for a Golden Globe Award, for his performances in Rushmore and Ivan Reitman's Ghostbusters.
Born in Chicago, Mr. Murray began his acting career there with the improvisational troupe Second City. He joined the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live in the show's second season, and shortly thereafter won an Emmy Award as one of the show's writers.
After making his screen debut in Ivan Reitman's Meatballs, he reteamed with the director on Stripes and the Ghostbusters movies. His film credits also include Harold Ramis' Caddyshack and Groundhog Day, Art Linson's Where the Buffalo Roam, Sydney Pollack's Tootsie, John Byrum's The Razor's Edge (1984), Richard Donner's Scrooged, Frank Oz' What About Bob?, John McNaughton's Mad Dog and Glory and Wild Things, Tim Burton's Ed Wood, Peter and Bobby Farrelly's Kingpin, Jon Amiel's The Man Who
Knew Too Little, Tim Robbins' Cradle Will Rock, Michael Almereyda's Hamlet (2000), and Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums.
Mr. Murray authored the book Cinderella Story: My Life in Golf.
SCARLETT JOHANSSON (Charlotte)
Scarlett Johansson first attained worldwide recognition for her performance as Grace Maclean, the teen traumatized in a riding accident, in Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer. More recently, her performance as Rebecca Doppelmeyer in Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World (alongside Thora Birch) earned her the Toronto Film Critics Association award for Best Supporting Actress.
She has recently completed starring roles in two soon-to-be-released films: Brian Robbins' The Perfect Score (with Erika Christensen) and Peter Webber's Girl with a Pearl Earring (as Griet, the subject of the famed titular Vermeer painting, opposite Colin Firth as Vermeer).
A native New Yorker, Ms. Johansson made her professional acting debut at age eight in the off-Broadway production of Sophistry at New York's Playwrights Horizons.
Her breakthrough film role, as Manny in Lisa Krueger's critically acclaimed Manny & Lo, earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead.
Ms. Johansson's additional film credits include Rob Reiner's North, Arne Glimcher's Just Cause (as Sean Connery's daughter), Eric Schaeffer's If Lucy Fell, Raja Gosnell's Home Alone 3, Eva Gardos' autobiographical An American Rhapsody, Joel and Ethan Coen's The Man Who Wasn't There (opposite Billy Bob Thornton), and Ellory Elkayem's Eight Legged Freaks.
GIOVANNI RIBISI (John)
Giovanni Ribisi previously worked with Sofia Coppola as the (off-screen) narrator of her debut feature, The Virgin Suicides.
Honored with ShoWest's Male Star of Tomorrow Award, he has captured industry attention in several notable features. These have included Steven Spielberg's Academy Award-winning Saving Private Ryan (for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as a member of the film's ensemble cast), Sam Raimi's The Gift (for which he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Male), and Agnieszka Holland's HBO film Shot in the Heart (for which he received an AFI
Actor of the Year nomination).
Among the upcoming releases that Mr. Ribisi stars in are Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain, Jan Sardi's Lo
ve's Brother, and Adam Goldberg's I Love Your Work (in which he plays the lead role). He has also had starring roles in Tom Tykwer's Heaven, Ben Younger's Boiler Room, Garry Marshall's The Other Sister, Jesse Peretz' First Love, Last Rites, and Richard Linklater's suburbia.
Mr. Ribisi's other film credits include Larry Charles' Masked and Anonymous, John McTiernan's Basic, Dominic Sena's Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000), James D. Stern's It's the Rage, Adam Goldberg's Scotch and Milk, David Lynch's Lost Highway, and Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do!
ANNA FARIS (Kelly)
Anna Faris is known to audiences worldwide for her starring role as hapless heroine Cindy Campbell in Keenen Ivory Wayans' blockbuster Scary Movie and Scary Movie 2. She returns as Cindy in David Zucker's soon-to-be-released Scary Movie 3.
The Seattle native began acting in theater at a young age and embarked on her professional acting career there. She starred in commercials before being cast in Jon Steven Ward's independent feature Lovers Lane.
Ms. Faris' other film credits include Lucky McKee's May (which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival) and Tom Brady's The Hot Chick (starring opposite Rob Schneider).
Lost in Translation
About the Filmmakers
SOFIA COPPOLA (Director/Writer/Producer)
Sofia Coppola grew up in Northern California. After doing costume design on two feature films, she studied Fine Art at California Institute of the Arts.
She then wrote and directed the short film Lick the Star (which world-premiered at the Venice International Film Festival), followed by the feature The Virgin Suicides.
Ms. Coppola wrote the screenplay for the latter film, adapting it from Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides' novel of the same name. The movie starred Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, James Woods, and Kathleen Turner. A world premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival, The Virgin Suicides subsequently earned her the MTV Movie Award for Best New Filmmaker.
ROSS KATZ (Producer)
Ross Katz received Best Picture Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations as producer of Todd Field's In the Bedroom, which starred Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, and Marisa Tomei (all of whom received Academy Award nominations for their performances). The drama, which world-premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, also received an Academy Award nomination for Todd Field's adapted screenplay.
Mr. Katz' first job in the movie business was as part of the crew of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. He later worked with producers Sydney Pollack and Lindsay Doran on Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility.
He then joined leading NYC independent film company Good Machine, spending five years working on some of the company's most notable productions, such as Ang Lee's The Ice Storm and Todd Solondz' Happiness.
Mr. Katz' first feature as producer was Jim Fall's Trick, which debuted to acclaim at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The independent romantic comedy starred Christian Campbell, J.P. Pitoc, and Tori Spelling.
He received an Emmy Award nomination for executive-producing Moisés Kaufman's The Laramie Project, the HBO Films feature that world-premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
In 2002, Mr. Katz inaugurated his own NYC-based production company, Elemental Films. In 2003, he was cited as one of Variety's "10 Producers to Watch."
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA (Executive Producer)
Francis Ford Coppola is one of the most respected talents in the entertainment business.
Best known as a five-time Oscar-winning director, writer and producer, he won his first Oscar at age 31 for the screenplay for Patton, which he co-wrote with Edmund H. North.
Mr. Coppola's impressive body of work includes directorial credits for 20 films: epic films such as the Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now; The Conversation; The Outsiders and Rumblefish; and Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Throughout his career, he has always searched for better tools for filmmakers and is considered the pioneer of electronic cinema. Many of the techniques he developed have become the industry standard.
Mr. Coppola's San Francisco-based film company, American Zoetrope, develops and produces film projects for both the large and small screen. In its first 30 years, American Zoetrope has produced some of the most important films in American cinema, including American Graffiti, The Godfather (Parts II and III), The Black Stallion, The Outsiders and Rumblefish, Peggy Sue Got Married, Barfly, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Don Juan DeMarco, Mi Familia, The Virgin Suicides,
and cq.
American Zoetrope films have received 15 Academy Awards, out of 68 nominations. Four of the company's films were included in the American Film Institute's ranking of the Top 100 American Films.
American Zoetrope has constantly embraced the creative possibilities of technology, and has launched many of today's cinema technologies: Video Assist, Pre-visualization, electronic editing, and Network-enabled creative services. Under Mr. Coppola's leadership, American Zoetrope has become known for orchestrating alternative approaches to filmmaking.
FRED ROOS (Executive Producer)
For over 35 years, Fred Roos has been working with many of the film industry's most gifted moviemakers and actors.
His long-term collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola has brought him an Academy Award, for producing Best Picture winner
The Godfather Part II. He also was nominated for producing Apocalypse Now; and co-produced two more Best Picture Oscar nominees, The Conversation and The Godfather Part III.
Among the other features directed by Mr. Coppola that Mr. Roos and Mr. Coppola have produced together are One From the Heart, The Outsiders and Rumblefish, The Cotton Club, Gardens of Stone, and Tucker: The Man and His Dream.
His producing credits also include Carroll Ballard's The Black Stallion, Wim Wenders' Hammett, Barbet Schroeder's Barfly, Agnieszka Holland's The Secret Garden (1993), and (as co-producer) Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides. He received a CableACE Award, as well as an Emmy Award nomination, as executive producer of the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse.
Prior to becoming a producer, Mr. Roos had a notable career as a casting director. In that capacity, he cast such films as Richard Lester's Petulia, John Huston's Fat City, Bob Rafelson's Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens, Mr. Coppola's The Godfather, and George Lucas' American Graffiti and Star Wars (as casting consultant on the latter).
LANCE ACORD (Director of Photography)
Lance Acord previously collaborated with Sofia Coppola as cinematographer on her short film Lick the Star.
After studying photography and filmmaking at the San Francisco Arts Institute, the Northern California native began his career with acclaimed photographer/filmmaker Bruce Weber. Together they made documentaries, commercials, and music videos.
Mr. Acord continued to work extensively in the latter mediums. He earned the MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice," which memorably featured Christopher Walken and was directed by Spike Jonze.
Stephane Sednaoui, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Mark Romanek, and Michel Gondry are just a few of the talented directors Mr. Acord works with. He has shot numerous highly acclaimed television commercial campaigns for innovative advertisers such as Levi's, Volkswagen, and Nike.
Mr. Acord made his first foray into narrative feature filmmaking as the cinematographer on Vincent Gallo's Buffalo 66. Since then, he has since been the director of photography on Spike Jonze's multi-award-winning features Being John Malkovich and Adaptation., as well as Peter Care's The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys.
ANNE ROSS (Production Designer)
Anne Ross began working in film production while still in high school, as an intern to the late Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Charles Guggenheim. She went on to
attend New York University, graduating with a double major (in film and art history).
Her NYU days put her in contact with famed production designer Dean Tavoularis, whom she assisted on Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula. She later worked on such features as Philip Kaufman's Rising Sun and Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate.
Ms. Ross' own production design credits include James Toback's Black and White and Richard Shepard's Mercy, as well as music videos for such artists as R.E.M., The Strokes, and Air (on "Playground Love," co-directed by Sofia and Roman Coppola).
She has also designed commercials for (among other top clients) Calvin Klein, Samuel Adams, and Citibank.
K.K. BARRETT (Production Designer)
K.K. Barrett has twice been honored with the MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction: for Beck's "New Pollution" (1996) and for Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight" (1997).
He has collaborated with director Spike Jonze on several projects: the multi-award-winning feature films Being John Malkovich and Adaptation.; two Silver Clio Award-winning commercials for Nissan ("Lazy Boy Chair") and Sprite ("Sun Fizz"); a memorable Levi's commercial ("Hospital" ["Tainted Love"]); and the music video for Sean Lennon's "My House."
Mr. Barrett's extensive commercials credits include spots for Budweiser, Revlon, the Yellow Pages, Puma, and Mountain Dew, working with such directors as Stephane Sednaoui, Simon West, Mark Romanek, Lance Acord (the cinematographer of Lost in Translation), and the late Herb Ritts.
He has worked on music videos for such artists as Janet Jackson ("Go Deep"), Mariah Carey ("I'd Give My All"), and Chris Isaak ("Wicked Game").
Mr. Barrett was the production designer on Michel Gondry's film Human Nature, as well as the art director on The Young Indiana
Jones Chronicles: The Hollywood Follies, directed by Michael Schultz as part of the Lucasfilm television project.
NANCY STEINER (Costume Designer)
Nancy Steiner has worked extensively in film, commercials, music videos, and print.
She previously collaborated with Sofia Coppola as costume designer on The Virgin Suicides; and on the Air music video "Playground Love" (co-directed by Roman Coppola).
Ms. Steiner's film credits include Miguel Arteta's The Good Girl, Michel Gondry's Human Nature, Wim Wenders' Million Dollar Hotel, Alex Cox' The Winner, and Todd Haynes' Safe.
Her commercial campaigns include Levi's, Gap, Nike, Volkswagen, Pontiac, Adidas, Earthlink, Volvo, Bacardi, Puma, Lincoln, and Miller Beer.
In the past decade, Ms. Steiner has been particularly well-represented on MTV, designing the costumes for six short "Rock the Vote" films as well as for numerous music videos. The latter include Mick Jagger's "God Give Me Everything I Want" (directed by Mark Romanek), David Bowie's "Thursday's Child" (directed by Walter Stern), and Sheryl Crow's "Steve McQueen" (directed by Wayne Isham). She has frequently collaborated with directors Michel Gondry (on Bjork's "Bachelorette" and Foo Fighters'
"Everlong"), Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (on several music videos apiece for Smashing Pumpkins and The Red Hot Chili Peppers), and Sophie Muller (on three No Doubt music videos, including "Don't Speak").
Her print career includes work with Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Milla Jovovich, Sheryl Crow, Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks, R.E.M., and Sade. Her work has appeared in Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Dazed & Confused, Interview, Allure, Us, The Face, Premiere, and I.D.
SARAH FLACK (Editor)
Sarah Flack's most recent feature editing credit was on Jim Simpson's The Guys.
She has collaborated with Steven Soderbergh on several projects, and was the film editor on his features Full Frontal, The Limey, and Schizopolis.
Ms. Flack's credits as film editor also include John Polson's Swimfan, Mark Gibson's Lush, Tom Putnam's Shafted, and Joe Berlinger's Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. She did additional editing on two independent features, Peter Mattei's Love in the Time of Money and Peter Sehr's Love the Hard Way.
She graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Political Science and Semiotics/Film. After working on the set of Steven Soderbergh's Kafka in Prague, her first apprentice editing job was with Mark Conte on Sheldon Lettich's Double Impact. She later worked as an assistant editor with Claire Simpson (on Caroline Thompson's Black Beauty and Robert Towne's Without Limits); with Nancy Richardson and Pietro Scalia (on Desmond Nakano's White Man's Burden); and with Jill Bilcock (on Baz Luhrmann's
William Shakespeare's 'Romeo + Juliet').
BRIAN REITZELL (Music Producer)
Brian Reitzell previously collaborated with Sofia Coppola on The Virgin Suicides, on which he was music supervisor and additionally recorded the score with the French pop duo Air.
A musician by trade, he has recorded with such artists as Air, Beck, and Turin Brakes. He was the drummer for the beloved L.A. punk/pop band Redd Kross.
Mr. Reitzell's affinity for film scores led him to compose and record the soundtrack Logan's Sanctuary - the imagined sequel to Michael Anderson's 1976 feature Logan's Run. He has since progressed to working on movies that are being made, including Roman Coppola's cq. On that film, he was music supervisor and helped record the score with the French band Mellow. His work with Kevin Shields on Lost in Translation continues that approach of combining the task of music supervision with the
art of scoring original music for a feature film. |
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