When I spoke to Sofia Coppola almost six weeks ago it felt like Hollywood was on fire. Every day more women were coming forward with their stories of sexual harassment (or worse) and notable male figures in the industry were no longer being protected for their transgressions. In fact, I’m sure just a few minutes before we began recording another story had broke. During our podcast interview Coppola referred to it as an “earthquake.” And even then she knew this was going to have major ramifications for the entertainment industry overall (the political dominoes hadn’t begun to fall yet in Washington).
“Things are shifting,” Coppola says. “People are talking about it.”
Review: Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Beguiled’ with Nicole Kidman and Kirsten Dunst [Cannes]
Coppola deserves some credit for being part of this discussion or at least influencing it. Her own adaptation of “The Beguiled” won her the Best Director prize at Cannes and was a nice early summer hit for Focus Features earning $27 million worldwide. Set during the Civil War, the film centers on a girls school that rescues a Union soldier who ends up trying to play them against one another (or so they think). The movie featured major actresses such as Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning, but Coppola reveals she still had problems with the studio in casting the “right” male lead (eventually Colin Farrell) in order to get the production greenlight. In contrast, she actually believes “Wonder Woman” was a seminal movie for female filmmakers and that Hollywood won’t ignore the opportunity for female led tentpoles in the future (we’ll see).
Coppola isn’t getting the attention Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”) or Dee Rees (“Mudbound”) in this awards season, but her work on “The Beguiled” certainly deserves Best Director consideration. I mean, if it’s good enough for Cannes, isn’t it good enough for The Academy?
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Look for upcoming podcast episodes featuring “Darkest Hour” screenwriter Anthony McCraten and two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz, among others. And check out previous episodes with “Darkest Hour’s” Ben Mendelsohn, “Blade Runner: 2049‘s” Denis Villeneuve, “Thor: Ragnarok‘s” Taika Waititi, “The Florida Project‘s” Sean Baker, “Detroit‘s” John Boyega, get behind the scenes with “RuPaul’s Drag Race” producers and more on Soundcloud or on iTunes.
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