Sofia's Choice

YOSHIO SATO/FOCUS FEATURES
Sofia Coppola on the set of Lost in Translation

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The film breakthrough came several years ago when Coppola read Jeffrey Eugenides' novel The Virgin Suicides and was so taken with it that she set about writing a screen adaptation Sofia-style which is to say under the radar without telling anyone and with no clue as to who owned the film rights to the book. With a bit of help from someone at American Zoetrope, her father's production company, she ended up writing and directing it as her first feature film. The critical success of 2000's The Virgin Suicides a poignant look at adolescent longing through the eyes of suburban teenage boys gave her the confidence to write an original script.

Tokyo had been lingering in the back of Coppola's mind after several trips there to work on her clothing line and shoot for a fashion magazine called Dune. "I remember having these weeks there that were sort of enchanting and weird," says Coppola. "Tokyo is so disorienting, and there's a loneliness and isolation. Everything is so crazy, and the jet lag is torture. I liked the idea of juxtaposing a midlife crisis with that time in your early 20s when you're, like, What should I do with my life?"

Coppola's small conceit is refreshingly personal. Many of the scenes and much of the dialogue were culled from conversations she overheard, her experiences and those of people she knows. "I feel like anything you write is autobiographical," she says. "Even The Virgin Suicides was, and I didn't write [the book]." Her visual cues are taken from photography: the Playboy photos of Sam Haskins inspired the soft-focus, fleshy look of Suicides; the idea of running around Tokyo taking snapshots gives Lost in Translation its look of spontaneity. She tweaks every costume herself. From the fashion to the photography, Coppola has corralled all of her visual experience and channeled it into a very personal vision.

Work has kept her and her husband apart in recent months, so for the moment, Coppola plans to take a break. But she's keeping an eye out for her new film project. After living under the long shadow of her famous name, the dilettante is working hard to live up to it.