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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.