vDespite its pink color, it appears almost plain on the outside. However, when I opened the 488-page book, I was drawn straight into a world bursting with creativity and emerging teenage feelings. Whether “The Virgin Suicides” (1999), “Lost in Translation” (2003), “Marie Antoinette” (2006) or her current film “Priscilla” (2023), with every chapter I immerse myself in a new world, which nevertheless all seem to be connected on different levels: Sofia Coppola's typical aesthetic of soft light, coming-of-age stories of young women and their hopes and desires, and the recurring faces across her various productions, such as Kirsten Dunst and Bill Murray. Coppola herself describes the book as a kind of scrapbook and with that she hits the mark – or in this case the pink. As I flip through the pages, the handwritten notes, collages, and Polaroids make it feel a little like I'm flipping through a diary or high school senior yearbook. It's colorful, there's a lot to discover, and sometimes I wonder if I'm suddenly back in my teenage room, at home with my parents. Lying on the bed, the walls full of photos, posters and notes, headphones in your ears while the Discman plays the latest indie pop songs.
The feeling of nostalgia immediately sets in and I wonder and imagine what it would be like to live in these worlds or work on one of the film sets. Everything seems to be “handmade” in Coppola’s films. The attention to detail is always visible in her films and becomes even more evident in the book. Every material, every scene, every object – everything seems to have been thought through down to the smallest detail. It is precisely these many, seemingly insignificant aspects that make the images in her films so great. The color worlds also have a strong recognition value, which is partly due to the fact that most of their films are still shot on 35mm film.
“After each project, a lot of things ended up in boxes: a mix of templates, notes, scripts and photos from the set. I took photos with my Contax T3 and invited photographer friends to the set. As the boxes started piling up over the years and enough time had passed, I finally opened them and started looking through them.”
The book offers the opportunity to take a look behind the scenes, to get a little closer to Coppola's way of working, to immerse yourself in her dream-like worlds and to escape the here and now for a short time.
Actress Elle Fanning on the set of “The Beguiled”
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
The film adaptation “The Bling Ring” is based on the true story of five teenagers who broke into the villas of Hollywood celebrities, including Paris Hilton, from October 2008 to August 2009. Paris Hilton's house also served as a set here.
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
Break between the individual scenes: Sofia Coppola in the Palace of Versailles while filming “Marie Antoinette”
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
There were no Macbooks or iPods during Marie-Antoinette's lifetime, but behind the scenes of the film there were.
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
Break in full gear on the set of “Marie Antoinette”
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
A look at the script for “The Virgin Suicides” with handwritten notes
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
Photos by Kirsten Dunst next to the book “The Virgin Suicides”, the basis for Coppola’s film
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
Bill Murray on the set of “On The Rocks”
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
Bill Murray is one of the faces that keeps appearing in Sofia Coppola's films. In this letter she tells him about her plans for “Lost in Translation” and the question of whether he would take on the lead role and whether he would have time to shoot in Tokyo in September. His answer was obviously: Yes.
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
Coppola likes to work with talent that is not yet well known. This is also the case in her current film “Priscilla”, in which the young actress Cailee Spaeny played the leading role.
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
Letters from Priscilla to Elvis Presley
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
Cailee Spaeny on the set of “Priscilla”
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Image: Sofia Coppola/MACK
Sofia Coppola Archives – The book (ISBN 978-1-915743-13-8) has 488 pages and will be available in September 2023 MACK appeared.
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