A Guided Tour to Sofia Coppola’s Inspirations by Sofia Coppola Herself
Sofia Coppola’s vision as a filmmaker, from The Virgin Suicides to Marie Antoinette, has been informed by all manner of imagery and artifacts, so W asked her to deconstruct some of her latest projects, including The Beguiled, which was filmed in and around New Orleans and stars Nicole Kidman alongside Coppola muses Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning, as well as two commercials she created for Cartier and Calvin Klein. As always, her mood boards featured images from the quirkiest fringes of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s—a time of authenticity, when personal style and photography weren’t so micromanaged by professional image-makers.
“Me and my producer Youree Henley filming The Beguiled in New Orleans. He understands what’s important to me—all the details. He makes it happen and keeps it fun. I wanted a work uniform, so Julie de Libran at Sonia Rykiel made this jumpsuit for me.”
“It was so great to work with Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman. Colin was a good sport about being our token male, and you can’t take your eyes off Nicole!”
“Here is Kirsten Dunst as the teacher at the Farnsworth school in The Beguiled, with her students, played by Angourie Rice, Elle Fanning, Addison Riecke, and Emma Howard.”
“A William Eggleston photo (Untitled, 1974) that I had in mind when shooting some of the girls in the film together.”
“Working with Elle is always a pleasure. It was fun to see her walking around in those frilly skirts.”
“I also love this photo, Woman with Blue Bow, by Jo Ann Callis, from 1977. I saw it in the newspaper and ordered her book Woman Twirling. It reminded me of the feeling of femininity and frustration I wanted to achieve in The Beguiled.”
“I took this snapshot on the set of The Beguiled, with my Contax T2.”
“This photo of Bill Murray always makes me smile.”
“The artist Sara Cwynar’s Picture of Pens, 2015, is currently on the bulletin board in my office.”
“Fiorucci was my favorite label as a kid, and I’m so excited it’s being revived with designs from the archives. The graphics, which were always amazing, are being collected in a new book. “
“Romy Schneider, in Chanel, in Visconti’s The Job (1962)—her style in this film is the best! I would love to lounge around a palazzo like that.”
“When Cartier asked me to do a commercial for the Panthère watch I instantly thought of Hutton and that era of sophisticated and glamorous women in the late ’70s/early ’80s, around the time the watch first came out. (Those were the women I grew up admiring.) The Australian actress Courtney Eaton, who is so cute and nice, and is so natural in front of the camera, played the Panthère woman. It’s a fantasy day in her life.”
“Lauren Hutton with Richard Gere in American Gigolo, another favorite of mine!”
“When Calvin Klein approached me about the project, I thought about the Sam Haskins books I loved when I was in my 20s. [An image from the photographer’s Five Girls, 1962, above.] I found my old books and used them as a starting point to create the mood I was going for.”
“I took this photo on the set of an underwear commercial I did for Calvin Klein. It was fun to think about how to do an underwear campaign that could be sexy and playful without being embarrassing. I was so glad to be able to cast great women I like and who are all smart and cool.”
“I took this photo on the set of an underwear commercial I did for Calvin Klein. It was fun to think about how to do an underwear campaign that could be sexy and playful without being embarrassing. I was so glad to be able to cast great women I like and who are all smart and cool.”
