On the set of “Marie Antoinette,” Sofia Coppola was a director in her mid-30s with two previous features under her belt — exhilarated and occasionally overwhelmed by the scope of shooting a historical drama at Versailles. And her mother was there documenting it all. And it is the product of hours upon hours of raw footage Eleanor Coppola shot depicting her daughter at work.
The elder Coppola was no stranger to working this way among family: Her most renowned film may be 1991’s “Hearts of Darkness,” about the turbulent filming of her husband Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now.” There are fewer fireworks in “Making Marie Antoinette,” which lovingly documents the work of the many craftsmen it took to conjure 18th-century France, including and especially costume designer Milena Canonero, who won her third of four Oscars for the film. The film’s existence, though, is something of a rebuttal to the initial reception “Marie Antoinette” received. Everything from Dunst’s performance, painting the polarizing French queen as a naive, sheltered teen seeking experience, to the film’s punk-inflected soundtrack seemed to befuddle critics.
The film captures a propitious moment for its central figure: Sofia had catapulted forward in her career, winning an Oscar for writing “Lost in Translation” and was working with Sony, a major studio, on the visually lavish follow-up. And it represents a coda in the career of Eleanor. During the COVID pandemic, Eleanor was evaluating her life and career and mentioned to Sofia wanting to do something with the footage she’d shot in France.
After Eleanor’s 2024 death, Sofia edited together a feature out of the footage. What emerges is a sweet tribute to Eleanor, whose observations from the time, written in her diary, are read in voice-over by Diane Lane. (Lane had starred in “Paris Can Wait,” Eleanor’s 2016 feature film directorial debut.) And it’s an opportunity to reflect on our evolving view of Sofia, who, on the “Marie Antoinette” set seemed a wunderkind and who has, with sustained creative success, grown into one of Hollywood’s most reliable indie auteurs. Sofia spoke to Variety via Zoom about the film and her memories of shooting “Marie Antoinette” with her mom on set.
It was wild to see it on that big screen, because I was like, Oh my God, is the footage going to fall apart that big? I’d never seen it so big. But that was back where we showed “Marie Antoinette” originally, and to be back seeing this footage was a lot of emotions.
But it was really fun to see it with an audience and hear people laugh and connect with it. [When editing], you’re alone with this footage, and there’s no perspective. And so I was surprised that it was fun. The thing that was most important was showing her point of view.
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