In the second decade of the twenty-first century, it is not unusual for the many artistic members of the Coppola family to be referred to as a dynasty. Recognizing the creative contributions of the Coppolas for three generations, they are on par with the Hustons, the Fondas, and the Barrymores. The Coppola clan continues to grow and flourish as the family tree extends its branches.
Since the release of CQ in 2001, Roman Coppola has had an extraordinarily busy and productive decade. He continues to lead The Directors Bureau, located in Los Angeles, which functions as an artists’ clearinghouse and support group for directors of commercials, music videos, short films, and feature films. Both he and Sofia Coppola are now the owners of American Zoetrope, the company having been gifted to them by their father late in the decade. Roman appears to have inherited his father's inventive propensities. In 2004 he created the Photobubble, which now has its own company. The Photobubble is a custom-made production tool designed to simplify a complicated shooting situation. It is particularly useful for photographic challenges during commercials. Photobubbles are inflatable structures that create a soft-box enclosure that is reflection free. The director of photography and perhaps director is encased in the Photobubble and can essentially shoot 360 degrees in a given circumstance. The idea for this invention came to Coppola in response to a need, proving that necessity is the mother of invention. He was shooting a Toyota Prius commercial. He needed a mechanism to allow for filming a car being driven at speed in a totally white atmosphere and eventually conceived the notion of building an inflatable stage lit from the outside. He thought it might work. Coppola brought on a team to design, produce, and market the product. To date, the Photobubble has been used successfully in commercial situations, and its applications are growing.
Roman Coppola has been a sought after second-unit director for his entire adult career. Of course, he provided second unit for Sofia whenever she asked for it. With his father directing films again, he photographed on both Youth without Youth and Tetro. Roman has developed a professional relationship with director Wes Anderson. He was second-unit director on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. They became further connected on the film The Darjeeling Limited, which was released in October 2007. Roman was one of the producers, did second-unit directing, and wrote the screenplay with Anderson and Roman's cousin Jason Schwartzman, who was also in one of the leading roles. Roman's collaboration with Anderson continues, and together they wrote Moonrise Kingdom, which opened the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in May 2012.
During this period Roman directed countless music videos, many of them for the indie rock group The Strokes and later for Phoenix, Thomas Mars’ group. Most exciting in terms of his career growth, he is writing, directing, and producing (Francis's trifecta) A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, with Charlie Sheen in the title role and also starring Bill Murray, who has worked repeatedly with Anderson and starred in Sofia's Lost in Translation. His cousin Jason Schwartzman will appear in the film as well. The film is billed as a comedy. Also listed in the cast is Patricia Arquette, his cousin Nicolas Cage's ex-wife.
Since the release of Sofia Coppola's most recent picture, Somewhere, she has had joyous events in her personal life. In the spring of 2010 she and Mars welcomed their second daughter, Cosima. On August 27, 2011, Coppola and Mars married in a low-key ceremony in southern Italy in Bernalda, a historic city where Francis Ford Coppola was in the midst of renovations to transform a nineteenth-century villa into the Italian resort Palazzo Margherita. It was an outside wedding on the palazzo. About 100 people, friends and family, attended the ceremony.
In addition to raising her family living in both Paris and New York, Sofia has directed another Dior Perfume commercial. This one is for Miss Dior Cherie and stars Natalie Portman. Her “French” lover in this brief encounter is Alden Ehrenreich, who was Bennie in Francis Coppola's Tetro— yet another example of actors becoming part of the Coppola stable. The background music is an iconic French song, “Je t'aime’…“moi non plus,” written by Serge Gainsbourg and performed by Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. It is more sophisticated than the bubbly commercial Sofia made in 2008, appealing to a more chic young market.
In June 2011 designer Marc Jacobs received the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. Sofia had long been considered Jacobs's muse, and she had the honor to make the presentation.
At the end of 2011 Sofia curated an exhibit of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs at the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris. Sofia chose the photographs from the Mapplethorpe archives in New York, and they reflected her particular aesthetic. Gallery owner Thaddaeus Ropac conceived the concept of pairing an artist with the subject of a show and allowing the artist to select art pieces that reflected his or her response to the artist whose work was being displayed. Some of the photographic choices Sofia selected were lesser-known portraits of children and animals and many of Mapplethorpe's still-life flower photographs and landscapes. That was her aesthetic.
Toward the end of 2011 rumors started that Sofia Coppola was in the planning stages of her next film. The film Burglar Bunch (working title) was listed as in development for 2014. It is based on the audacious gang who robbed Hollywood celebrities of millions of dollars’ worth of first-class possessions. As the film progressed from development to early production its title became The Bling Ring. Sofia is writing, producing, and directing, with Roman Coppola also producing and stalwart Fred Roos on board as executive producer. The cast includes many young actors, most notably Emma Watson of the Harry Potter franchise.
In January 2012 it was reported that Sofia entered into an exclusive arrangement with the Swedish retail brand H&M to prepare an all-out advertising campaign for their Marni Collection. The multifaceted project is set in Marrakesh, Morocco, and includes a film that will be shown in movie theaters and on television. There also will be print advertising. Of the collaboration Coppola observed, “I enjoyed doing this film for the Marni at H&M collaboration, I think it's great how they make fashion accessible and I wanted to show the fantasy fashion can bring.”1
Actor, musician, and screenwriter Jason Schwartzman, son of Talia Shire and the late Jack Schwartzman, has had a highly successful career that blossomed when he was cast in director Anderson's Rushmore, a surprise hit that has cult status. Jason maintains a close relationship with Anderson and has appeared in many of his films, including The Darjeeling Limited (which he also co-wrote) and Moonrise Kingdom. Schwartzman appeared in his cousin Sofia's Marie Antoinette and in his cousin Roman's CQ. He wrote the soundtrack for his cousin Bill Neil's film Goats, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2012. Schwartzman is a talented musician who was the 14-year-old drummer of indie rock group Phantom Planet. He now has a solo act titled Coconut Records. Other movie roles he has played are in Slackers, Shopgirl, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and the not-yet-released A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, where he will again perform for his cousin Roman. On HBO he played the lead in Bored to Death for three seasons and wrote the theme song for the show.
Jason's younger brother Robert is also a musician and actor. He formed a band called Rooney when he was a junior in high school. He is the lead vocalist. The band signed a contract with Geffen/Interscope Records in 2002. The band has opened for indie rock bands Weezer and The Strokes. Schwartzman had supporting roles in The Princess Diaries (in which he also sang) and worked for his cousin Sofia in The Virgin Suicides.
Jason and Robert have an older half-brother, John Schwartzman, who is a successful cinematographer. Among his many credits are The Green Hornet, The Bucket List, Seabiscuit, The Rookie, Pearl Harbor, and EDtv.
Marc Coppola is best known as an extremely successful disc jockey (DJ). He is the late August Coppola's oldest son. At an early age he acted in film and television, but his true forte has been as a radio music personality. Broadcasting rock along with intelligent commentary, he was a popular and respected DJ with a strong following on several New York radio stations. He now can be listened to via Clear Channel in extended format broadcasting “Big Classic Hits.”
August Coppola's second son Christopher has had an unusual career path within the arts. He is a digital entrepreneur and is president of CRC Productions. In 2006 Christopher inaugurated a digital film festival in New Mexico. One of his missions is to make moviemaking more accessible to the general public by developing methods that make it easier to distribute the product and by developing interactive platforms. His film festival was subtitled Project Accessible Hollywood (PAH). Coppola has also directed eight features between 1998 and 2007, most in the horror genre. Among them are The Creature of the Sunny Side Up Trailer Park, G-Men from Hell, and Dracula's Widow.
Nicolas Cage (nee Coppola) has appeared as an actor in well over 50 feature films with some of the finest film directors, including his uncle Francis, Martin Scorsese, John Woo, Werner Herzog, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, David Lynch, and Norman Jewison. He has four films in various stages of production and commitments through 2014. He has also produced a number of films.
Chris Neil worked for George Lucas as a dialogue coach. His dream was to direct a feature, and at the 2012 Sundance Festival he was able to showcase Goats, a film about an eccentric extended family and an adolescent boy's rite of passage. Neil was able to assemble a remarkable cast—David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, Keri Russell, Minnie Driver, and Will Arnett. This labor of love began when Christopher optioned the rights eight years ago.
Jacqui de la Fontaine, had married with Francis and Eleanor Coppola's blessing in 2000. In fact, Francis walked her down the aisle at the Napa Valley estate as she wed billionaire Peter Getty. But a decade later the marriage was in shambles as Jacqui discovered Getty's adultery and cocaine addiction. The result was a highly publicized divorce with a protracted battle over spousal support.
Francis and Eleanor's granddaughter Gia is now a successful model who has appeared in the major fashion magazines and was chosen as the Spring 2012 Whetherly Look Book model. She is also a budding director and shot a video for Opening Ceremony (OCTV) titled 22. At this point, she is clearly trying to follow in her aunt's footsteps.
And so the majority of the current generation of Coppolas are contributing to the arts and technology. They are involved in filmmaking, video artistry, digital innovation, acting, communications, cutting-edge technology, screenwriting, music, and fashion. As artists, they are moving the twenty-first century forward. Many of them already have children of their own. Clearly, the kids are all right.