00:03Hi, this is Mariah Gullow from The Hollywood Reporter and I'm here with Sofia Coppola and
00:08we're here to talk about The Beguiled in studio today. Thanks for having me. Thank you so much.
00:13So we were saying off camera a little bit that it's, you know, you've had the summer,
00:17the film came out in the summertime, you've been able to kind of experience some time off
00:23and now you're here talking with us about it. Yeah, I'm going to try to remember. We
00:28taught it a year ago and then we finished it last spring and it was nice to have a little
00:34break
00:34and then be fresh. Yeah, and it had an obviously an excellent reception in Cannes and congratulations.
00:41Thank you. I wanted to talk to you a little bit just about the difficulties of making a Civil War
00:46era film because did you anticipate that there might be comments from people about how you
00:54interpret the Civil War or tell your story around it? Yeah, I mean, I thought the story I really wanted
01:00to tell was
01:00about the relationship between men and women and this group of women and I thought, could I set it
01:06during another time, another war? So, but there's something about the, in the South, the way that women
01:13were raised, it's such an exaggeration of femininity and so much of the story is I wanted the contrast
01:18between these, you know, hyper feminine women and this masculine man. So I decided to keep it then
01:25and I read journals of women at that time and I think it's such an interesting group of women that
01:30we've never heard, don't hear about. I haven't seen a film about this, these women that were so isolated
01:35that were raised to rely on men and servants and after the slaves escaped and the men were at war,
01:40they were left behind and trying to find their place and keep this lifestyle going that didn't,
01:47that didn't exist anymore and so I was interested in this, in this group of women and I thought I
01:52really want to focus the movie about them and what happens when they're cut off and, and this man comes
01:58in. You're, you're kind of known as having a, like a very modern sensibility and you keep characters
02:06kind of current and present by not hitting people over the head with a backstory. When you're kind of
02:13crossing, um, like a civil war era bygone era sort of women's experience with your style of being
02:22more modern, um, like how, uh, can you just tell us how you, how you do that? Yeah, I thought
02:29a lot
02:29about how I wanted it to feel authentic to the time but also be relatable to a modern audience that
02:35you
02:35can look at those women and relate to them even though they're very different and their life was
02:39very different but, but at the core of the, you know, the human experience is something that we
02:43can relate to and, and so I tried with the costumes, um, that costume designer Stacy and I talked about
02:49how it can all be very rooted in the correct history of what they wore but, but to, to choose
02:56ones that
02:56look, um, not weird to a modern eye like, you know, in the hairstyles and everything so that you can
03:01feel
03:01like you could relate to, to them and so we thought about how to make it feel naturalistic and that
03:06you could relate to them even though it's in another era. And when you were, you were working
03:10with your actresses, do you direct them to kind of, uh, bring forward more modern sensibility or do you
03:17like to tell them to go back to that time period or? Yeah, we tried to really, we spent, um,
03:25a week rehearsing and
03:26getting into what, how women spent time then and having sewing lessons and etiquette and really
03:31trying to feel like what it was like for them to live at that time and I think it was
03:35a challenge
03:36with the dialogue because a lot of times on set you'll have to alter the dialogue or improvise
03:40something like how does it sound? We want it to sound period but also feel natural and not like yield,
03:46you know, awkward. So I think that's always a balance of how to make it in period but also
03:52naturalistic and feel timeless so that you can relate to it at any time. And I think, you know,
03:57what I liked about the story is the power struggles between, you know, female and male characters is
04:02something that we can all relate to and, um, but it's in such an extreme way in the story so
04:07to look
04:08at something relatable but in a very exaggerated way. Yeah, it's, it's interesting, it's like, uh,
04:15there's a, a form of flirting that's taking place but it becomes, it kind of goes down a dark
04:21path. Yes, it goes too far. How did you, uh, work with Colin Farrell to kind of give him that
04:27explosive shift, uh, halfway through the movie? Yeah, I mean, what I liked about the story is
04:32that you don't expect where it's going to go and, and we worked a lot about, um, he comes into
04:37this
04:37very feminine world where everything's soft and pastel and it's not threatening at all and you just
04:41hopefully don't see the turn happening and you're as surprised as he is, um, and, and you don't expect
04:47the women to act in the way that they do and it's such a contrast from the beginning so, um,
04:53we, uh, when we were rehearsing, Colin didn't, wasn't a part of that. We kept him as a really
04:57separate, um, element and so when he comes in, it's, he's just this foreign element and has to
05:03kind of react to all of them and, um, and, and I liked that you don't know he's a bad
05:08guy right off
05:09the bat that you have to kind of, you want to believe him in the way that they do and,
05:13and, um,
05:13you have to kind of discover everyone's character as the story progresses. I think,
05:17I hope that the, the audience can go on the, the ride of, of kind of uncovering who's really at,
05:23underneath these exterior, how you put yourself forward.
05:26Mm-hmm. Um, you also worked with a variety of, uh, women at different ages, um, and you had to
05:34kind of,
05:35uh, you had to give them, um, like, a certain quality of femininity depending on their, uh,
05:43stage in life. Do you identify with all the different stages?
05:47Yeah, definitely because I'm closer, closest to Nicole's character so I know what it's like for
05:52the, the teenage girl and, and, and Kirsten, this young woman. I've, I've kind of been in the
05:57different stages so I can, I can relate to each one of them which was interesting, um, for me and,
06:01and how they each relate to him with the, that he knows how to charm each one and the, you
06:06know,
06:06the 12 year old girls looking at him as a big brother and, and Elle's character's kind of just
06:11discovering her sexuality and her power and I thought that each, it was important to make
06:15them each human and not, um, just deranged women that are taken by his attractiveness.
06:21Yeah. And, uh, you were working off a novel from the 60s and then a film that was made in
06:27the 70s.
06:28Uh, what, what were the big challenges of kind of creating your own spin on the, these?
06:33Yeah, the, um, the Don Siegel film is a classic genre film and it's very 70s looking I think now
06:40and,
06:40um, so I wanted to take that story but then approach it my way from the female character's
06:46point of view and I tried, I tried to forget that, that movie even though I have regard for that
06:50movie. I tried to forget how he made it and, and go back to the book and, and just start
06:54fresh and
06:55say how am I going to adapt this story? How am I going to tell the story? And, um, so
06:59I went to the
07:00book and then thought about just, you know, experiences in life and how I feel like there's a communication
07:05between women that a lot can be communicated non-verbally with tone or a glance and I really
07:10wanted to, to show that this group of tight-knit women how, how I think in the, the dinner scenes
07:17especially you, you get the, all the kind of hierarchy and the, the slights between them
07:21which, um, is very, I think particular to, you know, just in a group of women.
07:25Mm-hmm. Your final dinner scene is very chilling, um, visually. Oh, that was fun. So interesting.
07:31How did you walk Nicole Kidman through that last scene? Uh, she was so incredible to work with
07:38because she got the tone and the whole movie could have been very campy because of the story so we
07:42were really aware of having fun with it and, and, and being playful and a sense of humor but also
07:47keeping it hopefully really real and engaging the audience and, um, I loved her in that last scene
07:54because she's being very ladylike and talking about roses while they're, you know, planning on,
07:59on, um, getting rid of them. So, um, so there was a lot of, I loved the dialogue just having
08:06the
08:06subtext of what was really going on under the surface and what, what, um, while she was displaying being
08:12a hostess and, uh, it was fun to do that scene because there's so much contrasting what you're
08:17seeing and what's really going on. What do you like to say, uh, about, uh, like male and female
08:22perspectives and the differences between them? Because I feel like you have a lot to say on that
08:26subject throughout all of your films. It probably, uh, changes from film to film, but is there anything
08:32that you're kind of thinking about and ruminating now? I mean, I think just my approach, I think I
08:38look at things, I, I relate to the female characters because that's my experience and I think I, I approach
08:43things differently than, than, um, a guy director would and it's, that's, I think it's fun to, we had a
08:49double
08:49feature of Beguiled at Quentin's Theater, the New Beverly, where we showed both and it's fun to see
08:54because it's so, I think the 70s one is such a guy's point of view and this one's really, uh,
08:58a female
08:59point of view. So I think it's, it's interesting to, to look at that, but I, I, I just think
09:03about what
09:03I would relate to and what I want to see and, and to make, you know, female characters that are
09:08hopefully
09:08complex and, and feel real and human. Yeah. Uh, can we talk a little bit, speaking of the ultimate human,
09:17uh,
09:17Kirsten Dunst, your relationship with her? I mean, you two kind of grew up together artistically
09:22and creatively. Um, can you tell me about what she means to you? Yeah, I love, uh, working with
09:29Kirsten and when I first met her, when I did Virgin Suicides, it was our, my first film and she
09:33was 16
09:34and, um, and then just watching her grow up over the years, I love working with her and Marie Antoinette
09:39and now this at, you know, she's, um, you know, young woman and she just always impresses me and, and
09:44it's
09:44great to work with her at different stages of her life and just to have that rapport with an actor,
09:49I love her as a person, but also it just, she gets my sensibility. She knows exactly
09:54how, how I, um, like to work and, and it's always interesting to see what she brings to it and
09:59I love in the Beguile that she did such a, um, withdrawn, subtle performance. She has so much going
10:04on but it looks very quiet and she really, she, she became so introverted and vulnerable and the
10:10opposite of, she's so bubbly and extroverted in real life so it was really, it was really interesting
10:15to see her transform like that. Is there a failure in your life that, um, has helped you with your
10:22directing style? Any challenges or things at the time you think what, you know, makes you stronger
10:27or try harder? Um, I can't think of exactly, I think when, when I was in my dad's film, Godfather
10:343,
10:34being really attacked for that when I was 18, I feel like it somehow kind of toughens you up that
10:41like, yeah, okay, you, like what could be worse than saying that you ruined your dad's movie? Like
10:45it just kind of, it frees you in a way or gives you some kind of courage when you go
10:48through a hard
10:49experience publicly, I guess, to not be so, um, affected by that. I think a lot of people have the
10:56perspective that people who are successful somehow have an easy life but they don't see all of the hard
11:03work or the backlash of, of success. I definitely, I always feel each film is such a challenge to get
11:10made and it's a struggle and, and, um, it's scary and so it's definitely, um, you don't show that,
11:17that side but there's definitely a lot of hard work and, and, and it's, you have to really make
11:23yourself vulnerable to put yourself out there which is always scary. Yeah. Um, is there anything you're
11:28working on now or are you excited to move forward with a different genre? Yeah, no, I'm just,
11:33um, I'm, I'm excited that I got to make this film and I'm proud of it and, um, and now
11:38I'm looking
11:39forward to, um, trying to figure out what's next, I'm not sure. Oh yeah. It's always a scary moment
11:44where you're trying to figure out where you're going but I, I like to, after a film kind of, um,
11:50take a moment to, and usually the next film is, is affected by the one before so,
11:55so I'm not sure. Is there like a particular challenge of the, uh, this time period, that set piece,
12:01that psychological thriller that you just worked on, like, um, is there something where you're like
12:06kind of ready to like put that aside because it was particularly challenging? Yeah, I mean,
12:13I think the corsets. Yeah, no, I always find it exciting when you do something you haven't done
12:17before, um, and, and hopefully you pull it off or, you know, you feel, I think it, um, makes me
12:23want to
12:24take on other challenges. It's always exciting to do, you know, you learn so much from that to try something,
12:28um, you haven't done and, um, but yeah, I'm not sure what's next. Uh, last question for you, Sophia.
12:36Um, what is the question most asked of you by women who want to be directors?
12:41Oh, I feel like, um, young women asked me for advice and, um, I always think, uh, who's that? I
12:49was
12:49talking to my, um, my cousin who's a teenager had like an interview show with a couple teenage girls
12:54asking me about what, you know, yeah, about becoming a director. And I, um, I think just
12:59really what's always been helpful to me is to really trust your gut and make the films that you
13:03want to see. And I feel like I try to make the films that I don't see out there that
13:07I feel are missing
13:08that I want to see and, um, that I can relate to. And I feel like that's the, you know,
13:13the best thing
13:14about films are seeing other people's experiences that you don't know about. So to trust that, that your
13:19experience is worth putting out there and, um, and hopefully more points of views will be out there.
13:24That's wonderful. Thank you so much for being here, Sophia. The movie is The Beguiled.
Comments