Thompson on Hollywood

Cannes Fest Diary 2: Dull Coppola, Brilliant 'A Touch of Sin'

Reviews

I began the search for a room in Cannes quite late. I checked hotels.com, home to “Cheap Hotels, Discounts, Hotel Deals and Offers,” which is why I was a bit taken aback when my first offer was for a week at the Carlton for $52,000. What I wound up with was not quite the Carlton; it’s more of a bed with walls adjacent, a former maid’s quarters located on the ground floor of a very large complex; any resemblance to a prison cell, known or unknown, is entirely a coincidence.

By Tom Christie
|
May 18, 2013 12:46 PM
|
3 Comments

More:

Cannes Review: Coppola's 'The Bling Ring'

Reviews

Confession: going into "The Bling Ring," opening film for this year’s Un Certain Regard, I was hopeful that I’d find the Sofia Coppola of "Marie Antoinette" rather than the Sofia Coppola of "Somewhere" parked behind the camera. Surely, a true-life Hollywood tale as fundamentally ludicrous as fame-and-celebrity-obsessed hipster teens targeting freebie-laden homes of the rich and famous cried out for the leering (but not sneering) pop-art approach Coppola brought to her portrait of the pampered French queen, rather than the deadpan, going-round-in-circles approach she applied to her tale of an alienated movie star.

By Matt Mueller
|
May 16, 2013 12:56 AM
|
2 Comments

More:

Sofia Coppola Talks 'The Bling Ring,' First Digital Shoot, Feeling-Over-Talking Technique

Interviews

Director Sofia Coppola sits down with the DGA Quarterly to discuss her upcoming film "The Bling Ring" (June 14), starring Emma Watson as the leader of a pack of celebrity-looting Hollywood teens. Highlights from the interview below, including Coppola's interest in today's social-mediated youth, her experience with shooting digitally for the first time, and her methods for communicating feeling in a scene.

By Beth Hanna
|
April 10, 2013 1:10 PM
|
1 Comment

More:

Trailer Watch: Emma Watson Behaving Badly in Teaser for Sofia Coppola's 'Bling Ring'

Video

Check out the teaser trailer for Sofia Coppola's "The Bling Ring," starring Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga (Vera's little sister), Katie Chang, Israel Broussard and Claire Julien as a real-life group of LA teens who invaded and looted celebrity homes. This first glimpse has Coppola's signature rocker-meets-upper-class-malaise vibe, set to the Brooklyn band Sleigh Bells, and featuring the beautiful young stars grinding at clubs and playing dress-up in stolen bling.

By Beth Hanna
|
March 8, 2013 11:49 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

A24 Acquires Sofia Coppola's 'Bling Ring,' Sets Release Date for June 2013

News

A24 has picked up Sofia Coppola's "The Bling Ring," with plans to release the film theatrically in June. "The Bling Ring" stars Emma Watson and newcomers Israel Broussard, Katie Chang, Claire Julian and Taissa Farmiga (Vera's younger sister) as a group of restless teens who loot the homes of celebrities for kicks.

By Beth Hanna
|
January 17, 2013 11:07 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Career Watch: Scarlett Johansson, Beyond the Black Bodysuit

Features

Scarlett Johansson's role as Black Widow in "The Avengers" would be unnecessary if the superhero rulebook didn't require at least one buxom babe in black spandex. Thus secret agent Johansson plays a distant fiddle to Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans et al's super-human powers. Although her assassin has no superpower--other than outsmarting, interrogating and shooting and beating people to death ("looking puzzled or confused")--thanks to Joss Whedon's box office hit, attention is back on Johansson the kick-ass action babe rather than Johansson the nude-photo-hacking-scandal babe. But is Black Widow the best Johansson can do?

By Sophia Savage
|
May 7, 2012 3:40 PM
|
2 Comments

More:

Casting Watch: Kirsten Dunst Visits Set of Sofia Coppola's "The Bling Ring"

News

Perennial Sofia Coppola muse Kirsten Dunst and rocker Gavin Rossdale have been spotted on the L.A. set of the writer-director's currently filming "The Bling Ring." That doesn't mean that the star of "Virgin Suicides" and "Marie Antoinette" or the rhythm guitarist are necessarily in the movie, although Coppola loves throwing cameos into her flicks.

By Maggie Lange
|
March 28, 2012 2:53 PM
|
0 Comments

More:

Directors Guild Reveals Five Male Front-Runners, Skips Women

If there was any doubt as to which films were the front-runners in the Oscar race, they were quelled by the Directors Guild announcement of their nominees. The DGA tends to match Oscar nominations four for five. A movie almost never wins best picture without a DGA nomination, and the DGA winner has been the Oscar winner all but six times since 1948. As expected, first-time nominees Darren Aronofsky and Tom Hooper and vets David Fincher and Chris Nolan are in the running for the DGA's top prize. If the industry still harbors any grudges against David O. Russell for his past on-set behavior, the directors, at least, recognized him with his first DGA nomination for The Fighter.

By Anne Thompson
|
January 10, 2011 5:13 AM
|
4 Comments

More:

Tarantino Regrets Leaving Coppola's Somewhere Off His Ten Best

One significant omission on Quentin Tarantino's Ten Best List was ex-girlfriend Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, which the jury headed by Tarantino awarded the Golden Lion in Venice.

By Anne Thompson
|
January 5, 2011 4:52 AM
|
4 Comments

More:

Sofia Coppola Needs to Escape the Safety Zone

The Safety Zone is a dangerous place to be for filmmakers. When it comes to making movies, danger and risk is a good thing. And while I'm not saying that directors should pander to the widest possible audience, I do think that playing to an audience of one, yourself, is a must-to-avoid. Too many filmmakers seem to believe that staying in control is their best course. To a degree, it's wise not to cede control to the wrong people. But input and collaboration bring vital nourishment.