"My dad was really into opera," says Sofia Coppola of the music she heard growing up, several days before heading to Cannes for the premiere of her new film The Beguiled, a remake of the 1971 sultry gothic starring Clint Eastwood, which hits theaters this Friday. "I remember that and Jimmy Cliff's The Harder They Come soundtrack being played in the house a lot."
Coppola made history at Cannes, becoming the second woman in the history of the film festival to win Best Director. In addition to opulent trappings, existential ennui, and characters searching for meaning beyond their privilege, music is the through-line in Coppola's work. After the '70s pop of her debut The Virgin Suicides, Coppola's soundtracks borrowed heavily from her personal life, reflecting the multi-faceted cool of a woman with damn good taste. Working with ex-Redd Kross drummer-turned-music supervisor Brian Reitzell, the duo turned out two of the best soundtracks of the 2000s: the shoegaze, dream pop of Lost in Translation, and the double disc post-punk of Marie Antoinette.
The Beguiled, featuring a minimalist, instrumental score by Coppola's husband Thomas Mars and his band Phoenix, isn't as pop music-heavy as her previous outings. But to celebrate her ability to fuse the visual and the aural so seamlessly, we took a look back at some of our favorite musical moments with the director.
The Jesus and Mary Chain - "Just Like Honey" (from Lost in Translation)
I love this song. I was listening to it while working on the script, and it fit the whole mood. My music supervisor Brian [Reitzell] and I talked about the Tokyo dream-pop vibe, and he made me some mixes. We called it the Tokyo dream-pop mix. I've always loved the Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. When I went to art school, I listened to that stuff a lot, and it always reminds me of that time in my life. There's a dreamy, jet-lagged feeling to that music, and that character reminds me of being in my twenties. You can't beat that song for that feeling. The Death in Vegas song "Girls" really captures what it was like to be there, of being half awake and how strange everything seems. There's a melancholy to it—just as there's a melancholy to being in your 20s. I wasn't necessarily unhappy during that time in my life, but I was trying to figure out my identity and place in the world. I still love these songs, and "Just Like Honey" always hits me. With my soundtracks, I listen to them so much in the edit room that it's hard to enjoy them afterwards. They lose a bit of their magic, because it always reminds me of editing. On their own, I still love all those songs.
Heart - "Magic Man" (from The Virgin Suicides)
I remember being on a road trip with a friend and listening to that song, and it came to my head while writing that scene. It was really fun to pick the songs for that time period, and to work with Brian on the ones that weren't as obvious. Most of the songs on that soundtrack are classics. For that movie, I started with the Air score. I was in London working on the script, and I went into Rough Trade and saw the Air album cover for Premiers Symptômes. I had never heard of them and just bought it randomly. I listened to it over and over while working on the script, and thought they'd be good for the soundtrack. They said they'd do it, and then we needed period music as well. I asked Brian, who was drumming in Redd Kross at the time, if he wanted to help me with that, and that's how we started working together.
New Order - "Ceremony" (from Marie Antoinette)
This came from me talking to Brian about how I wanted to have this "New Romantic," teen feeling to the movie. I'm a huge New Order fan. I think I was only listening to New Order around that time. That's during the birthday scene, right? We shot that, and then in the editing room it just fit with the song. My editor Sarah Flack is really good with music. She has good rhythm, which is a big help. It was definitely a lot of New Order around that time.
The Pretenders - "Brass in Pocket" (from Lost in Translation)
I can't remember how this became Scarlett's song. I'm sorry—it was so long ago! My friends and I would do these trips in Tokyo. We had a clothing company, and we'd go out with our partners and do karaoke. "Cherry Bomb" was my karaoke song. All the songs in that scene came from memories of that time. I've always loved Bryan Ferry, so with "More than This," I wanted to showcase Bill's romantic side. We picked "(What's so Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," and Bill just made it his own. It also seemed to fit with his character. When Bill does the shot and says, "This is hard," before singing "More Than This," that was an ad-lib. I just asked him to do the song, and he took it from there. We had to work late and shoot in all these places at night when they were closed. There might have been some sake involved, but we couldn't be partying. We were shooting a movie!
Sleigh Bells - "Crown on the Ground" (from The Bling Ring)
That's another one where I had a mix while working on that movie. I knew that song from Thomas playing it, and I was playing that mix while writing. It always helps me to play music while working on scripts and picturing the song working in the scene. I love the slightly distorted, obnoxious energy of the song. It was exactly how I wanted to start off the movie. The music in that movie is less personal to me, and Brian was really good at finding stuff that worked. The clubs and everything aren't really my thing. Hip-hop isn't my specialty. I like some of it, but it's just not in my DNA.
The Strokes - "I'll Try Anything Once" (from Somewhere)
That's another one that I heard Thomas playing. I think it was a demo version that I first heard. It has so much heart to it. We asked Julien for that version. It was one of those moments in the edit when we were playing the song, and the images and music came together perfectly. I had this song in mind for that sequence from the time I wrote it, and it just fit. We used the Strokes before with "What Ever Happened" in Marie Antoinette—that scene where she's running and flops down on the bed. Again, it lends so much heart and gives feeling to that scene. I wanted that achy teen, romantic feeling. I can't remember if we played that song on set. You'd have to ask Kirsten.
Todd Rundgren - "I Saw the Light" (from A Very Murray Christmas)
The songs were all part of the writing process between me, Bill, and Mitch [Glazer]. We wanted to have a wide mix a songs. I think Bill came up with this one. We wanted to have Christmas songs but also pop songs that tied into the whole spirit, about people connecting.
Phoenix - "Too Young" (from Lost in Translation)
I don't think I really knew the Phoenix guys then. I had met Thomas briefly, but I loved that song. With that one, we filmed the scene to the song—when Bill, Scarlett, and everybody were hanging out and dancing. I met Thomas during The Virgin Suicides, and he was singing with Phoenix. I thought he was cute. He has a poetic quality about him. I think it was the cliché, girls-like-lead-singers thing. [Laughs] I knew from his lyrics and his voice that he had depth. But I don't wanna talk about that…it's too embarrassing.
