Sofia Coppola knows all too well what it’s like to carry the weight of a heavy last name. As the daughter of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now director Francis Ford Coppola, “I could relate to being a young person and navigating that show-business world,” she says. “But my family was like a tiny fraction in the public eye compared to Priscilla and her family.” Of course she means Priscilla Presley, the subject of her latest film Priscilla (in theaters Nov. 3).
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Even so, Coppola appeared on camera in one of the most classic films of all time before she even uttered her first words. That’s her as baby Mary Corleone getting baptized at the end of The Godfather. She also appeared in its two sequels as well her father’s movies The Outsiders, Rumble Fish and Peggy Sue Got Married. “I ended up being in my dad’s films because I was at an age where I was like, I’ll try anything,” she says. “But I never planned on being an actress.”
Her plan A: Visual arts. She studied painting at the California Institute of the Arts as well as the ArtCenter College of Design. And while she maintains that “I didn’t want to go into the family business,” she found her calling directing a short film. By age 28, Coppola received positive reviews for the 1999 coming-of-age drama The Virgin Suicides. Her sophomore effort, 2003’s Lost in Translation, led to a Best Original Screenplay Oscar win. She was also just the third woman ever to be nominated for Best Director.
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Twenty years later, Coppola—now a mom to teen daughters, Romy and Cosima, with musician husband Thomas Mars—is still examining themes of female abandonment and empowerment. “I’ve always been interested in what people go through to become the person they are, especially women,” she says. With Priscilla, “We can learn from her story and her strength, and learn how it’s probably not how you imagined. It seems like a fairy tale, but she struggled. It shows that everybody has to go through challenges, even in a privileged world.”
Next, Priscilla Presley Shares Her Thoughts on Sofia Coppola's 'Priscilla'