Lost in Translation

[ono]

I'm looking for a Lost in Translation style B 27x40 poster.  I'd rather not pay $125 for it, if possible, like the one found here.  I've looked on eBay, and some other poster places.  Any suggestions?

[Myxo]

I'm looking for a Lost in Translation style B 27x40 poster.  I'd rather not pay $125 for it, if possible, like the one found here.  I've looked on eBay, and some other poster places.  Any suggestions?

I've got the "A" Billy Murray one hanging in my apartment in a nice frame.



Try here

Ahh crap, that is 17x11 isn't it. Sorry.

[MacGuffin]

Being the daughter of Hollywood royalty, Sofia Coppola could probably just lie back, collect a producer on Jeepers Creepers 2 and just collect a big fat paycheck. But in the spirit of filmmakers like Hal Hartley, Jim Jarmusch and even her husband Spike Jonze, Sofia writes and directs such highly personal projects like The Virgin Suicides and her latest film Lost in Translation.

Lost in Translation has a fantastic screenplay that is brought to new levels with the main characters played by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. Bob Harris [Bill Murray] and Charlotte [Scarlett Johansson] are two Americans in Tokyo. Bob is a movie star in town to shoot a whiskey commercial, while Charlotte is a young woman tagging along with her workaholic photographer husband [Giovanni Ribisi]. Unable to sleep, Bob and Charlotte cross paths one night in the luxury hotel bar. This chance meeting soon becomes a surprising friendship.

There are many absurd and hysterical moments in the film such as when the American jazz singer in the Tokyo hotel introduces her band as Sausalito and when Bill Murray has a conversation with his commercial director through his translator who he is sure is changing his words. But this film won't only be remembered for its humor. Its one of the poignant and real relationships ever put to celluloid. Coppola realizes then when an older man usually spends time with a younger woman he is usually talking a mile a minute in order to impress her and get her into bed. But pulling back and having the characters spend silent time together it is only then they realize that they are comfortable with one another.

Sofia is a lovely and funny person. One could expect to have an air of stuckupedness but she seemed very down to earth. She is 32 but looks 19 and even giggles like one sometimes.

Daniel Robert Epstein: Lost in Translation is a great title. How did you come up with it?

Sofia Coppola: I didn't have a title for this for the longest time until after shooting. I loved the title Hiroshima mon amour [from a movie released in 1959]. Then I thought of The Tokyo Story then I thought of Lost in Translation. I felt it had a lot of meanings.

DRE: When I spoke to Jason Schwartzman he said that when he was working with Bill Murray that Bill let him into his world. Did that happen to you and if so what is that world like?

SC: Its great, the Bill world. It was fun to work with Bill Murray especially in Tokyo. It was a dream to be there with him. He kind of approaches everything with, how can we make this more fun. He's a fun person and I'm glad to know him. It was fun to put him in Helmut Lang suits. He said that he liked the movie.

DRE: The character is so perfect for Bill Murray. Did he improvise any of his work?

SC: Well I wrote the movie with him in mind. So when I was writing I would say, what would Bill Murray do in this situation? That kind of informed the character. He's a great improviser. He definitely added a lot to the role which is why I wanted to work with him.

DRE: A lot of the movie seems to be about the emptiness of mainstream success. Giovanni Ribisi and Bill Murray's characters are both very successful in their fields but both seem to ignore what's really important. Would you ever want to do a film that's more mainstream?

SC: I wasn't really thinking about that consciously. I just want to keep doing what I like doing. Mainstream isn't really my taste. I hope people like my films. People have come up to me who I don't have much in common with and tell me they related to it. When I was making it I was just thinking about what I wanted to see and show.

DRE: What made you want to cast Scarlett?

SC: I remember her as a kid in that movie Manny & Lo [released in 1996] and she has something that struck me about her. The look in her eyes. She is great at conveying emotion without talking a lot.

DRE: What was it like getting Kevin Shields [of My Bloody Valentine] to do songs again after ten years?

SC: It was really exciting because Loveless is one of my favorite albums. I was excited when Kevin agreed to do some music. After we finished filming I showed him some scenes and he got the idea of the feeling of it. He's such a sensitive guy that he really understood what I wanted. His music already has this melancholic and romantic feeling I wanted to have.

DRE: Why was Tokyo the backdrop for this movie?

SC: I really wanted to show Tokyo in this way because I've never seen it like this in any movie. Also I had just spent a bunch of time there in my mid twenties doing work so I'd been there. A friend of mine had a fashion company and had asked me to work on it. I did some photos for Dune magazine. When I was there I just knew I wanted to do a movie there. I just loved the way it looks visually and it felt so foreign. It feels like another planet. It was such a unique experience. I had friends there so they took me around to all this little places I wouldn't have been able to find on my own. There's just something going to the 10th floor of a building and suddenly you're in this bar that you would never know about. I went there the year before filming, took notes and saw some things which ended up in the movie. Like the aqua aerobics class and the redheaded jazz singer. She was really the singer in the hotel. I remember being there one night before we shot and hearing her sing Scarborough Fair. That's one of things I love about Tokyo that it's this weird mixture of Western and Eastern culture.

DRE: Do you speak any Japanese?

SC: No it's a little intimidating but Bill learned some Japanese.

DRE: Some people might think that it's so easy for you. Your father is a great director and that you must have it in your genes.

SC: About the genetic thing maybe I got some kind of filmmaking gene. It's definitely not easy. It's hard and scary work to write something personal and then take it around trying to get financing. It was hard to shoot this in 27 days. People can think whatever they want.

DRE: Did you ever think about shooting this on video?

SC: We talked about doing that because it was low budget and I wanted to be able to be mobile, not be intrusive and shoot in low light. Then [cinematographer] Lance [Acord] assured me that with a high speed film stock we could run around and shoot without lighting. I love the way film looks because I wanted it to look romantic.

DRE: You adapted the script for Virgin Suicides from the book. What was it like doing an original script for Lost in Translation?

SC: It was a little bit scarier because you don't have anything to fall back on and you don't know if it's completely self indulgent or not. But for me I knew the material so well because it was all from my experiences.

DRE: You have a lot of Goth and punk fans because of The Virgin Suicides. Have you ever met any of those fans?

SC: I don't know. Sometimes teenage girls will tell me they liked The Virgin Suicides. That makes me happy. I haven't been hanging around any Goth clubs lately [laughs].

DRE: How do you think you connect with a younger audience like that?

SC: I just think that having been a teenage girl I understand what its like to be one. So if I make stories about that I try to be honest and respectful. Sometimes things made for teenagers can be condescending.

DRE: You went to CalArts to study fine art rather than a big film school. Were you thinking about becoming a fine artist?

SC: I wanted to be an artist but I wasn't sure which medium. I started out painting but I didn't like what I painted then I got into photography. But I thought about going to film school. I almost went to NYU but I wanted to try different mediums to try and find out what fit. It wasn't until I made my short film, Lick the Star, that I figured out what I wanted.

DRE: Lick the Star premiered at the Venice Film Festival and now you're going back there with Lost in Translation.

SC: I was there in the short film festival it was sort of like being the stepchildren of the festival so it will be exciting to go back.

DRE: Scarlett Johansson could be Cecilia Lisbon ten years later.

SC: I never thought of that. There is a similarity especially in that smartass dry sense of humor.

DRE: Did anyone mention they wanted to see the characters relationship go further?

SC: People seem glad that didn't happen.

DRE: It would have been like Autumn in New York [with Winona Ryder and Richard Gere].

SC: Exactly.

DRE: [Your brother] Roman [Coppola] set his movie, CQ, in the film world and Lost in Translation is set tangentially in that world. Do you think that world will always be in your work?

SC: I'm not surprised when I write something personal that comes out because that's what I grew up in. but I didn't want it to be too inside the industry. It's what I'm familiar with. I remember when I was a kid my dad and [Akira] Kurosawa had acted in a Suntory commercial. That's where that idea came from. I think it was a point when Kurosawa didn't have a lot of money and my dad was helping him out.

DRE: What was Scarlett and Bill's relationship like off camera?

SC: Well they just met in Tokyo a few days before we started shooting. I hoped they would hit it off and that was lucky. We shot the movie pretty much in order so I was hoping that would help the characters as they got to know each other.

It may be more efficient to not shoot in order but it wouldn't have helped. We were kind of running all over shooting all night shooting day scenes in the morning. There was one point where my producer told me we had to cut scenes. Luckily Roman showed up and shot second camera and that made us get it done.

DRE: How autobiographical is Lost in Translation?

SC: I didn't have that experience but there are definitely parts of me in all the characters. Then it's based on some of my experiences, things I overheard and stuff my friends did.

DRE: Have you traveled with your husband where he has a lot more work to do than you do?

SC: I definitely have been in that situation where I've been kind of tagging along but not specifically like in the movie.

DRE: Will you and Spike ever work together?

SC: I don't think so. It would be hard for us to work together because we are both so opinionated and work differently. We did a music video together.

DRE: What's your next film going to be like?

SC: I like doing things I'm connected to. But I don't know yet.

DRE: Where else would you like to live?

SC: I have places in New York and LA but I would love to live in Paris or Berlin.

DRE: Has your father said anything to you about Megalopolis?

SC: He's been working on the script for a long time. I know it's very personal.

DRE: Your father is very well known for producing and pushing filmmakers to make personal projects. I know his company produced Lost in Translation. What's it like working with him?

SC: It's great because he is a filmmaker. When he works with other filmmakers he is sensitive to that. He's always encouraging.

DRE: You think he's harder on you?

SC: No but sometimes I don't want to hear it because it's my dad. You don't always want to hear your parent's advice. He lets me have my space but he's always there when I ask for advice. It was great to show him rough cuts of this film.

DRE: I think in the future I am always going to laugh when I think of Bill Murray doing the Suntory commercial and the Japanese director tells him to imitate Roger Moore as James Bond. Was that improvised?

SC: The way we did that scene was that the Japanese photographer was a real photographer. We would just whisper names in his ear to say and Bill would just react. So Bill didn't know what we were going to throw at him. That was fun to do.

[ddmarfield]

And yeah, I got teary-eyed at the end, though the fact that I couldn't hear what Bob whispered to Charlotte annoyed me.

My theory is that he tells her his follow up role to "Lost in Translation" will be "Garfield: The Movie." That's why she looks so sad.

[ono]

:yabbse-czechsundial:

[MacGuffin]

The Supposed 'Lost in Translation' Spoiler
Source: Cinematical

There's a piece of video being hosted over at Slashfilm that came from a Youtube guy who digitally messed around with the sound levels on Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, and claims to have uncorked the movie's biggest secret -- what is being said to Scarlett Johansson by Bill Murray in that famous final scene. I'm not going to give it away here, but I'm not even sure this spoiler is legit -- even amplified as best it can be, the words still require subtitles for you to follow along and it doesn't even seem like that's what Bill Murray is saying. The first part is especially a stretch I think, although I'd probably guess the last part is more or less accurate. And I will concede that it does seem like something that Murray's character would say and something that Coppola would write -- it's not, as some expected, Murray telling Johannson what he had for lunch or anything.


http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/12/13/digital-processing-reveals-the-final-whisper-in-lost-in-translation/#more-6245

[last days of gerry the elephant]

Whoa, that's not right. I thought the secret leaked out when Sofia supposedly told the Radio Dept. what was whispered... and it was something like "let's promise we never come back here because it will never be the same" or something like that from what I remember reading.

[Pubrick]

pretty sure he said "you should have a cloak lined with ermine."

[pete]

no no no, you guys, what I heard was Bill Murray saw a guy drown and he invited the guy to his concert that night and pointed him out in the audience as he sang his song about the whole incident.

[Stefen]

Rewatched LIT this weekend. It was the next stop in me trying to revisit some films from the past few years to get myself pumped up about movies again.

I love everything about this movie except everything having to do with Scarjo. I don't know if it's just that I really dislike her as actress (I think she's one of the worst actresses working today) or the character. Maybe a bit of both.

It's a really pretty film. Lance Accord is probably one of my favorite cinematographers. I really like the dried out, gray style he uses. It works very well for this film.

Bill Murray is awesome and plays everything PERFECTLY. Anna Faris is great in her bit part, too, but she usually is so that's not surprising. I remember reading that her character was based on Cameron Diaz so that's how I watched it and it worked for me.

Someone else in this thread mentioned that it's one of the most relaxing films he's ever seen and I wholeheartedly agree. I feel asleep like five times during it.

[picolas]

scarjo is a total. utter fucking disgrace now. but back then she was genuinely talented. i remember being disappointed she wasn't nommed that year, and there being speculation she cancelled herself out with two great performances (the other being pearl earring which i haven't yet seen). i do wonder what it'll be like rewatching now that she's become so terrible though.

[Stefen]

I remember liking her too when I first saw it. But re-watching it her performance is just so simple. I think the main appeal in my initial viewing was the sex appeal. It's amazing how far sex appeal can get you before audiences warm up to you and realize you have absolutely nothing to offer other than something to look at.

[Gold Trumpet]

I don't think she is necessarily a terrible actress. She's just allotted herself into an identity where she is the vixen pin up for indie boys. Every kind of industry within the movie business has female and male figures of affection. They aren't necessarily terrible actors, but they have a look and appeal that becomes the reason they star in the films they do. I have yet to see Eva Green give a worthwhile performance, but her beauty and looks will continue to get her work for years to come.

Scarlett can transition and take on more ambitious roles. Other actresses like Charlize Theron have shown amazing talent when no one assumed they had any. When Scarlett Johannsson tries a risky role and fails, then I'll have better comment on her. So far all her roles have been quirky in superficial ways.

[Stefen]

True.

But I do think she's a terrible actress. She has absolutely no range. Maybe that's the reason she picks the roles she does.

[Reinhold]

Scarlett can transition and take on more ambitious roles. Other actresses like Charlize Theron have shown amazing talent when no one assumed they had any. When Scarlett Johannsson tries a risky role and fails, then I'll have better comment on her. So far all her roles have been quirky in superficial ways.

watch out gt... maybe you just haven't realized that she's retarded because she's hot.