Marie Antoinette

[modage]

Sofia Coppola to Direct Marie-Antoinette
Source: Columbia Pictures Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Oscar-winning screenwriter Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation), the first American woman to ever be nominated for Best Director, is set to direct Marie-Antoinette for Columbia Pictures, it was announced today by Amy Pascal, Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group. Kirsten Dunst is attached to the film in the title role and Jason Schwartzman will portray Louis XVI. Production is scheduled to commence in February in France.

Written by Coppola, the film will be a stylized telling of the legendary and enigmatic Queen of France. Coppola and two-time Oscar nominee Ross Katz (Lost in Translation, In the Bedroom) will serve as producers through American Zoetrope. Fred Roos, Francis Ford Coppola, and Paul Rassam will serve as executive producers.

Sony will distribute the film worldwide with the exception of France and Japan, the rights to which Coppola has retained.

"Sofia has an unique and incredible vision for this film," said Pascal. "We have wanted to work with her for a long time, and couldn't be more thrilled about Marie-Antoinette."

"I've always loved the story of Marie-Antoinette and the decadence of Versailles on the brink of revolution," said Coppola, "and the fact she was just a teenager when circumstances forced her to play a significant role in history."

"The idea of seeing the world of Marie-Antoinette through Sofia's eyes is just about the coolest thing I can imagine," said Katz. "We are so happy to be partnering with Sony. Their passion for Sofia and this film is incomparable. This is a dream scenario for filmmakers."

Matt Tolmach, Co-President of Production for Columbia Pictures will oversee the title through production for the studio.

Coppola wrote and directed both Lost in Translation and The Virgin Suicides.

In addition to his Oscar nominations, Katz received a Golden Globe for Lost in Translation and was also a nominee for In the Bedroom. Katz began his career at the independent production company Good Machine.

Dunst, who most recently starred in Columbia Pictures' blockbuster-hit Spider-Man 2, previously worked with Coppola in The Virgin Suicides. She will soon be seen in the romantic drama Wimbledon and Cameron Crowe's drama Elizabethtown.

Schwartzman, who made his film debut in Wes Anderson's Rushmore and is set to begin filming Columbia Pictures' Bewitched with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell, will soon be seen in I Heart Huckabees, opposite Dustin Hoffman, Jude Law and Mark Wahlberg, and Shopgirl, opposite Steve Martin. He and Coppola, both appeared in Roman Coppola's drama CQ.

if it werent for the odd casting i would say this sounds BORING!

[tpfkabi]

i wish Sophia Coppola would have already had a 30 year career with many movies.

then maybe i could understand women more, because it seems like you get little valuable things about them in each of her movies.

i'm not familiar w/the story of Marie-Antoinette, so i have no clue about this one.

[modage]

the odd casting continues...
Rip Torn in Coppola's Marie-Antoinette
Source: Variety February 28, 2005

Rip Torn will star in Sony's Marie Antoinette, directed by Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation). Variety says Torn will play Louis XV, father of Louis XVI, played by Jason Schwartzman. Kirsten Dunst is toplining as Marie.

The biopic about the 18th century Gallic queen recently started production in France.

Coppola wrote the screenplay for the film, which she is producing with Ross Katz through American Zoetrope. Fred Roos, Francis Ford Coppola and Paul Rassam are executive producing.

Torn most recently starred in Fox's Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

[MacGuffin]

the odd casting continues...

Shannon is lady of court for Coppola
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Molly Shannon has signed on for court intrigue opposite Kirsten Dunst in Sofia Coppola's "Marie-Antoinette." Shannon will play a lady of the court, Anne Victoire, who also is Marie-Antoinette's aunt, with Dunst in the title role. The film is to begin shooting next month in Paris. Jason Schwartzman and Rip Torn already have signed on to join a mostly French cast. Coppola wrote the screenplay and is producing with Ross Katz via American Zeotrope. Fred Roos, Francis Ford Coppola and Paul Rassam are exec producing. Columbia Pictures is distributing. Shannon, whose feature credits include "Serendipity" and "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas," most recently appeared in Kenneth Lonergan's "True to You."

[Ghostboy]

This cast is so weird. I think Sofia must have something slightly different than the average period piece up her sleeve.

[modage]

Argento is Du Barry in Marie-Antoinette
Source: Italian Daydreamer March 5, 2005

Italian magazine Chi spoke to Italian actress Asia Argento (XXX, the upcoming George A. Romero's Land of the Dead), who was promoting her new film The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, which she wrote, directed and stars in.

She told the magazine that she's preparing for her new movie, writer/director Sophia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette, in which she'll take on the role of the Countess Du Barry, favorite of King Louis XV (Rip Torn).

Kirsten Dunst stars in the title role with Jason Schwartzman playing Louis XVI. Molly Shannon is playing a lady of the court, Anne Victoire, who also is Marie-Antoinette's aunt.

The film is to begin shooting next month in Paris. Columbia Pictures will distribute Marie-Antoinette in the 4th Quarter of this year. Coppola previously won an Oscar for writing Lost in Translation.

[Pubrick]

cool, nudity.

[modage]

Coppola's Marie Antoinette Starts Production
Source: Columbia Pictures March 8, 2005

Production begins this week on Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, about France's iconic eighteenth century Queen. The Columbia Pictures release is produced by two-time Academy Award® nominee Ross Katz, through American Zoetrope. In addition to serving as director, Coppola is also one of the film's producers and has written the screenplay, which is loosely adapted from Lady Antonia Fraser's noted historical account "Marie Antoinette - The Journey". Fred Roos, Francis Ford Coppola and Paul Rassam serve as executive producers.

Kirsten Dunst, who previously appeared in Coppola's drama The Virgin Suicides, portrays the young Austrian princess, who, as a teenager, becomes Queen of France. Jason Schwartzman portrays her indifferent husband Louis XVI.

Other members of the ensemble, portraying various members of the elitist court of Versailles include Rip Torn (in the role of King Louis XV), Judy Davis (as the Comtesse de Noailles), Steve Coogan (as Mercy), Asia Argento (playing the Comtesse du Barry), Marianne Faithful (Maria-Teresa), Aurore Clement (Duchesse de Chartres), Molly Shannon (Aunt Victoire) and Shirley Henderson (Aunt Sophie).

The director of photography for Marie Antoinette is Lance Acord, who previously collaborated with Coppola on Lost in Translation. Oscar® winner Milena Canonero (A Clockwork Orange, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou) is designing the costumes and KK Barrett (Lost in Translation, I Heart Huckabees, Being John Malkovich) is the production designer.

Marie Antoinette will be shot entirely in France, with much of the 11-week production schedule centered at the Palace of Versailles, which has granted the production unprecedented access.

Sony Pictures Entertainment will distribute throughout most of the world with Pricel and Tohokushinsha handling the territories of France and Japan, respectively.

[MacGuffin]

Coppola "Furious with Deceptive Delon"

Oscar-winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola is "furious" with legendary actor Alain Delon - after the Frenchman reportedly used her offer of a role in upcoming movie Marie-Antoinette for his own publicity. Lost In Translation director Coppola is currently shooting her film in France and thought she'd found the perfect actor to play monarch Louis XV in screen star Delon. However, Coppola eventually settled on US actor Rip Torn after Delon turned her offer down - leaving Coppola upset. A source tells website Pagesix.Com, "Delon led her to believe she could talk him into accepting the role. He invited her to see him in a play, and she went backstage afterward where there were two photographers waiting to take pictures of her and Delon. Then they went out to dinner. The next morning, the photos of her and Delon appeared in the papers having been obviously pre-planned, with captions saying that Delon had refused Coppola's offer. He has gone on to say that he can't be in a movie where he has to wear a wig, but that he would do any contemporary movie she offered him. Obviously, Delon had staged the evening as publicity for himself. Sofia is furious." A spokesperson for Coppola says, "Sofia is too busy right now to be upset, and she is quite happy with Rip Torn in that role."

[soixante]

Coppola's Marie Antoinette Starts Production
Source: Columbia Pictures March 8, 2005

Oscar® winner Milena Canonero (A Clockwork Orange, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou) is designing the costumes.

She won an Oscar for Barry Lyndon's costumes, which were exquisite and painstakingly created.  Barry Lyndon is also somewhat contemporaneous with Marie Antoinette, so this bodes well for Coppola's film.

[modage]

[Sleuth]

A lady should not be spied upon, themodernage02

[modage]

Jason Schwartzman on Marie-Antoinette
Source: Edward Douglas September 10, 2005

Sofia Coppola, daughter of filmmaking legend Francis Ford Coppola, broke out as a filmmaker in her own right with 2003's Lost in Translation earning her an Oscar nomination, a first for a female director. Because of that, many people are anxiously awaiting her next project.

Jason Schwartzman, a long-time member of the "Coppola inner circle" having appeared in her brother Roman's film CQ, will star in the director's next film Marie Antoinette, playing the famous king of France, Louis XVI, opposite Kirsten Dunst as his wife in the title role. While in Toronto promoting Steve Martin's Shopgirl in which Schwartzman also plays a key role, the actor talked to ComingSoon.net about working with Sofia and her interesting choice for a third film.

Having known Sofia for much of his life, Schwartzman had a few insights into how she works on the set. "She's an incredible director," Schwartzman gushed. "One of her strengths is that she talks to each actor differently and works with them specifically. She is like Steve actually in that she's very precise in what she says and she's a great observer and connector of emotions and truths and memories. We have so much personal history and a well of things to reference that we were blessed for her to be able to come up and say 'It's kind of like that' and I know exactly what she's saying and no one else maybe would even understand it. It was helpful."

"She's very quiet," he continued. "I've noticed that being alone at home after work or on the way to work are really tranquil and then you get to set and it's a little bit crazy. I felt this to be almost the opposite. To be in a new foreign city like Paris, which I loved, felt a little bit scary because I didn't know where I was going. I was lost a lot, and going to work was a long drive, but getting there, she was just like a candle burning. She's just so calm. She is like a yoga teacher!" (The last comment was a joking reference to tie it back to Schwartzman's character in Shopgirl.)

A reporter asked Schwartzman whether Coppola's version of the 18th Century French royalty might be a bit more offbeat, especially having him play the king who was eventually beheaded for treason against his own people. "I don't know what "offbeat" means but I think it's going to be her version of it," he responded. "If you said to me when I was 11 that I might be playing a French king, I'd have said you were "kookoo." My life has been full of these crazy surprises that I guess would be called "offbeat" just because they're not on beat, but that's alright with me. I prefer that. I haven't seen the movie, but I know that what we shot felt to me like it was an individual take on it, so it won't be like the normal period movie that we might have seen or are accustomed to. I will say that it feels more intimate than epic. I feel it's more about the people."

You'll have to wait over a year to see how Coppola's Marie Antoinette, due for release on October 13, 2006, turned out, but in just over a month, you can see Schwartzman playing a less glamorous role in Shopgirl, opening in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto on October 21.

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i guess the name change really worked.... maybe he's a member of that elusive coppola inner circle cause he's their cousin!    do some reporting next time, reporter.

[modage]

Jason Schwartzman spills the release date of Marie Antoinette during recent Shopgirl press...

CS: What is the status of your film "Marie Antoinette"?
Schwartzman: I know that it comes out in October, Friday the 13th in 2006. It's in postproduction editing right now.

CS: I understand that you play Louis XVI? How is it to play the role of a King?
Schwartzman: I tried to play the king. To have been cast in that part like that was just such an honor. I just hope it works.

[mutinyco]

Seems to me like it's stylistically going to apply Wes Anderson toward Barry Lyndon to heighten the pomposity of the aristocracy.