Erstellt am: 20. 8. 2013 - 16:10 Uhr

"I am not a celebrity in a tabloid way"

Sofia Coppola im Interview mit Petra Erdmann über das Aufwachsen in Hollywood und wie ihre Lieblings-Teenager-Filme "The Bling Ring" beeinflusst haben.

Anlässlich des Filmstarts von "The Bling Ring" hat FM4 Filmredakteurin Petra Erdmann Sofia Coppola in Berlin zum Interview getroffen und auch nachgefragt, was ihre Motivation war, die wahre Geschichte um die Teenager, die in den Häusern von Celebrities auf Kleidungs-Raubzug gegangen sind, zu verfilmen:

It was an interesting story that was in the news and it was kind of absurd that the kids took it that far. It had these elements that were fun and thrilling but also really scary and disturbing. I also think that this is something of our culture worth talking about.

Tobis

Your film is about celebrity culture, the teenagers in your film have parents with enough money, they are part of a capitalist consumerist culture, why do they become celebity culture addicts?

It’s gotten more and more extreme, there’s more reality TV and tabloids, it was a lot different than when I was growing up. So I was curious how that was affecting the teenagers in this story. Everything is fun in moderation but this story is an extreme side of it and I wanted to look at what’s really being celebrated.

You said it is a lot different than when you grew up, but of course as a member of the Coppola family you were surrounded by celebrities, how did that feel as a teenager growing up?

My upbringing was really different, I did not grow up in Hollywood, I lived in the country, in a small town and people that were famous, were famous for working hard and achieving something. There was not that idea that anybody could be famous. Now there is a lot of self-promomotion and people being famous for no reason, so I think that is really different. We did not have tabloids or celebrity websites so I imagined it must be confusing being that age, finding your identity and having so much information like that. We had fashion magazines, but it was really different, no one had a designer hand bag at school or even cared about that.

What is your favourite song from the Bling Ring soundtrack?

I really like the song called “Sunshine” by Rye Rye which I did not know before. There’s the scene where they steal a Porsche convertible and listen to that song and it is kind of that feeling of a sunny day, being young and free.

You actually shot some scenes in Paris Hilton’s house, why did you want to shoot in her home – and why did she let you?

It was pretty unbelievable, it was nothing I’ve ever seen before. There’s pictures of her everywhere, it felt like “Parisland”. It was pretty interesting to see someone live like that and I always try to make things as authentic as I can. Paris Hilton was very supportive and also she is not a private person, she enjoys having an audience so she would share her home and private space.

Do you have any experience with obsessed fans?

I just do promotion for my films, I don’t do publicity for myself, I also don’t have obsessed fans and I am not a celebrity in a tabloid way. People are not interested in me in a way they are interested in these pop stars, so that is not something I am familiar with. In “The Bling Ring” I am more looking at the kids' point of view than at the people they are worshipping.

tobis

Loneliness of teenagers can be found throughout your films, will it also be part of your next project?

I don’t know what I am doing next but hopefully not something with teenagers because I wanna try something else. Some of my movies have young characters but I’m interested in other ages too, but this is such a big time, where you’re going through a transition, trying to find your way.

What are your favourite teen films and how did they influence “The Bling Ring”?

One is „Over the Edge“, I thing it was Matt Dillon's first role. It’s about kids in a small suburban area, they are bored and they don’t have anything, they rebel and burn down the school. In the end they drive away in a bus to go to juvenile detention and I thought about that for the ending in “The Bling Ring”, when the boy is on the bus to jail. "Over the Edge" just has a great spirit about teen frustration.

mgm

Over the Edge

Another film is “Foxes” with Jodie Foster. It takes place in Hollywood in the late 1970ies. There are teenage girls who are frustrated with their lifes who dress up to go to clubs, wanting to be grown ups. That was something I thought about as a reference for “The Bling Ring”.

universal

Foxes