Sofia Coppola has big plans for the 25th anniversary of her directorial debut, The Virgin Suicides.
This feature film, which premiered at Cannes in 2000, established Coppola as a director of young women’s angst. Starring Kirsten Dunst, the film is based on Jeffrey Eugenides’ 1993 novel about five fictional Lisbon sisters who commit suicide one by one. Kathleen Turner and James Woods play overprotective, religious parents. Dunst will play the role of the middle sister, Lux. Despite grossing just under $5 million in the U.S. on a $9 million budget, the film went on to become a cult classic, with teenage yearnings and ennui that continue into adulthood. It became synonymous with a depressing realization.
Coppola told Elle that he and frequent co-star Dunst have plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Virgin Suicides. (Dunst and Coppola reunited for Marie Antoinette and The Beguiled.)
“I think Kirsten[Dunst]and I are planning some screenings or something related to that,” Coppola said of The Virgin Suicides, which turns 25. That’s what I’m drawn to…a lot of my work has to do with young women growing up, and the fact that it can still connect with people makes me happy. ”
Coppola previously stated in the film’s official production notes in 2000 that Eugenides’ novel inspired him to try directing.
“I never really knew I wanted to be a director until I read ‘The Virgin Suicides’ and realized exactly how I had to make movies,” Coppola said. “I quickly realized that the heart of the story was about how distance, time, and memory affect you, and the extraordinary power of the immeasurable. And it’s about love.”
Coppola later said. entertainment weekly In 2018, she said that she wanted to use the novel as an opportunity to create a new “aesthetic” on screen.
“There wasn’t a lot of poetic filmmaking that spoke to me as a girl, as a young woman, and treated[us]with the respect that I felt the audience deserved,” Coppola said. . “I love Jeffrey[Eugenides]’s books, and I felt he captured the mysteries of the time so well, so it was this book that made me want to make that movie. I didn’t really feel that aesthetic[in other films].” ”
But she said her distributor, Paramount Classics, was at a loss as to how to promote her vision for the film.
“There weren’t too many big releases,” Coppola said. “Paramount Classics had no idea what to do with this. They were afraid girls would kill themselves if they saw it. It was a really small release. They didn’t have to do much to make it because it cost a little.”
After the film was restored in 4K by the Criterion Collection, she added: “About 10 years ago, I was happy when people started telling me that their teenage daughters loved this movie. It felt like they weren’t even born then! I’m happy that this work has a second life, and I’m also happy that other generations of girls will connect with it and find something new. It didn’t have that long of a life back then.”
And Coppola is currently working on another film after the 2023 biopic Priscilla. Coppola confirmed to ELLE that the new project is in the “early stages” and that while it will feature a female character, it is “not set in stone yet.”
“I have someone I’m obsessed with,” she said. “I’ve always loved stories that women can relate to. I feel like there aren’t a lot of movies out there right now where you can relate to female characters.”
