Her name might ring a bell. The "Coppola" bit begets an illustrious line of silver-screen genealogy: her grandfather, Francis Ford Coppola; her aunt, Sofia Coppola; her uncle, Roman Coppola. A future in film would seem predestined, but in fact, 27-year-old Gia saw her family dynasty as a turn-off and largely shied away from the spotlight, opting to pursue an interest in photography and dabbling in understated fashion shorts (including
this one for Opening Ceremony).
It wasn't until a chance meeting with James Franco that the Napa Valley and LA-raised ingénue decided to make her directorial debut. In theaters this Friday,
Palo Alto is a light, bright indie based on Franco's book of short stories about disaffected, suburban youth, with leads played by Emma Roberts,
Nathalie Love, and Jack Kilmer (Val Kilmer’s son). On a recent afternoon, OC sat down with the (new) New Yorker and talked about being a high-school misfit, what she learned from “Grandpa,” and why she waited to watch
The Godfather.
JEANINE CELESTE PANG: Rumor has it that you met James Franco at a Hollywood party five years ago, and then connected over a shared interest in photographs.
GIA COPPOLA: Yeah, we met really randomly. I saw him at a deli and he saw me. And later that night, we ran into each other again. I was kind of talking about photography; I had just graduated and was working with [the photographer] Stephen Shore. We stayed in touch and I sent him all my photographs. And we wanted to work together in some way, and he had this idea of making his book,
Palo Alto, into a feature film. I think at that time I had just done the Opening Ceremony
video with Jason [Schwartzman] and Kirsten [Dunst]. I was interested in film, but I didn’t think about making a feature-length film.
Was the idea of taking on a feature daunting to you?
For sure; I was really intimidated by that idea. But, James felt it was right and he believed I could do it. So, he kind of took me through it, step by step, so it wasn’t so intimidating. He said, “Pick the stories you like and make these separate screenplays.” I did that and after having done that, he said, “Okay, now take one of these stories and make a short film with your friends.” And after that, I had all these separate screenplays and I could combine them and combine characters, and make a more ensemble piece, and make the movie in a way that I would make a short film—with the same crew that worked on that Opening Ceremony short, actually, but just with longer days.
I remember James’ character when he’s talking to April, played by Emma Roberts. He said, “History is just explaining how things happen. There’s always a reason why we do things.” Is that something you wrote into the screenplay?
Most of the dialogue is from him, but I think that was mine.
What about the cigarette ritual: taking the last cigarette in the box and making a wish on it?
The first time I wrote the script, that scene wasn’t in there. I had glossed over it the first time and I didn’t realize what that meant. And then I was like, “Oh, that’s so amazing and that’s cool,” so then we put it in. I never knew about it; some people say it’s a very American thing. I guess I just missed out on it.
Did you like high school?
I had a tough time in high school. I went to a weird all-girls school that wasn’t right for me. But, I think any place I
