THE BLACK SHEEP INTERVIEW: ROMAN COPPOLA

AND QUITE A MIND IT IS
An interview with Roman Coppola, writer/director of A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III

“It’s not really my story to tell,” confides a hesitating Roman Coppola, when we spoke over the phone recently. Regardless, he told the story all the same. It was a random one about the difficulties Gene Hackman was having finding his character in THE FRENCH CONNECTION and it somehow involved William Friedkin and a donut. It is the kind of candid insider information that one could only know when one comes from Hollywood royalty and it would be difficult to define the Coppola family as anything other than that.

Roman is the son of Francis Ford Coppola (THE GODFATHER) and brother to Sofia Coppola (LOST IN TRANSLATION) but if you don’t know his name just yet, perhaps you soon will. Not only is he in contention for his first Academy Award this month (for co-writing MOONRISE KINGDOM with good friend, Wes Anderson), but his second feature film as a director, A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III, hits theaters, and unsuspecting filmgoers, this month as well.

Charles Swan is played by none other than Charlie Sheen, in his first film role after his very public firing from his hit TV series, “Two and a Half Men”. Naturally, Sheen and Copoola have been old friends ever since Sheen’s father, Martin, worked with Coppola’s father on APOCALYPSE NOW. “Charlie came to the project near the end of a 5-year writing period. It took some convincing to get him on board but I’m really happy that he did.”

When you meet Charles Swan on screen, it may seem to you that the role was in fact written for Sheen from the start but Coppola insists otherwise. Swan, a successful advertising artist with too much money on his hands, has just ended the first real relationship of his life, after a string of meaningless women. He proceeds to get lost in delusion and drugs for our enjoyment.

“Do you know the guy from those Maxell commercials in the ’80’s?” Coppola asks me, out of nowhere. I do know him. Well, not personally. He was the dude who sat back in the chair with his sunglasses on and was blown away by the sound coming from the stereo. (Click here if you still don’t know who I’m talking about.) Coppola continues after I confirm that I do know to whom he is referring. “Well, I tried to imagine that guy’s story, had he just broken up with somebody.”

Coppola had in fact just broken up with somebody when he decided to write the follow-up to his debut feature, CQ. “It was a very confusing time,” he states, quite unnecessarily given that I’ve seen the film already. “I noticed this clear split between loving someone and hating that same person at the same time. I tried to write from that exact place.”

Academy Award nominee, Roman Coppola

What came out of that place is many a fantasy to avoid spending any time in the actual present. Whether he’s riding horseback through a desert trying to avoid the over sexualized female indians chasing him or just having your run of the mill “Who came to my own funeral fantasy?”, Swan is almost always trying to be somewhere he isn’t and spinning things his way.

Coppola divulges that this style of writing has both pros and cons. “It can be really freeing because you get to do whatever you want, more or less. But then, you have to figure it all out and somehow piece it together so that it all makes sense.”

Aside from a producer credit on his sister’s next outing, THE BLING RING (due this year), Coppola’s schedule is pretty light in the immediate future, after A GLIMPSE INTO THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III is released, that is. “I’m the kind of person who has to see something through to the end before taking on something else,” he tells me when I ask what’s next for him. “That’s actually just a really long winded way of saying I don’t have anything planned.”

He could always win an Oscar, I guess.

A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III opens in the USA on February 8 and on February 15 in Canada. It co-stars Bill Murray, Patricia Arquette and Jason Schwartzman, who, incidentally, is Coppola’s cousin.

ReReview: MOONRISE KINGDOM

MOONRISE KINGDOM
Written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis and Frances McDormand

Suzy: I think you’ve still got lightning in you.

I was wrong and not only do I not mind saying that but rather I feel compelled to do so in the case of MOONRISE KINGDOM. I was quite excited to see Wes Anderson’s latest film when it debuted early in the summer, shortly after making its premiere to great fanfare at the Cannes Film Festival. In hindsight, I can see now that my initial reaction to the film, which was not a positive one, as you may have already gathered, or read for that matter, was likely tainted by two contributing factors. The first is that I had a major headache going into the screening that morning. The second, and arguably the more influential factor, would be that the film itself was not the film I wanted it to be. When I saw MOONRISE KINGDOM a second time though, and allowed it to be the film it actually is instead of what I had originally hoped it would be, I realized that not only was it Anderson at his absolute best, but it was also easily one of the finest films of the year.

What I wanted MOONRISE KINGDOM to be was an Anderson-esque comedy, featuring the bizarre antics of its incredible adult cast, including Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton. What it truly is, is an exceptionally made, Anderson-esque masterpiece, about two troubled young people, Sam and Suzy (newcomers, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward), who see the potential for solace and acceptance in the other. Sam, a sensitive orphan, cannot seem to fit in in any family scenario he is placed; while Suzy cannot seem to find her place within her own biological family, Murray and McDormand playing her also troubled parents. They both feel unwanted and without a proper home because the adults that are supposed to be taking care of and guiding them, are too consumed by their own lives and egos. Sam and Suzy try as they might to make a home for themselves but quickly learn that, unlike the physical journey they are on, the road to a successful relationship does not come with a map and compass. Thus, Anderson’s opus rounds itself out as a poignant and charming reflection on generational influence.

After six films, Anderson is only getting stronger and more focused in his colorful and distinct approach to filmmaking. While his earlier successes, like RUSHMORE and THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, clearly outline his creative style, they can also be a bit cold for some. Anderson finds a warmth he has been building toward of late in MOONRISE KINGDOM. His past characters, with all their specific quirks, can fall prey to their own caricatured nature and get lost within their deliberate construction. Sam and Suzy are innocents though and their discomfort with the world around them, with each other and with their own selves, can palpably be felt on the screen. They are just as particular as any Anderson creation, if not more so at times, but their wonder about the world unfolding in front of them, gives them enough heart to not only make them some of the most real of any Anderson creation I’ve ever seen, but they also firmly ground Anderson’s lofty ambitions, a feat he lets get away from him from time to time. Simply put, if you are open to its charms, MOONRISE KINGDOM will wile you with delight and you will bear witness to Anderson’s crowning achievement. Also, its probably best not to watch it with a headache.

Click here to read my original MOONRISE KINGDOM review. You can also read previous Anderson reviews for THE DARJEELING LIMITED and FANTASTIC MR. FOX.

MOONRISE KINGDOM

MOONRISE KINGDOM
Written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward and Bruce Willis

Captain Sharp: Even smart kids stick their fingers in electrical sockets. It takes time to figure things out.

Wes Anderson is an auteur, through and through. His style is unmistakable – from the deliberate cinematography, wide angled and colourful, to the soundtrack, usually folksy and reasonably obscure. He even works with the same actors on a frequent basis (Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman, most notably), which only further strengthens the definition of the Wes Anderson universe. His latest, MOONRISE KINGDOM, employs all of these familiar elements but something is missing this time. Aside from Owen Wilson (who has been in every single Anderson film except this one), what is most noticeably absent in MOONRISE KINGDOM, is a point. I mean, there is one; it just hardly seems worth all the trouble.

Working with his regular writing partner, Roman Coppola, who last worked with Anderson on a favourite of mine, THE DARJEELING LIMITED, Anderson weaves yet another quirked out tapestry of a story. Perhaps Anderson’s previous foray into children’s film inspired him to continue trumpeting the youth voice as his two main protagonists here are both barely old enough to watch the majority of Anderson’s repertoire. Sam and Suzy (Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward, both complete unknowns), fall for each other one night while he, having broken away from his scout troop while attending a church play about Noah’s Arc, stumbles upon her in her dressing room before her cue. There is an unspoken understanding that they are both outsiders – well, I assume there is anyway, otherwise I don’t know why else these two would gravitate towards each other – and they agree through correspondence that they should abandon their lives and live in the woods together. They both live on an island in the middle on nowhere and it’s 1965 so I guess that means this sort of arrangement is actually feasible. The kids do well with the morose, disaffected acting style Anderson pulls from all his actors but it sure is bleak to see future generations looking so hopelessly lost.

Aesthetically, Anderson never misses a beat. Every detail, and there are plenty of them, is tended to with great care. Sometimes, this leads to an absurdity that is both uproarious and insightful. At other times though, his films, despite the warmth in the colour tones themselves, can come across as quite cold. MOONRISE KINGDOM suffers from this. As the kids fight for their relationship, their parents and guardian types (the aforementioned Murray, as well as Frances McDormand, Bruce Willis and Edward Norton) bumble around trying to find them and keep their own lives from falling apart. The most I took away from this is that parents should check themselves because their kids are watching them and subsequently learning how to live and love from them at all times. The killer cast does their best to maintain the intrigue and mood but the simplicity of the themes left me wondering if Anderson is running out of things to say. Fortunately, for now, he still knows how to make whatever little amount he has to say look awful pretty.