Which Famous Men Have Inspired Sofia Coppola's Lead Characters?
Marie Antoinette (2006)
The Character: Louis XVI of France, the shy, distant and possibly sexually dysfunctional who ruled France in the late 1700s and formed an unpopular alliance with Austria by marrying a 14-year-old Maria Antoinette. Played by Jason Schwartzman.
The Inspiration: Louis XVI of France. Schwartzman said that he prepared to play the role by gaining 45 pounds in five or six weeks (per his cousin's instruction), moving to Paris and learning how to ride a horse. For further inspiration, Schwartzman looked to Antonia Fraser's biography of Antoinette, which detailed Louis XVI's inherent awkwardness.
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This is a complete rumor, but...I heard that Sofia had an affair with Ford while in Japan, and that it caused his wife Kathleen Kennedy to file for divorce. It that is in anyway true, it's interesting because Kennedy supposedly had an affair with Sofia's father, Francis while making Apocalypse Now. Again, total rumor, but if not...Eww.
I have no idea if those rumors are true. But Ford was married to Melissa Mathison not Kathleen Kennedy, who's married to Frank Marshall.
OMG...My bad! You are totally right, I got my names mixed up. Thanks for correcting me! I will now give myself 100 lashings for my unacceptable behavior. This will bother me for weeks...I'm serious!
I hear the character of the illusioned actor whom Sofia audtioned for a role and then promptly forgot about was based on me...
DEFINITELY Owen Wilson is in the mix ... he's probably the primary inspiration.
Sophia Coppola's brother Roman co-wrote "The Darjeeling Limited" with Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzmann so he (and by extension, his sister?) would have known about Owen's personal trials when he was having his depression/substance abuse troubles in 2006-2007.
I'm almost positive that she just didn't read about it in the news like everyone else.
I'm positive too, as Schwartzman is also Sofia and Roman Coppola's first cousin. Everyone in the family knew about Wilson's personal problems firsthand.