Which Famous Men Have Inspired Sofia Coppola's Lead Characters?
Lost in Translation (2003)
The Character: Bob Harris, a lonely, disillusioned Hollywood actor who befriends an emotionally lost young woman (Scarlett Johansson) in Tokyo. Played by Bill Murray.
The Inspiration: When the film was released, some Hollywood insiders speculated that Bill Murray's aging actor was based on Harrison Ford, whom Coppola had allegedly met in Tokyo when the Indiana Jones actor was filming a Japanese beer commercial. In the film, Murray's character is in town to shoot an ad for Suntory whiskey, which Coppola's father had also done.
The Character: John, a celebrity photographer whose focus on his career pulls him away from his young wife (Johansson). Played by Giovanni Ribisi.
The Inspiration: Allegedly, the flighty-yet-career-driven husband character who was eager to please lovely actresses and less eager to please his wife was based on Coppola's then-husband, Spike Jonze. In spite of the similarities between the real and on-screen broken marriages, Coppola consistently denied this rumor.
Other Inspiration: It was also rumored that Anna Faris's ditzy blonde action star was based on Cameron Diaz, whom Jonze had directed in Being John Malkovich.
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Comments
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.