While there is not much confusion about (or variation among) the themes Sofia Coppola has explored in her four feature films, she has encountered some speculation and rumor-mongering about the inspiration for some of her male characters. Continuing this trend, Coppola has recently copped to basing Somewhere's disillusioned actor (played by Stephen Dorff) on a collection of famous actors, including one Coppola family member. In honor of this acknowledgment, Movieline reviews the famous men from whom Sofia gleaned both alleged and admitted inspiration the past decade.
Somewhere (2010)
The Character: Johnny Marco, a hard-living and disillusioned Hollywood actor who reevaluates his life when his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning) shows up for a surprise visit. Played by Stephen Dorff.
The Inspiration: In a recent interview, Coppola revealed that she drew inspiration, at least for the opening scene -- in which Marco races sports cars -- from her cousin Nicolas Cage. "I think I thought about the sports car from my cousin Nicolas because he always has these amazing cars and I thought about how you can't really drive them in LA. You have to go out to a track to drive them. So that was where the opening came from."
As for the other Johnny Marco scenes, the director added, "There were like a dozen guys I had in mind for the character. There were all of these stories in the news about these successful actors having personal crises [at the time I wrote the film]."
So if filming took place in the summer of 2009 and writing hypothetically took place somewhere in 2008, this means that the prime suspects for inspiration include Charlie Sheen (who in 2008, was in the midst of a mud-slinging custody battle with his ex-wife, Denise Richards) Christian Bale (who was arrested for attacking his mother and sister in the suite of a hotel the day before The Dark Knight's London premiere), Owen Wilson (who battled depression after an alleged suicide attempt and coincidentally interviewed Dorff at the time of production for Interview), David Duchovny (who checked himself into rehab for sex addiction that year) and Kiefer Sutherland (who spent time in jail after pleading no contest to a DUI charge) and more.
Other Inspiration: Coppola also noted that she used some of her own childhood experiences to inform the plot, including a scene involving an indoor pool in an Italian hotel room and an Italian award show.
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.
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.