The Big Picture - Best Picture Power Rankings and ‘Priscilla’ With Sofia Coppola!

Episode Date: November 7, 2023

Sean and Amanda review Sofia Coppola’s ‘Priscilla’ (1:00), including the performances of its leads, Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny, its set and costume design, where it slots in with her film canon, and more. Then, they take stock of the Best Picture Oscars race (47:00) and share the 10 movies they think are most likely to be nominated (1:02:00). Finally, Sean is joined by Coppola to talk about what she saw in Priscilla Presley’s memoir that made her want to adapt it, the process of recreating extremely famous figures, and the scale and scope that she likes to make her movies at (1:09:00). Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Guest: Sofia Coppola Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, this is Ben Lindberg and Jessica Clemons, and we are the hosts of Button Mash, the Ringer's video game podcast on the Ringerverse feed. We are in the midst of the biggest blockbuster gaming month either of us can recall. We're talking about Spider-Man 2, Super Mario Bros, Alan Wake, Five Nights at Freddy's, Assassin's Creed Mirage. We will have our hands full. You can have your ears full with us talking about these wonderful video games on the Ringiverse feed weekly throughout this month on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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I'm Sean Fennessey. And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about my girl, Sofia Coppola. Later in this episode, I'll have a conversation with Sofia Coppola about her new movie, which Amanda and I will be digging into deeply. What is that movie, Amanda? It's called Priscilla. I saw it at the Venice Film Festival. I extended my trip.

I was there in the room with Sofia as she wore a beautiful Chanel gown. I'm assuming it's Chanel. I actually didn't verify that, but she's been on a real Chanel tip recently. She's working with them. She's doing a cashmere collection. There are some Chanel items in the film. Whatever.

You said I could be the engine of this podcast. You are the engine. I'm so confused. So now we're talking about Chanel. Anyway, this is Priscilla, an adaptation of the book Elvis and Me

by Priscilla Presley and Sandra Harmon. And it is a biopic of the young wife of Elvis Presley. It is told through her eyes and made with the cooperation of Priscilla Presley herself. And it has been rolling out. You and I have both seen it.

And I just got to tell you, it rules. It's so good. Sophia, that's my girl. And she's back. She never left me, but she's really back. How would you describe the last 10 years of Sophia Coppola? Trying things, which we all got to do. Yeah.

You know? What did she try? She tried making a adaptation of The Beguiled. She tried shooting on digital and making the bling ring she tried uh getting in touch with her feelings during the pandemic although technically that was filmed before the pandemic on the rocks i don't know making experiments working with new people she's working with new people in this film trying on the second half of her career and now she's going back to basics which is a story about a teenage girl figuring some things out or maybe not um i like this movie a lot yeah i thought this was probably her probably her best movie in 20 years for me um like, you need to not say that.

You just need to not be wrong in public, is what I would say to you. Okay. Okay, well, go ahead. Proceed. Proceed. Because 20 years would be since Lost in Translation. It's been a very fun Sophia season, as I have dubbed it, because it was the 20th anniversary of Lost in Translation in September. Bill Simmons and I did a rewatchables about it, if you would like to listen to that. Great movie. She has had a book come out, the Sofia Coppola Archive, which is a collection,

like a photo and short interviews about all of the movies that she's made. I thought it was about vaping or something like that. Is it not? It's just about the movies. Okay, cool. I should get that book. That's interesting. No, it's a great book. And so she's been on a thought it was about like vaping or something like that is it not it's just about the movies okay cool i should get that book that's right no it's a great book okay and so she's you know been on a tour for that obviously she has priscilla out and uh she's just around but so 20 years would be since lost in translation and that is skipping marie antoinette and somewhere which are wonderful somewhere is you so you think Somewhere is superior to Priscilla? No, I would say, I don't know. I haven't really thought about that.

This is a boy brain thing. Yeah. Yeah. But I would say that Somewhere is the last like tier one film. And then she did some experiments. Bling Ring, I like that she tried. It didn't really work out okay uh she just can't be that crass even if she wants to be um and beguiled on the rocks you know

it's they're okay they're good but this is this is back to to true sofia so what is true sofia form so how do we explain that in its most formula, it is a movie about a young woman who has a lot, but also has a lot of discontent. And she observes the world, but maybe doesn't say. She sees a lot. She doesn't say a lot. And she's trying to figure out who she is. Coming of age story, gilded cage stories, you know, not to rhyme,

but it's right there for you. Yeah, you're a veritable LL Cool J. Keep going. You know, lots of longing and confusion in teenage bedrooms. And then sometimes revelations. When you're in this chair, you have to do your speech and then sometimes revelations. When you're in this chair, you have to do your speech and then ask me a question. I do? Yeah, this is how it works.

No, you said that I could be the engine and the engine is just me talking. The engine helps us go forward. No, the interesting thing, I'm not going to ask you a question right now. The thing about Priscilla that I liked and the reason that it's like poor Sophia is when she announced this project, she's like, I am doing an adaptation of Priscilla Presley's memoir. about a young woman in a world of privilege and in a world of a very specific style because that's the other part of Sophia right like a highly stylized like mood uh but also just you know visually engaging worlds and so you when she said I'm gonna make a Priscilla movie you're like oh yeah okay like I under that's a Sophia that chick checks all of the Sophia boxes. Um, and so I don't mean it as a slight when I say like, this is the movie that I expected that it would be when she announced it.

Because that just means I was like, oh, this makes sense. This is, this is a coming home of sorts, but it did also surprise me a little bit. I don't know. Did you like it? Here's your question. Yeah. I'm being serious. I really think it's her best movie since Lost in Translation. I mean, most of her films are about young women or

girls who are kind of quiet supplicants to older father figures or male figures or romantic figures. Sometimes they're kings, sometimes they're movie stars, sometimes they're actual fathers. This is another kind of king. Exactly, all three. The Bling Ring and the Beguiled are the true outliers in those forms. And I think that's one of the reasons why those movies are kind of pushed to the side somewhat relative to the rest of her movies. Virgin Suicides very similarly has the father figure in Virgin Suicides is one of the weirdest and most interesting characters, I think, in all of her movies, the James Woods character. I love this movie.

I thought it was really, really good. I thought it was her playing to her strengths. And if I'm going to praise Quentin Tarantino or David Fincher for doing what they do best and returning to what they do best, for doing the killer, for doing the hateful eight, for doing things that it's like, I feel like they could do that stuff in their sleep gotta do the same for her i mean this is really like in her comfort zone and but i'm curious to hear like what you think is new or elevates it or redefines it you mentioned virgin suicides and you like sort of mentioned marie antoinette but you are not recognizing it as the masterwork that it is i think it's a very good film i don't think it's a masterwork but that's well that think it's a masterwork, but that's, you're of course entitled to your opinion. That is you not getting it.

Okay. And I just, there has been a real reclamation project of Marie Antoinette in the last two, three years. And I just like to say to everyone, welcome, you know, welcome to this wonderful island of Versailles

where we all live and make mistakes. Priscilla is like very much, um, a reference or, you know, part of the Marie Antoinette project in the sense that it is like a historical figure whose main role is wife, uh, who was misunderstood and also, uh, placed in, you know, some sort of, a lot of strictures around her existence and her identity. And Sophia is kind of reinterpreting our understanding of very well-known history through the eyes of these women, who also happen to express themselves primarily through clothes, styling, images instead of words necessarily.

I'll never forget, I saw Marie Antoinette with my friend Maya in Cobble Hill. I remember exactly where I was and she just whispered over at the end, she doesn't like to use very many words in her movies. And I was like, yeah, no, she doesn't. And there is still a lot of this, but, you know, filmmaking, that is what filmmaking is. So, and then this is a lot of Marie Antoinette.

This is also a lot of virgin suicides. Teen girls in enclosed spaces with imposing male figures, as you noted. And also with almost imposing male heartthrob figures. And I thought a lot about the Josh Hartnett character from Virgin Suicides while watching Jacob Lordy in this movie. And I think Sofia Coppola has a real, I mean, obviously both of those guys are very charismatic actors, but Sofia Coppola understands how to shoot a teen heartthrob, a male heartthrob,

in a very specific way that communicates the feeling of being 14 and being like, that is the only person in the world and I would run away with this person. It's very powerful stuff. So like all of those elements are in this movie, but to me, what is different, and some of it is just historical, is the arc itself. Priscilla figures things out a bit and at the end,

not only does she learn how to manipulate or at least navigate her situation, but at the end she leaves. I mean, you know, spoiler alert, I guess, for history, Priscilla and Elvis got divorced at some point. But so that changes kind of the entire arc of what this character is doing. And instead of, you know, even in Lost in Translation, which is a slightly different movie, again you know a girl a young woman in a closed space uh not really understanding what she's supposed to be and with the influences of older men around her like it works out but it doesn't you know i think they're gonna be okay but it's not you know total emancipation and happiness. Yeah, I think there's something really interesting about the Hartnett character

and what role he plays in the lives of the women in The Virgin Suicides and what happens to the girls in that film, which is ultimately seemingly unrelated to a lot of the incidents in their lives. You know, that there's something much more mysterious and internal about the pain that they're feeling. That is never enunciated in the movie. That I think, you know, it's based on a novel. It's not from Sophia's mind specifically.

But the way that it's rendered is it's like it's a, it's essentially an arthouse film that has a lot in common with like Italian 1960s and 50s filmmakers. Like a lot of her movies are very Antonioni. They're very slow. They're very wordless. They're about a kind of a longing or an emptiness in the longing. And this movie feels like very much in conversation with these early movies

and somewhere, I think, you know, somewhere Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, this movie make this interesting quartet of very like almost anti-commercial, but they, like, on the poster, they look very commercial, but they're almost, like, defying you because there's no scene in this movie where Priscilla Presley, like, starts screaming at Elvis about what a bad man he is. You know what I mean? There's no, like, this is not Bohemian Rhapsody. You know what I mean? Like, there's no, there's not, there is catharsis at the end of the movie. And I agree that that's kind of a new, a new stripe in the storytelling for her. But even as it's happening, like a decade goes by in the movie, more than a decade goes by. And you're like, what, how did this person spend their time? Like this is like, this is a, it's actually like an amazing tragedy. What a perfect and bad life she had. Yes.

You know? And there's something unique about that. Now, obviously, I was talking with my wife about Sophia last night a bit. And we were re-watching Lost in Translation, which is a favorite of both of ours. And this idea of like what Sophia Coppola brings to movies. And you already, I think, nailed a lot of it, which is that she is like one of the most imagistic filmmakers we have. Like she makes you point it out.

The opening image in this movie. Right. Is unmistakable that you're using it in the trailer because it's just like some people just got it. You just see the picture in your head and you just know. She's got she's just got that. But I feel like I have always seen it as a reaction to her parents and what they do. Both of her parents are writers. Her father, of course, is a legendary filmmaker, one of the great image makers, but also an Academy Award winner for screenplay, one of the great movie writers of the last 60 years.

And one of the great talkers. Yes, a raconteur. Both of his parents are great talkers, storytellers. Sofia Coppola, historically, much more reserved, you know, not a big storyteller, not somebody who writes big speeches. She doesn't write big speeches, but I think, I think she does incredibly well. She still observes and communicates what her characters are seeing and they see everything. And it's a very wide knowing and honestly,

like often mean in a way that I appreciate there is, there is like judgment in what she uses the camera to show you. And that's whether it's like a, you know, a pair of sneakers or a feet in a carpet, which this is like me being deep Sophia nerd, but the first image of Priscilla, which is the, you see in the trailer and is the feet on the plush carpet

also made me think of the Lost in Translation speech and girls taking pictures of their feet. You know, it's like, all of it's very intentional and is communicating a lot. It's just not communicating it verbally. Right. And in movies, even though it's a visual medium, we are expecting people to explain their intentions

or to explain exactly how they're feeling. She doesn't always do that. I thought of the Lost in Translation opening shot too. The shot of Scargell in her underwear and the pinkness of that image.

And I think that's a direct intentional reference as well. Yeah. It's interesting that she chose to do this though because it's a story that most people

who would care about this probably know the ending already. You know, probably know like what the shape of the story is. Also, you know, famously she was not granted the rights to use the music right um music yeah i think the estate in general is not well they're not working with her on this film and they're not not huge fans of it she's she's made kind of like elliptical references to the fact that

you know she was told elvis fans aren't to like this and they don't like some of the insinuations. Because, you know, there are pills in it. There are, he's an overbearing figure. I mean, do we want to talk about just like the basic facts of this movie? Yeah, let's do it. Which is that Priscilla Bollio Presley was 14 years old when she met Elvis. And which is just like a fact that she presents in the film. Not only when she met her, but when she was scouted and groomed to meet him.

Right. The way that the film presents the story and the way that Priscilla Presley tells the story is that she was effectively picked up by a handler in a diner at an Air Force base in Germany. Yeah. That's a crazy story. Right. an air force base in germany yeah um that's a crazy story right and then by 16 moves to memphis without her family and lives at graceland with elvis uh and i when she is deemed old enough they get married but she literally she goes to a to a Catholic school in Memphis and isn't allowed to make friends and then comes home and just like, you know, sits at Graceland and waits for him because he's filming or on tour, you know, doing all of his Elvis stuff. And then they finally get married.

They have a child pretty quickly. But even after that, most of the movie is her just sitting at Graceland. But to the point of like the very sad, miserable, perfect life. And that's just like a real, that's like a real weird thing that happened in real life. And I think the movie does a pretty great job of presenting all of those

facts where there's no, you know, there's no moralizing. life and i think the movie does a pretty great job of presenting all of those facts where there's no you know there's no moralizing there's no speech in that that are so in vogue in so many movies right now of being like you know this is wrong and we need to make sure that you walk out of this movie understanding that this was grooming and this is bad. But you can't not watch it and be horrified and be like, what the fuck is going on? It's one of the best examples of not making that choice and it being better for the film. It's unmistakable what's going on here. All you have to do is watch the movie. You don't need a character to tell you.

Like, you can see the exasperation and frustration and, you know, just absolute curiosity on the faces of her parents when she's trying to explain why she wants to do this. And you see over time that Elvis is a controlling, manipulative person who he himself clearly has a lot of emotional issues and fame has messed with him and his upbringing has messed with him. You know, I think actually the portrayal of Elvis in this movie is in many ways a lot more interesting than the portrayal of Elvis that we got in the Elvis film. I'm sure there are specific reasons for that, estate related. But it's so nice that there isn't a scene where, you know, Priscilla's best friend sits her down and says, this is not right, Priscilla. He's manipulating you. You know, like, it's clear what's going on.

Yeah. And it just uses scenes and and moments and i've been reading the book elvis and me and it is remarkable how men like it's none of this is like fabricated either and and i would also say that the the tone and the perspective is not fabricated that even as you know priscilla presley is narrating in the book she she is like aware of everything that is going on but is not ever saying i was you know violated or taken advantage of or you know elvis she was just kind of like this is what happened and this is this is how i felt about it and i really wanted to be with him and I was young and one day he gave me pills

where I slept for two days straight and then we didn't do that again. So I think it is also a kind of a really deft work of adaptation and of biography that I think respects the subject. Who was working with it while not sugarcoating it, which is hard to do.

Is the book itself, does it have, is there an after Elvis aspect to it? I haven't gotten there. Okay. Sorry. Because I'm curious, you know, it charts this course. She meets him after he's been conscripted to the military and spends time in germany and then comes back and you know by the time he's done that he's already a big movie star

he's already been on or excuse me a big uh music star he's already been on ed sullivan he's already the jailhouse rock thing exploded like he is elvis but then the arc of elvis's career which we just saw in a movie a year ago yeah it quite fascinating. And the movie kind of charts some of those things. It charts the big comeback special. And I think that's 64. It charts. Right. They watch it in the living room together.

Yeah. It charts the Vegas run. It charts the kind of waning days when he's having affairs and taking drugs and, you know, becoming increasingly paranoid and weird. But the only thing I know about Priscilla Presley's life after that is that she was in the Naked Gun movies. I don't know anything. So while it works well for the movie, for her to have this cathartic closing sequence, and you should talk about what you think is so effective about that,

I don't actually... There's like 60 more years to come after that? Yeah i mean i don't i don't think they've been easy and i don't think that the book is meant to elaborate i mean it was written in the 80s so you know there's many years after it um and i think there's a little bit like even in the writing of the book there's the awkward fact that much of her life was in being Priscilla Presley after Elvis, you know, and even the writing of the book is whatever she's allowed to tell her side of things. So the ending is in the 70s and it is Priscilla finally deciding to leave and she's gonna go figure out her new life and it's the gates to the famous graceland gates opened which was not filmed at graceland they recreated graceland in toronto i gotta say they did a lot with the budget they had i don't know

why you can't give sofia coppola another million dollars you know or whatever it's a lot to build graceland no just it was it is i think it is intentionally quite claustrophobic because priscilla's experience was just like sitting in a room in graceland dollhouse that's what she does she does dollhouse yeah she does dollhouse but it was like very noticeably just there that's all yeah i wonder if that works in its favor i mean i mean i think probably i i if the movie was more lavish and this is so much because it is it is necessarily compared to the baz luhrmann film right but that film was so opulent and so extravagant and so over the top in its set design and its production design right and then this movie being smaller and being really inside of one woman's mind i mean that, that's really how the story is told.

It is textually, you know, it is accurate. And Sophia has also talked a lot about how the exhaustion after Marie Antoinette and, you know, that many people. And they filmed at Versailles and that many sets. And she was just kind of like, that was a lot. I wanted to take a break from that. So it's intentional. Anyway, they do a lot with a little in this movie um but they the recreated graceland gates open and dolly parton's i will always love you starts playing and priscilla drives out and cut to black it's it's really good and it is also the fact that they could not use elvis's music

which i remember you and chris sat here in this very studio and were like, aren't you worried? No Elvis music? What are you going to do? I think that was just trolling. You were trolling, sure. But it's another thing that works in the movie's favor, ultimately, because not only is it it's about Priscilla and not Elvis, but it does open her up to use different music cues in really affecting ways. There's a really great Crimson and Clover cue as well at one point that just, it hits and you're like, oh yeah, this is just right without ever moving the spotlight away from Priscilla to Elvis. Yeah. There's a fortunate thing too, which is that, especially at this time in popular music and particularly with Elvis, he did a lot of covers. Yeah.

And so there's a way to kind of just show him at the piano singing a song that he didn't write, but that he is known for, that he could have contemporaneously been performing. And so it's smart. Did Elordi play the piano? It looks like it, right? Well, he also played it in Deepwater, if you'll recall. That's smart. Did Elordi play the piano? It looks like it, right? Well, he also played it in Deepwater, if you'll recall.

That's right. He was the seductive piano player in New Orleans who lures Ana de Armas with his luscious piano playing. What a special guy. Yeah, we should talk about him. Yeah, well, we can talk about performances. Yeah, well, I don't know if we've said Kelly Spaney's name yet.

She plays the titular Priscilla in this movie. Terrific performance. Kind of the ideal Sophia leading lady. Go on. Petite but powerful. Sure.

Quiet but able to become severe if needed. Yeah. Knowing. Sad. Sure. Quiet, but able to become severe if needed. Yeah. Knowing. Mm-hmm. Sad. Yeah. Obviously quite striking. Plays across 20 years, basically, here.

Right, yes. Which is really challenging. I think for the most part, she pulls it off. It's asking a lot for a really young woman to credibly play like a 35-year-old woman. Right. And just because of the nature of filming it was such that she would play it you know 14 in the morning and then 35 in the afternoon yeah and they you know they do a lot with hair and makeup as priscilla did herself at elvis's behest but

yeah no it's a lot uh she's great. I know her from Mare of Easttown, so I was very excited. The level up, she doesn't get to do very much in Mare of Easttown, you know? She doesn't. She's been in a couple of notable things. She was at Bad Times at the El Royale. Did you ever see that?

No. Interesting movie. Okay. Doesn't totally work. She plays Ruth Bader Ginsburg's daughter on the basis of sex. I saw that. Yeah. She plays Lynn Chaney Ruth Bader Ginsburg's daughter on the basis of sex. I saw that. Yeah.

She plays Lynn Chaney, Dick Chaney's daughter in Vice. Does she really? Yeah. She's played some exceptional daughters of complicated people in her history. Do they... Is she the only Lynn Chaney? She's young. She's young Lynn Chaney.

Okay. I was going to say. She played old Lynn Chaney. She was a 50-year-old Lynn Chaney. No. You know, I've just learned here that she's appearing in a film with Kiki, Civil War. Yeah. And she's also appearing in the new Alien movie, Alien Romulus.

That's cool. Are you familiar with this film? No. I want to talk about Kiki some more. Okay. Okay. We'll get there. But I have to tell you about Fede Alvarez's Alien colon Romulus.

Okay. Which is coming in 2024. I think it might be coming straight to Hulu, would be a bummer maybe not though i i think i'm subscribed to hulu twice somehow i was looking at this last night and i just i because you just love it so much i know by accident and because i was trying to bundle and then i got to avoid the ads and i just i felt really defeated i didn't I spent like two minutes on my account page looking at my various subscriptions and I was like I give up I like I don't know what to do I don't know how to fix this problem no it's gonna pay dividends when you need to watch Alien

colon Romulus that's all I'm gonna say okay she's very good Kiki aka Kirsten Dunst probably my true North Star um introduced and suggested Kaylee spainy for this role because she and sofia are remain close from civil war i guess so because they'd worked together before wow that's interesting because i know that that film was that movie was shot a while ago yeah and they've been holding it but that's that's fascinating she's she's she's very good she has you know she you noted that she won the volpe cup right at venice in another year she would be in best actress discussion yes in this bloodbath of a year especially with lily gladstone yeah running in best actress it's going to be more challenging you keep saying that like she would

run in supporting if she ran in supporting she would. So that's why we've been having this Emily Blunt conversation. It's just one of those things. It's the same thing to me as Michelle Williams in The Fablemans. It's like a very similar amount of screen time. There's, of course, a very credible case that she could run in Best Actress, but that if she just decided to run in Best Supporting Actress, she would be going home with an Academy Award. Right. I like that she's writing in Best Actress. Yeah. I mean that she's writing a best actress. Yeah. I mean, it's great. I mean, it platforms her even more so and hopefully it gives her a bigger spotlight

and gets her more parts and et cetera, et cetera. But, I don't know. Winning an Oscar? That would be nice. Can we talk about Jacob Elordi? Yeah. You've been squirming in your seat for 30 minutes now trying to get it out.

He's just very powerful. He's very tall and very powerful. Uh-huh. And well-cast, you know i think that sophia has said she he has a magnetism that she felt could you know replicate elvis i think he succeeded well there's something really interesting in casting him which i think i've alluded to in the past on the show, which is that obviously Priscilla Presley is not terribly tall. Yeah.

Kaylee Spaney is very petite. Elvis Presley is six feet tall. Mm-hmm. Jacob Lord, he's 6'5". Yeah. So it's a bit like, you know, one of those trees from the Lord of the Rings, you know, running around with a... It's really not. Running around with, I don't know, a ring holder, you know one of those trees from the lord of the rings you know running around with a it's really not running around with so i don't know a ring holder you know i no i don't know the reference

anymore also when you said there's something interesting about him i thought you were gonna say that he is the ex-boyfriend of kaya gerber who is now dating austin butler the other elvis oh wow what a tangled web we weave. Okay, yeah. In the extended Elvis universe. That's cool. I mean, Kaia Gerber, she seems like she's doing well. Yeah.

Austin Butler, he's killing it. Does Austin Butler have to stay in character as the bald white demon from Dune Part 2? No, I don't think so. He's been out and about with Kai at farmer's markets in this weird hat. Remind me,

you do not watch Euphoria. No, I don't. So Jacob Elordi plays a profound piece of shit in Euphoria. A deeply unlikable guy. Really like the representation of where toxic white masculinity comes from like that's what the whole

point of that character in many ways but he's also one of the stars of the kissing booth series on netflix right yeah and so he has used the streaming services to elevate and his version of elevation is to appear in prestige movies um Obviously, he's in this movie. He's a very good Elvis, I thought. Elvis is hard to pull off. Elvis is hard. Have it not be a joke. He brings something different to Elvis.

I think he's helped by the fact that he doesn't have to do the performances. I agree. I agree. His kind of like all shucks, but like demeanor with a demonic underbelly is very well conveyed by him because that's something he knows how to do from euphoria.

Yes. Um, but like what he's up to is his career is weird. So he's in, he was in deep water last year. Yeah. He's in the sweet East this year. Also one of the more amusingly problematic movies,

you know, like purposefully problematic movies, Priscilla in which he plays, you know, a very unglamorous portrayal of Elvis. And Salt Burn. Yeah. Where I wouldn't say he's demonic,

but he lives in hell. Right. And then next year he's making O Canada with my boy Paul Schrader. Paul Schrader, Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi. It's very special stuff. What's going on with Jacob Elordi. It's very special stuff. What's going on with Jacob Elordi? Is he okay?

That seems awesome. That's pretty fascinating. What else do you want him to do? Well, it's really cool that he has leveraged this fame that he has gotten from these TV shows and movie franchises on Netflix to only work with great directors. That's what I like.

Or at least interesting directors. You know, your mileage may vary on Emerald Fennell or whatever, but I really admire that. I think that's great that. That's what I like. Or at least interesting directors. You know, your mileage may vary on Emerald Fennell or whatever, but I really admire that. I think that's great that that's what he's chosen to do. I was talking with Craig Horlbeck last week about...

Why did you say his name in that way? Because it's one of the rural juror things for me, you know? With respect to Craig, that's on me, not him. He, we were talking about Jacob Elordi because I'd just seen Saltburn, and he said something very smart which was like he's like i think alorty is this generation's brad pitt

he's and i can really see and that it's a similar trajectory he's working on being on you know weird bit parts or not bit parts but tv and then and then you level on up did he did he also mean that when you look at him you you think, is that guy really dumb? He didn't say that. And I wouldn't want to put words in his mouth. Okay. Because Brad Pitt is obviously not dumb. Right.

But Jacob Elordi, we'll see. He's young. Choosing to work with Paul Schrader is incredible to me. That's what you spent your capital on, my dog? That's amazing. What? I don't know. Why not?

Give it a try. I really liked him as Elvis. I think, stroke of genius by her. I think you're right to make the Josh Hartnett comparisons. It's funny because sometimes most of the male leads in Sofia Coppola films are really brutally damaged people. You know, Bob in Lost in Translation, re-watching that movie. The amount of time spent on Bob's clear depression

and dissatisfaction with his lot in life, whether it be during the making of the commercial that he's come to Japan for, whether having to do the talk show circuit, him, you know, entertaining a prostitute that is sent to his hotel room, getting faxes from his wife about furniture. And the carpet samples, yeah. Like, the opening moment of the movie is sent to his hotel room getting faxes from his wife about furniture and...

And the carpet samples, yeah. Like, the opening moment of the movie when he opens the envelope and it's about how he forgot his son's birthday and he's sure he'll be okay. I had forgotten

how much of that movie is not just about Scarlett Johansson's character but about him. Yes. But about how he is, how low he is. Elvis is not the emotional fulcrum of this movie

but it does it goes further like i said in the in the previous elvis film in trying to unpack particularly in that section where it's his spirituality comes to the fore and he's becoming kind of like a preacher figure right to this group of adoring young women and then he's reading scripture and reading all the self-help books with Priscilla. All that stuff I thought was fascinating. And you never see that in these fawning biopics. And that's one of the great things about a movie like this, is kind of like anti-biopic where you get to see, you know, it's not evil what he was doing there. It's weird. It's weird. And it's kind of damaged. And I loved that she made, not just made time for that, but almost made that like the centerpiece of the movie was him kind of like losing his grip and how that affected her as she starts to effectively fall out of love with him.

Right. You know, where the bloom really goes off the rose on the Elvis experience. that this teenage, like this infatuation haze that she was in is not real life. Yeah. Or not the life that she wants to be living. It's kind of boring. There's one more version of that too in that same segment that I really liked, which was the recreation of that famous photo shoot where she's on her knees. Yes.

And he's sitting in the big chair like a king and he's got his, you know, blue jumpsuit on and the gold rimmed glasses and that image is seen as like so iconic it's kitsch but it's there's a swagger to that photo but showing the kind of discontent that was happening on that day which i guess is rendered in priscilla's book but that's a great like um mythology busting too that movies like this can do that i really enjoyed. So I thought this was really good. I would recommend it to anybody. Of course. We're not recommending it to people?

No, it's true. I think some people were just like, ah, I don't know, the Sarah Presley biopic, is this like, is this something I need to care about? Especially on the heels of an Elvis movie. Like, I think it's very, very good.

I think it's great. And I think it's also, if you're not familiar with Sophia's work or you haven't been on the train for the last 10 years or so, it's a great reason to go back and get involved with all of it. What'd you think of my girl Dagmara, a dominant chick from Succession, as Kaylee Spaney's mother? I would like for her to get to do more things, but she was great. I mean, she communicates the what am I supposed to do agony of this. I mean, what would you do if Alice were like, hey, I'm a teenager and I'm in love with Elvis and I need to move across the world to go to Catholic school? Extremely glad you asked this question.

Okay, thanks so much. question okay thanks uh i would probably build a jail in my basement and put her in the jail and see how long that would let no no i would uh if she were 14 i would not allow it obviously i think that's the other thing is that when this happened it's not that this was acceptable because it wasn't acceptable it wasn't legal but it was a different time and you cannot make excuses for it but it's showing how it could have happened or how it did happen i think is really interesting because nowadays if something like this happened it would be the outrage of all outrages it would be you're You're right. But, like, even in the book and the film,

there is a lot of acknowledgement on all fronts that this is pretty weird. Should we cancel Elvis right now? Is it time? Hasn't he been

canceled many times? I think he endures as one of the signature cultural icons in American history. Right, because you can't cancel him. That's right.

Like everything you throw at him, just like total. Woody Allen down bad. Elvis Presley. Like a musical tradition. That's right. Just like definite child grooming. Yeah. Some serious drug issues, which we don't really get canceled for anymore.

But, you know, there's a lot going going on wielding firearms willy-nilly not ideal that's true i mean there he definitely seems like he had some sort of organized crime affiliation yeah there's that great shot of after priscilla graduates and she comes out to the the catalan and it's just all of them they look amazing boys yeah all of his boys and the the one girl which also sofia coppola talks a lot about how she was like the only girl uh in this like big italian family and everyone was older than her and it that felt like a very knowing wink at that i also just want to say speaking of the clothes um my favorite credits in this movie

were um i think i can remember this is from just me seeing the movie but verbatim jacob alorti suits by maize and valentino wedding dress courtesy of chanel really really special stuff how much of the budget was dedicated to that well i'm wondering whether you get like a rate if you're Sofia Coppola. I've often wondered about this with the relationship between fame and fashion. Well, she also, she is doing a lot of like actual work with Chanel right now. Right. So you think they cut her deal? Yeah. And I wonder also whether, you know, being associated with it and then she's wearing the stuff.

I mean, I don't know i should have asked um my friend lauren but i would assume that she's not paying like couture prices do you think that she has uh like a relationship with like a reynolds woodcock style couturier you know who's like making everything for her by hand well she goes to charvet in paris and has her own shirts made. Okay. And she designs them. She designs them? Well, I mean,

I don't think that she, like, is sketching, like, Reynolds Woodcock, but I think she's picking out the cut and the fabric and, you know, the details of the shirt.

called her character Reynolds Woodcock? Yeah. That was incredible. No, it was really good. It was extremely funny. Charvet is a phenomenal company. Yeah.

Like daily average, how much does her uniform cost? Thanks so much for asking. So the Charvet shirts run about 600 bucks. Okay. I don't have one. On my honeymoon, Zach did take me to the Charvet store in Paris and being like, you should get a shirt. And then I was like pretty intimidated by it. So I didn't do it.

What's going on with that? Because you're very aspirational yeah and sometimes you get right up to the flame well you back away right because it's like the interaction it's also just like there is a language barrier and i speak a little french but like i don't i don't know the vocabulary for i want my shirt to fit this way and it's primarily men's shirts so then you're trying to get the old french you know i just i wasn, I wasn't, I wasn't feeling confident. I was a little jet lagged. I wasn't ready. But they have been priced down.

It's about $600. Also, by the way, that's outside of my budget. On your honeymoon, you could make an exception. That's true. And they do last. So then the pants, she's got a couple different varieties in the strategy. You asked and now I'm answering. I'm along for the ride.

In the strategist, Things I Can't Live Without piece, she identified some pants by the men's wear brand Noah. She primarily wears men's clothes. Yeah. This is kind of something you're dabbling in as well. Yeah. I mean, yes, I am literally just trying dabbling in as well. Yeah. I mean, yes, I am literally just trying to be Sophia in all walks of life on like a much smaller budget. That's the one thing I don't do with my heroes is like try to dress exactly like them. It's great.

Maybe because they don't have good style. Yeah, she has amazing style and it's like very practical. Anyway, so these men's Noah pants were like 250 something bucks. She's also been wearing some Carhartt pants that I was thinking about investigating. And those are like, I think 120. Do you think she's listening to this and she's like, what's up with this lady trying to beat me? I definitely don't think that she's listening to this. I do not think that Sofia Coppola engages with podcasts.

One of many reasons that I love her. But that's it. Then she's just wearing sneakers. And, you know, the sweaters, it's tough. So she just did a cashmere line with Barry. And they're like $8,000 for a sweater jacket. So that's pretty tough for me. And then she has a lot of Chanel

that I assume she's getting at a insider rate i see you asked so day to day two grand well but that's i guess no not four grand well and then also her cartier watches are like i mean she wears one that's like $25,000 and another it's it's tough but she doesn't wear that one every day but that's over time you know she does a uniform so you want to talk about Nyad no I want to keep talking about Sophia I've given you a wide berth on Sophia do you feel that it was wide enough yeah I do okay we can I mean we'll come back to it do you think that it was wide enough? Yeah, I do. Okay. I mean, we'll come back to it. Do you think that there's any awards hope for her at all? Am I getting ahead?

Do you want to do Nyad and then talk about the... Yeah, I do. I do. I tell you what. You had a really funny idea, which I want you to see through. Okay. Which was, we were like, what's a funny top five movie, Priscilla? Sure.

And you came up with top five wife movies. Yeah. And I'm looking at your list, and frankly, your list is great. Thank you. Do you want to run through your list? Sure. First one. So this is very specific.

The movies can't be about husbands and wives. So husbands and wives, not eligible. I do like that movie quite a bit. Sure. But it's not about a couple. It's about the experience of being a wife. Okay. Which basically means it's a movie about how being a wife sucks.

If being a wife is your only identifying characteristic, there are going to be some limitations. Okay. Number one, Rebecca, 1940. Being a wife really sucks. Whichever wife you are, it seems tough. Alfred Hitchcock's masterwork. Number two, Stepford Wives, 1975. Love this movie.

One thing about this, extremely hard to find in physical media for reasons that are unbeknownst to me. This was a big hit. It was a huge hit novel. The film has been remade

in the 2000s. It is a phrase that is in the lexicon of popular culture to be a Stepford Wife. The original movie, I love. Paul Apprentice,

I think is phenomenally funny and interesting in this movie. Hard to see. and you can't buy it on I know but it has no weight in the culture anymore which I find

to be interesting and some of that is because it's not as widely available I don't think it's streaming anywhere right now I think it was

because I actually drafted it when we did the 1975 movie draft I took Stepford Wives and I was able to see it and I

did you just rent it maybe I rent I you know I Sean Iives, and I was able to see it. Or did you just rent it? Maybe I rent. Sean, I don't know. I'm not your archivist friend. I support you. I'll let the Blu-ray distributors know. It looks like, no, this is the remake.

This is the thing. You keep clicking on the movie, and it's always the 2004 remake. I'm going to keep reading my wife movies list. First Wives Club, 1996. This is really about how being a wife did suck, and then they figured out how to be friends instead. And that was great. We don't talk about First Wives Club enough, just kind of in the ringer universe, I would say.

So I just wanted to put it out there. Don't bring that joint to jam session. You know what? It is a film, and I demand that you talk about cinema with me whether it's about lives or not i've just discovered the stepford wives from 1975 streaming do you know where it's streaming movie to be to be i was close one letter okay shout out to fucking to be bro that is the best site they got everything number four and this is my famous wife selection. Okay. Jackie, Pablo Lorraine, 2016. Good movie. I'm a big fan of this movie. It's a really good movie. It's

the best version of the Pablo Lorraine experiment. It also definitely about a woman who was a wife and then what she did with being a wife. And then number five, well, that's just, that's, or what he imagines she did with being a wife. Every time we talk about Jackie, I think about that Peter Sarsgaard quote about Natalie Portman coming to set the first day. And he's just like, oh, so this is what we're doing. It's really good. And then number five, you can do Priscilla or frankly, you can do Maestro. Oh, well, don't spoil it.

Well. What about the wife? I'm not. I don't think the wife is that good. Okay. Maestro breaks the rule about it being about a marriage though. Not to spoil it. It is.

Well. It is. If you were going to do that you could do. Well. Any number of movies. Guys I can't wait to talk about. Kramer versus Kramer. I can't wait to.

I can't wait to talk about the film Maestro with you. Yeah me too. That's going to be a fun pod. Yeah. It's going to. It's a good movie. I like the movie a lot. It's going to be a fun pod. Yeah. It's a good movie. I like the movie a lot. It'll be like six hours

before you get on a plane to go back to Atlanta. Oh, is it? I think so. Do you guys remember when we did the segment Hark where it was just like you just get to go on a rant

for two minutes? Yeah. I think we should debut a new segment for Amanda called You Have to Talk About Cinema With Me where she just decides one thing that she needs

you to discuss per episode. First Wives Club being total cinema baby didn't have that on my bingo card today. But you know what? I support you. I got your back.

Bette Midler. Yeah. Goldie Hawn. Diane fucking Keaton. Sarah Jessica Parker in a supporting role. Yeah. Yeah.

What did she do in that movie? She's one of the new wives. Yeah. Well, you know. Does she eventually team up or does she get foiled in the end i don't remember is revolutionary road a husband movie or a wife movie that's that's a couple movies i can't wait for the fucking top five husband movies number one

husbands starring john cassavetes peter falk and benazzara. One of the greatest movies ever made. I think First Wives Club is literally a rejection of the film Husbands. Yeah. Wow. Husbands draft. Let's do it. Nyad. Let's talk about it quickly.

Not quite a wife movie. Not a wife movie. It's a work wife movie for sure. Absolutely. This is the story about the life of Diana Nyad, who is a long distance swimmer and a world famous athlete and public competitor and public speaker and author and perhaps charlatan based on some reporting in recent years. Uh, this new movie directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarely and Jimmy Chin, who directed free solo among many other wonderful kind of, nature, rescue stories in the last 10 years. Some of the most celebrated documentarians. This is their first feature film.

It's on the Netflix service this weekend, where you can stream the film sitting in your home or on your telephone. And this movie, as we have stated in the past, is actually pretty entertaining. Very silly. But when I saw it at the Telluride Film Festival, I was like, that's not great, but I'll tell you what. I sat through the whole thing, thought it was solid. And it's okay to have a movie like this. It's okay to have a docudrama that is just fine. It's actually in real counter to the Pain Hustlers conversation

we were having where we were like, this is nothing. This is nothing. Like at the end of this, I felt nothing. And I was like, I got my spirits up

for five minutes there. I was really hoping she did the thing that they want you to do in the movie. Hope she achieves the thing she wants to do. You know,

it features Annette Bening being incredibly grouchy for two hours. Right. Which I guess is a choice that was good for the movie. Seemed true to life. And it features Jodie Foster in a performance we've talked about a couple of times. Just cooking.

Being amazing. I would like Jodie Foster to be my wife. How about that? In this context, she's so great. She plays the coach, best friend of Annette Bening's Ny niad what's her for diana i had i was diane diane niad doesn't sound quite right and it's just very encouraging and is that really classic sports movie figure i mean this is great as a sports movie and all of the swimming race sequences and the training and the various obstacles that they have to face in the form of various sea creatures and weather events are wonderful.

That like the building of the team, the team dynamics are also very lovely. This movie does a thing that I think is based on real life, and I don't mean to dismiss it, but the character has some trauma. And the way that that is incorporated into the story, just from a pure storytelling perspective, doesn't really work for me. Just, like, literally, there's a flashback element to it that is... I'm not trying to be dismissive of the experience at all but it's life but narratively it actually feels like it's happening in another movie yes and it's trying to inform the character of diana and iad which is to say that she has a kind of like there's a frustration and a bitterness and a kind of like will to persist that the flashbacks are using to frame her personality

to say, hey, have some empathy for this person because she is fearless even in the face of what has happened to her in the past. Something you've seen in a lot of movies before. This movie has a kind of like, kind of a pretty loose feeling in the narrative. You know, when we see her trying to do this long distance swim at her age, her interactions with Jodie Foster and Risa Fonz, who also I thought was wonderful in the narrative. You know, when we see her trying to do this long distance swim at her age,

her interactions with Jodie Foster and Risa Fonz, who also I thought was wonderful in this movie. Fantastic. He's great. There's something kind of like jocular about the movie. And so because of, and it's a sports movie, as you said. And so because of that, I think you're right that those flashbacks kind of like slow the movie down

and like get the movie stuck in the mud a little bit. And you don't want to discount the severity of what's being recounted in those flashbacks but it holds the movie back in some ways too yeah and i and i don't think that it totally adds to the character development in the way that the scenes where annette benning is just interacting with risa fans and and Jodie Foster do. It's just, two different movies is a great way of putting it. There's also a couple of choices that are made because there is a kind of, you know, temporary dementia that comes over you when you're doing the kind of long-distance swimming

that she does in this film. There's one CGI sequence in particular that I think was a really bold stroke that ultimately did not land at all with me. That kind of like flipped me right out of the movie. And so it's tricky because Chin and Vasarely, this is the first time they're doing this and they're trying a few things that are unconventional.

And I appreciate they're making an effort to break up the expectation of a movie like this because it's such a predictable genre. But those choices actually don't work. And I think they weirdly take away from the momentum that the movie is building. And so, you know, it's a very kind of half-formed, like real two and a half star kind of a movie. But eminently watchable, worth it for the performances.

Even if some of the story is not entirely perfectly accurate, none of these movies are ever perfectly accurate. And the idea of Nyad's life is fascinating. You know, she lives an unusual existence in our culture. So I kind of would recommend the movie.

I'm surprised that I am saying that. It's a perfect Netflix movie. It also is like a really perfect holidays with your family movie, which I appreciate when people make these movies and release them around November so you have something to watch with your in-laws. Yeah. Is that what you're going to do? Watch it again? Fire it up with the Barons? I don't think that the Barons really... There's not enough time during the Thanksgiving ritual to actually sit down and watch a movie. Okay. You guys should watch Salt Burn together.

No. I told you what happened when I saw Salt Burn with the baron that I live with. That it didn't go well. Not a fan. I can't even revisit that. People got to learn how to sit still. And by people, I mean my husband. I want to point out one other thing about this movie, which is that it's shot by Claudio Miranda.

I'd like to speak about Claudio Miranda momentarily. Okay. One of the great living cinematographers. Here is Claudio Miranda's filmography, which is, of course, the thing I love to do, list movies. 2006, his first film as cinematographer, Failure to Launch. The rom-com starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey in the midst of Matthew McConaughey's rom-com run. 2008, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He came in to assist Harris Savides on Zodiac in 2007,

formed a relationship with Fincher, shot Curious Case, got nominated for an Oscar. 2010, Tron Legacy, directed by Joseph Kaczynski. This will be the first of five collaborations with Joseph Kaczynski. 2012, Life of Pi with Ang Lee won the Academy Award. 2013, Oblivion, Kaczynski. 2015, Tomorrowland, the blundered Brad Bird movie that looks amazing.

2017, Only the Brave, Kaczynski. 2018, 2022, Top Gun Maverick and Spiderhead, both with Kaczynski. 2023, NIAID? What? This is the guy who works with Joseph Kaczynski, Ang Lee, and David Fincher? Why did Claudio Miranda shoot NIAID what this is the guy who works with Joseph Kaczynski Ang Lee and David Fincher why did

Claudio Miranda shoot NIAID because he wanted to work with water I don't know who wants to work on the water maybe

I like the water I don't know who wants to work on it I you know besides James Cameron I understand it I don't know

maybe he likes a challenge maybe he likes he admires the filmmakers I don't know. Maybe he likes a challenge. Maybe he likes, he admires the filmmakers. I don't know. Maybe he does. That's great.

He also has additional photography credit on 2011's Margaret, aka Margaret, the Kenneth Lonergan masterpiece. This guy only works with hitters. Why did you say Margaret?

Because that's one of the pronunciations of the film. Okay. Because of the opera. Oh, right. Yeah, sure. His next film is also the untitled Joseph Kaczynski F1 movie starring Brad Pitt. Okay. Because of the opera. Oh, right. Yeah, sure. His next film is also the untitled Joseph Kaczynski

F1 movie starring Brad Pitt. Sick. Claudio Miranda is a real one. Yeah. I just want to give a shout out to him. I think he has

long white hair. He looks like Gandalf. And he likes things that are moving, you know? That's true. And Diana Nyad was moving. What did you think of Spider-Head?

I watched it the night that it was released because you and Chrisris ryan talked about it for like months on end and i think i was still on leave and so that i would have been on leave right couldn't say i can't remember but i i think i was the idea of us just asking you not to appear on the spider head episode so cr and i could cook on that. I mean, that happens, and that probably would have happened. But in this case, I think I watched it immediately because I had been listening to you guys

because I felt far away because I was on leave. And then I was like, what the fuck is this? Like, I didn't hate it, but I was like, what? Is Spider-Head better or worse than Nia? I think it's worse. Okay. Because, I mean, I like a little bit of traditional sports movie feel good. Jodie Foster just absolutely looking jacked.

I would like to know what kind of workout routine Jodie Foster does and also try to do it. And her cheering me on. That's nice, you know? Don't you want to take that with you? Yeah, sure. I feel like Jodie Foster would be a great aunt. Like, I'd like for her to be my aunt. Yeah.

In my family. She just has a strength that I think we all need. I think she's absolutely wonderful in this movie. And I sat there just being like, Jodie Foster, Oscar, let's go. Well, it's one of those things where you just, you know, once upon a time, she was one of the biggest movie stars in the world. I know. And it feels like that has really fallen away in the last 10 years, but I'm sure it's by design. Let's do Best Picture Power Rankings.

Once a month, we do this. Okay. When we did it in October, we chose 10 films, but we didn't rank them. So we're going to rank them today. Okay. And we may move some films out. Yeah, we're allowed to adjust. I'm going to remind you and the listeners of the 10 films that we chose on October 10th.

This is an alphabetical order. All of Us Strangers, American Fiction, Barbie, The Color Purple, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest. Now, I've had some changes. Some changes of heart. Yeah. Over what's going to appear here. We made some predictions last week. Right.

Those were kind of like, the purpose of that exercise was to make some bold choices to try to win some favor. By the way, somebody made a great suggestion. Was it you, Bobby, who made the suggestion? It might have been you. About what the actual winner should get, which is to choose the next watch-along podcast that we do. The winner of that bet should be able to choose. And I'm putting this on the table right now. If I win, we're doing Babylon.

Okay? Okay. Hell yes. I liked two hours of Babylon quite a lot. Well, the movie's two hours and 45 minutes, so you got 45 additional minutes to podcast through that you may not have enjoyed. I just rigged this game.

I don't even know how I'm going to go back. I'm going to recut the episode so that the rules are different so that Sean wins. Sorry, Amanda. I just want to say that that really, maybe that like raises the stakes for the world at large, but that like lowers the stakes for me personally. Okay. Then also, you and I go to a restaurant and I order food for you and you have to eat all that food.

And if you don't finish that food, you're off the podcast forever. How does, does that raise the stakes? I just, if you, you already pick them, you know, you already pick the watch along.

So if I lose, it's just like life is normal. You know, there's no extra punishment. Okay. And if I win, it's cool. I get to pick a watch along.

But like, is, bring a little fucking vent to the table here what are we doing is watching a movie where you and Chris like get to talk the whole time

like a reward for me do you know what I'm saying oh interesting okay where it's like I pick Devil Wears Prada actually that would be really funny

because then just Chris talking about clothes is my 100% favorite thing. Chris needs to have a fashion and food podcast. I deeply disagree. Chris talking about food is disgusting. It is a heinous act. And Chris talking about clothes, it's okay.

It's really funny. But it's just kind of, you where's my incentive well then you come up with something i did what did you come up with a public event oh yeah that's more fun i guess that is more fun yeah that raises the stakes so what happens when it's like it's we're doing a live you know episode about the devil wears prada and then we come out i'm like that was pretty good is that a good show no i wouldn't pick that give me some credit I have I have some editorial you know judgment as well I don't want to be misunderstood I like it's gonna be like we come out and it's gonna be like here's a can of mayonnaise and you have to finish this before the end of the movie now that now you're

talking now you're that's that's that jackass energy that we need to bring yeah this exercise uh we gotta we gotta pick 10 movies speaking of mayo remember when you were like actually i don't mind mayo it's mustard that i hate and i won't eat that's that's the craziest thing i've ever heard what are you talking about what's so crazy about that mustard is awful awful depends on the kind of mustard depends onends on the kind. All of them. Brown, yellow, gourmet, off the shelf, trash.

I don't get it at all. I feel I've been attacked when I accidentally bite into a sandwich that has mustard on it. I'm like, get it out of me. It's disgusting.

Mayo, I pretend I don't like, but then when I have a sandwich that has, what is the nice mayo called aioli aioli I'm like

fucking aioli rocks it's flavored mayo yeah yeah you guys had aioli that is the jam right there sometimes you're 48 like specifically 48

and then sometimes you're 8 you know and like right now you're 8 I'm just 41 I'm just 41 41 year old man making a list on the podcast. So your preference for a turkey sandwich would be...

I always order it plain if I can. So just a dry bread and turkey. Yeah. Cheese, lettuce, tomato. That's the killer, baby. That is absolutely the killer. That is the most psychotic stuff I've ever heard. We're going to get into that later this week.

Okay. Okay. Choose number 10. What's number 10? Well, am I allowed to substitute Wow Wars? I don't know. Number 10 is very stressful. Okay, choose number one. Okay, Oppenheimer.

Okay, this is the way we'll do this game. Oppenheimer is number one. What's running at number two right now? I'm looking. I think it's the holdovers. Okay. What do you think about that? Yeah, I think it's the holdovers okay what do you think about that yeah i think i think it is the wave is coming i people love this film yeah people love it i'm looking forward to loving it i have it in my calendar that i'm gonna go next week were you always this mischievous

like when you were a child where you're getting a little scamp? Yeah. Yeah? You don't think that I'm not mischievous on a day-to-day basis? Not like this. Okay. Okay.

So I did two, you do three. Okay. Killers of the Flower Moon. Yeah. Okay, Killers of the Flower Moon. Number four, poor things. Yes. What's number five?

Number five is Barbie. I think that's right. Thank you. Number six, I'm feeling American fiction. Yeah, that's a good one. Okay. Number seven. Now we're getting into the nitty gritty.

Yeah. Number seven, Maestro. Okay. I think. I think you're right. I wonder how people will receive that. I think. I think you're right. I wonder how people will receive that. I think well. I think well in the awards and movie going to the movies crowd.

And then it'll be on Netflix and people will be like, what? The wider Netflix audience will be like. What will the Academy think is really the issue. Okay. Well, I think they'll like it. You think they'll like it. Yeah. I already said that.

I said that. And then I said it will go on Netflix and people will be like, what? But let me ask you this. What will the Academy think? I think it'll be just insane lines for screenings around the block. Because you know what the people in the Academy like is a free fucking screening. They do. They do.

I do too. Who doesn't like a screening? Yeah. Number eight. This feels chaotic. I'm't like a screen? Yeah. Number eight. This feels chaotic. I'm seeing May, December on Thursday. Okay. Oh, wow.

I feel like maybe May, December. Okay. Is that nuts? I don't think it's nuts. I think that that comes at the expense of... I think the color purple is out. And I think all of the strangers might be out. No.

I think it might be. Wow. No. I think it's going to be between and I think all of the strangers might be out. No. I think it might be. Wow, no. I think it's going to be between past lives and all of us strangers. What if it's past? Okay.

Interesting. I could be wrong. Don't you think May-December has that really classic performances and not best picture vibe for me?

Possibly. I mean, I understand that Todd Haynes is and neither of us has seen it. But neither of us chose Natalie Portman or Charles Milton in their particular categories. Right. In best actress and supporting actor.

Right. But many people think that they will both be nominated. Okay. And if they are, pretty uncommon. For that much acting support. Yeah. Well, I didn't choose Julianne Moore either. I did.

I chose it in screenplay. To me, it seems like a pretty classic screenplay. What's number nine? Past Lives. Okay, number 10, Five Nights at Freddy's. No?

No. I'm stumped on 10. I think this is a weird year. I think something is going to come in that we don't see. I don't know what it is. It could be Anatomy of a Fall. It could be Napoleon.

It could be Ferrari. It could be... I don't... Have you seen Ferrari yet? No, I haven't. I love you so much. It's not. And I love Ferrari so much

and I don't think it's going to be Ferrari, respectfully. I think it's going to be... What if it's air? I don't think it's going to be air. I think it's going to be international. I think we're being a little American here right now. So it's zone of interest. Okay. If you think it's that over Anat air. I think it's going to be international. I think we're being a little American here right now. So it's zone of interest.

Okay. If you think it's that over Anatomy of a Fall? I do. Okay. I think it might be zone of interest and Anatomy of a Fall over May, December. I know May, December has its Netflix push and its movie stars. I'll tell you what. If that's true.

Yeah. If we swap in Anatomy of a Fall for May, December, and I haven't seen May, December, so I'm not criticizing it. And I love Todd Haynes. But that is a really good slate of a Fall for May, December. And I haven't seen May, December, so I'm not criticizing it. And I love Todd Haynes. But that is a really good slate of best picture movies. Really good. Like, is that the best we've had

in like five years? It's a good year. Every movie on here I like. Every movie I've seen, I like. Every movie on here is not embarrassing. I agree. Are we missing something? Bobby, I saw you pull the microphone.

Yeah, I mean, there's guaranteed to be like two things that just get bumped for classic Oscars. But what is that this year? I mean, air, respectfully, shout out to my guys. Love you so much and all that you do. Air getting in over like Killers of the Flower Moon, that would be an issue for us. Yeah. That would be a problem. Gosh, I don't know. I mean mean like if like a salt burn or or like a rustin maybe could you know or you know the i guess the color purple the movie still is not screened yet

the word on it is that it's not great okay i don't you know that's pure speculation i boy the zone of interest past lives may december maestro american fiction barbie poor things killers of the flower moon the holdovers in oppenheimer pretty sick man i never do this you gotta protect your heart but there's even even what's on the outskirts i'm like oh well it's actually it's anatomy of a fall or spider verse or priscilla or ferrari i don't think priscilla is to come back to now am i allowed to talk about priscilla again please do yeah i thought a lot about adapted screenplay when we were doing those predictions and i wondered whether it could come in because there was kind of one spot that seemed open, even though it adapted might be the more competitive

field this year. So Sophia won for original screenplay, right? She did, yeah. And that was the only year she's ever been nominated for Oscars, right? 2004? Yeah, I think so. Nominated for screenplay and won.

Nominated for director, didn't win. Nominated for picture, didn't win. That's interesting that she's been ignored. And she's having a moment. Yeah, she has this book. She has all those Charvet shirts. She's had those Charvet shirts for 20 years. Longer than 20 years.

You feel good about this? No. There is, you know, a December surprise awaiting us. And I still haven't seen a couple of the movies. May, December, I just don't know. And I can't figure out whether it's also, I agree with you that there is a little bit of momentum right now. But is that just because it's being released soon and Todd Haynes is able to promote it? Okay. Amina, thanks so much. Thanks, Sean. it's being released soon and Todd Haynes is able to promote it.

Okay. Amanda, thanks so much. Thanks, Sean. Congratulations on having Priscilla. I'm just glad to have many avenues through which to talk about Sofia Coppola. Let's go now to my conversation with Sofia Coppola. Delighted to have Sofia Coppola on the show. Hi, Sofia. How are you? Hi, good. Thanks. Thanks for having me. Sofia, I wanted to start with the book. I'm curious when you became aware of elvis and me and priscilla's memoir yeah i don't know how i ended

up with it but i have this old copy i had a copy um with the 80s edition with the heart frame and picture of elvis and priscilla and it was something i had like i brought on vacation and thought it was just something fun to a fun kind of juicy read to get her story. And I was really surprised by how moving it was and how much I connected with her story, which I didn't expect because I didn't think we had much in common. And so, yeah, it stayed in my mind. And then I revisited it a couple of years ago. A friend was talking about Priscilla and I really, I guess reading it maybe older too, like I connected with it in a different way. I'm interested in your kind of balance between original stories and adaptation too.

And you've done both and in different ways and you've kind of redefined how we see some people's lives. But this one, it feels like a very kind of pure memoir adaptation in many ways. So like you're really looking at the source text, you talk to Priscilla, spend time with her. What was that like to have someone who was living, who you could really communicate with, you know, as opposed to maybe adapting a novel

or looking at Marie Antoinette's life? Yeah, it was really different for me and a challenge in a new way where I felt so lucky that I had access to the subject. And it was so great how Priscilla was very generous with her time and opening up and answering questions. So as I was working on the book, I kept a list of questions. And then every once in a while, I would check in with her and ask her questions. And it was great to know more. What exactly happened here?

What were you thinking? And so that really helped me fill things in and gave me ideas and um and that was really great but then it also was a pressure because not only I wasn't just only thinking about what I wanted to express as an artist but I also wanted to take into consideration what she would be happy with and what felt um you know want to respect her story and how she wanted it told. So there's a little bit of a balance and I was really, it was really nerve wracking

showing her for the first time. It's such a huge world, the world of Elvis Presley and, you know, everything, you know, 70 years later, 75 years later since he got started. How, did you feel that she was trying to be careful

about not misrepresenting something or certain aspects of her life that she was trying to be careful about not misrepresenting something or certain aspects of her life that she didn't feel comfortable talking about i mean she's definitely she's private although her book is very revealing and she really um maybe when it was written it was closer to that time and i don't know i haven't talked for some about the actual release of it but um she definitely feels very protective still and i mean there's such a you know mythic american couple and such a big part of our our history and culture and i'm sure you know so many people are curious about them that i think you know she's a private person that um herself but um so i was always trying to you know find information without trying and wanted to balance how she remembers him and the light and the dark side, the human aspect versus the public one. She seems like such an ideal Sofia Coppola protagonist.

When I heard that the movie was happening, I was like, oh my God, this is perfect. I can't believe. But did she have a sense of your work when you first started doing this? Did you talk about your films? No, but she knew all my films. She'd seen them. And that's why she let me do her story. She said she was hesitant at first. And she said, because of my work, she wasn't looking to make a film of it. But because she respected my work, she would let me do it so um yeah I feel really lucky that she you know had seen my work and responded to it and she felt like I you know she knew that I was gonna approach it with sensitivity and yeah I think she's very protective and you know wanted to make sure he didn't come

out either because you could take that story from the book and and make him really more of a villain or make it more dark and I think what I I love about her story is like any complicated relationship, it has real highs and lows and kind of the way she was taken off guard. I think, you know, like your first love and then it turns into this, you know, complicated relationship with an artist who's struggling and everything he was going through.

My co-host and I were talking about the movie and, you know, just that first image of the toes and the shag carpet and it feels almost like a callback to the lost in translation first image we see or a lot of the first images we see in your films it really feels like it's in conversation with a lot of your movies do you do you see your movies like that do you see them as sort of like this daisy chain or kind of calling back to each other it's funny I don't usually but on this one I did I really felt like

um i felt like i saw parts of my other movies while i was making it and but i didn't feel like it was redundant i just felt like oh now i sort of have this vocabulary that i draw on in different ways and i could see how they fit together but it was the first time maybe after making my book like looking at them how they connect but i don't know it was interesting when i was working on this and um the the opening shot was just like when i was first thinking about the story i thought like oh graceland what you know what was it like for her and graceland and i imagine like how how thick and plush the carpet was sinking into it and the velvet drapes and just like recreating i got excited about recreating graceland Graceland as she must have seen it for the first time.

And so that was the first shot that came to when I was writing the script. And I think, I guess now I do that a lot where I like to have like a little glimpse of the character, but then go back and kind of explain them more through a story. Could you tell me a little bit about that writing process?

I don't think I've ever read any of your scripts. So I'm curious, like, are you extremely detail oriented with that kind of imagery in the script when you're writing? My scripts are really sparse. I think that I don't write a lot because I'm going to direct them. So it's just enough information for like, for me to remember and also for my crew to know what's going on. So I try to give enough information that they can, that they know how to build the world that we're looking at um but they're not very detailed how long does it take you usually to write one um it's hard to say i think like around six months maybe i kind of do it off and on over a year because i'll kind of do a blast and then put it aside and then look at it um

try to look at it with fresh eyes i hate rewriting i like just it's to me it's like making a mess and then having to clean it up i don't want to have to clean it out um but i try to like yeah take a little pause and then and then as you get closer to shooting you have to kind of rewrite things to be more practical and like how are you really going to shoot it and think about like combining locations and and i and i talked to priscilla about you know some story that first took place when she first went to see him it was actually in la instead of at graceland and would it be okay to combine things just to um to be able to make a movie you know without

without a huge budget and also i think any movie you have to be practical about how to do it yeah i'm curious um kind of what the editing process of the script is like for you too in that way once you realize like sort of what is achievable and what is not achievable in certain ways like do you are you talking to your department heads as you're going through it or is it everything getting locked and then you're making changes what how does that usually work for you yeah usually the first draft i try to just be open to my imagination and like anything's possible and just like not worry don't don't have my director brain on as much as I can. I mean, I, I'm in the habit of just thinking about how you're going to shoot

stuff. So I try to, I try to be sort of practical and I'm used to always making low budget films. You have to be crafty. And, and I, I guess I learned from my dad about adapting that you, that you can combine characters and locations. And a lot of times books have too many characters that in a movie, it's confusing. So, so I learned that from him and then to just have that freedom.

And then when we get closer to production, when it's becoming real, that's when we're working with department heads and with the art department and costumes about like how we're really going to do things. And usually the producer suggests like, we can we lose this and and on this one we had to um we had to cut about a week out of the schedule which is like 10 script pages which was really hard to um to pull it all apart right before and still feel like we could give a big scope of this you know big life and we cover a lot of time and you want it to have grandeur.

So there's some things, there's things I took out, but I don't really miss them. I feel, I was just relieved that the story works without, you know, I had to take a lot of, edit a lot out of the book. And you just hope that it has the essence of her experience by the end of it. And you can read the book if you want to get more in detail, but there, there's a few things I missed but there was one the scene where he's tearing down the boulder um he's bulldozing down an old uh structure on the property that was one that the producers kept

asking me to cut because it's expensive and do you really need that it doesn't tell this you know doesn't move the story forward and to me so many there's so many details in our story that maybe technically don't move the story forward but they they, they tell us so much. And it's like, it's, it's Elvis. It's not just any guy. Like you have to understand at a whim that he was just doing whatever he wanted and this kind of kid side to him. So yeah. So I just, yeah, these kinds of details I think are important. I like that as a stand-in too for kind of like the old child like Elvis is dead too, you know, like knocking down that old building and now it is like only glamour. That's the only thing that is left behind too.

I thought that was a great image. I love that sequence. Oh yeah, thank you. You know, I didn't even think of that metaphor, but I just thought of him of like he just on a whim would, we're going to Vegas,

we're going to turn on that building like he just, and everybody would go along with it. I'm curious how you did build the world then because as you said, it it's not this is not a hundred million dollar movie you know the estate obviously is not giving you the rights to the songs like you have to make these provisions you have to make changes so that you can make it but in a way i felt like ultimately the kind of claustrophobia that the movie has a little bit kind of represents maybe

priscilla's mind state but how do you go about building graceland this lavish series of costumes but on this budget and then with these constraints oh thank you with a really great team i was really um we were all proud of ourselves of like what you can you know when everyone pitches in and and it makes you more creative because you have to figure out solutions but i really had this incredible production designer tamera devereaux who's based in toronto we shot all in toronto and she built she built all these the sets and just just um coming onto a stage and seeing them build graceland was really exciting when we when we came in that set for the first time and she had the real plans of graceland so it's built to scale except we made it taller for jacob velordi um you don't have to ask you about that.

Yeah. Yeah. And, but it was, yeah, it was really fun just like, yeah, getting out all the shag carpet and she, and we just,

because she knew Toronto, we found all these locations that could work for LA and Las Vegas. And, but there's a lot of, you know, movie magic of putting on a show like, well, we'll throw some gold LMA drapes here in this lobby and it'll be vegas you know so so i

i it's fun that if it if the illusion works because it was really um you know pasted together and um and stacy patata costume designers she's never done anything in that world and at that um scale there were so many costumes and um and she had great team building things and um and somehow yeah somehow we pulled it off which i'm really proud of the way it looks i love when you go to a movie and you just feel totally immersed in another world which um which i which we were trying to do yeah you nailed it i was reading that you gave your production designer some william eggleston photos as kind of inspiration point what like what was the thought process behind that yeah i just i always love william eggleston for his photos and his color and he's always an inspiration to me and

and um and i remember he did these photos these still lifes in graceland which was which was came to mind for our opening sequence just these kind of like snapshot memories of how you when you when i think ofeland, I think of, you know, those shots of the TV and the curtains and how, yeah, and how the glamour and how it was. And so, and I didn't realize that he actually was hired by Graceland to do the brochure. And that's where those photos came from.

But yeah, he's a great photographer. So we definitely looked at his photos and the color of that time. It seems like an idiosyncratic choice by the Elvis estate to hire him to shoot those photos. Yeah, I was really surprised. I had no idea. I knew he had taken those photos as an art project, but I didn't know that he was actually hired by them to do the brochure. I know.

I'm curious whose idea that was. I guess he was a local. Oh, that's true. He was there. That's a good point. I'm curious about casting Kaylee. I guess he was a local. Oh, that's true. He was there. That's a good point. I'm curious about casting Kaylee Spaney and Jacob Elordi. I was remarking to my co-host that I feel like the contrast in their heights is almost a metaphor unto itself. You know, Jacob being much taller than Elvis was.

And it feels like Kaylee was maybe even a little shorter than Priscilla was. So it creates this visual confusion in a way that he's towering over her. Yeah, and it's true. He's always looming over her and she's like this little doll. So it does sort of underline the relationship. But it wasn't intentional,

but I'm glad that it works. We were building, she's standing on so many apple boxes and all the shots and we still have that huge height difference. But I'm glad it i'm glad it works for the story well how did you come across them did you had you seen their work before how did they come because those are hard parts to cast yeah that was really the that

was one of the hardest parts and now it was really important to us where are we going to find a girl that can play 14 believably 14 to 29 um and my casting people had told me about Kaylee Spaney is the up and coming actress that I was like, who can, and who can like look, look like Priscilla. And, you know, and, and so I met her and I just, I thought she was really thoughtful and I saw a little bit of her work, but I, you know, you never know. And then I talked to Kirsten Dunst cause she, they had just worked together and Kirsten really loved working with her and

thought she was talented. So that gave me the confidence to hire her. And then Elvis, I was like, yeah, who am I going to play? No one looks like Elvis. Who am I going to get? And a friend said to check out Jacob Elordi, who I didn't really know. I've seen like one episode of Euphoria, but I can't watch it because I'm the mother of teenagers so it's hard for me to watch but understandable yeah but I um I yeah I met him and I just thought oh he's so charming and lovable and you could see how like all the women were I've been in a restaurant

everyone like turned to look at him like he just has this um this charisma that I imagine you know must have been how Elvis was. And just that everyone always talked about how lovable and charming he was. And also Jacob has a sensitive side. So I thought, you know, the beginning of the story is her talking about how vulnerable he was and wanting to show that side of him that he didn't show the public that he was, you know,

this vulnerable person that was struggling as an artist and wanted to be a serious actor. And I thought, I thought he could really connect to that or show that. I love them together so much. Their chemistry is so interesting in the film and, you know, a performance, especially someone like Elvis, but even Priscilla, who we know from movies and we've seen in the public eye could slip into parody pretty quickly. Like how do you direct actors to not do a bad imitation? Like what, how do you talk to them about the way to perform these iconic people?

Uh, thanks. I mean, no, I definitely did not want it to be a caricature, which it could, I think just, you know,

hiring smart actors that, you know, they get, um, that have taste and know they have, like it could, I would think we all knew that it could go wrong very easily. And,

um, and I always have to Jake move out, like just just if you can just get like the essence of all this i was hoping that i don't want a character and he and he got that too so he learned a lot about him and then he he worked on the voice and the movement but um but just tried to kind of convey a sense of him instead of being like an exact replica because that was more important that he you know that and then he put some of himself into it and same with kaylee that she connected you know in a human way on the human level was always connected to some emotion um and then you know kind of let the costumes and everything tell her you know get her into the personality and spending time with priscilla i think she talked i know she spent time with priscilla and talked to her so she she always surprised me how she kind of got her mannerisms and voice in a kind of delicate way

that priscilla has but i think just that they grounded them in something real really helped a lot and i think jacob talked about how he just thought about it as a relationship not elvis and priscilla so you could kind of forget about that and just focus on their relationship yeah my favorite part of the film is when he like slips into the kind of preacher mode and the anxiety between them, you know, and like, that's a part of the story that I didn't really know very much about. And you could feel like when a long-term relationship is starting to fracture because one person got interested in something that the other person doesn't care about. And I was like, this is so true to so

many experiences. Oh, I'm so glad. That's what i loved about her book is there are all these relatable uh parts that you can see you know other aspects of relationships and um yeah i loved i didn't i didn't i knew a little bit about like his spiritual interest but it was really interesting to yeah to read how he how much he got into it and then like let's talk about like larry the hairdresser guru and you know and I just feel like someone that famous there's always people around and Priscilla had to deal with all kinds of hangers-on was there any aspect of kind of recreating these eras that you found more challenging than you expected or that was a little bit tougher that you had to punt on because you were like we just can't pull this off um no I think we just uh I think it was fun to go into the different eras i think like vegas

of the 60s it was so much more glamorous than than how i've ever seen you know i forgot that it was that kind of dean martin era where you know we think of it as more tacky now but you don't think of vegas as being a chic glamorous place so um yeah it was fun to recreate that and just i just like to be able to look at so much research and look at their home movies and see how they were and i think it was just challenging like you know shooting uh la or the south by the pool in like the fall in toronto and you know it's always amazing how you just like throw in some plants and and with a great cinematographer writing it you know it just it always impresses me that the illusion that you can create it's really effective um you always have the best soundtracks this one is really interesting

because you have to like maneuver you have to create the moment in the era but also put your own taste into it but also make it seem like something like almost like music they might be listening to in some ways like can you kind of walk me through how you made choices for the film yeah i know that was tricky because i wanted it to yeah be authentic to the era but also be music that i like and my taste and then also underline the you know the emotion that she was feeling in this you know in the story so um she talks about listening to venus at the diner when she first meets the friend of elvis and then i started listening to that and um and then asked my husband toman his bandmates in phoenix um if they would help me and they we started putting together playlists and they they

start finding songs that they think i would like in that era and it was just like editing through music in that era because sometimes i think i just didn't want to feel corny or like happy days yeah that you know that we're up with that music um so it's not my era and i i was i always loved girl groups so i always loved um ronette's the shame or laws like that i remember listening to growing up so and and full specter so that so then that became kind of full specter sound this kind of like big lavish um emotion you know romantic i want to really really underline it it's a love story and first love and and the fairy tale and so that that started we started to find things that linked together in that way they kind of all connected to this full specter sound um and and then phoenix asked um this band sons of rafael to do some instrumental um it was

kind of like it's kind of a hodgepodge so i'm glad that somehow it fits together because it was really um kind of we were all pulling things from all over the place yeah i always i just like how bold you are with making it you know an anachronistic choice or something you know opening with or like using a ramon song or something like that is always so fun can you actually talk about the the final needle drop because that seems to be resonating for people as well yeah I mean I just thought when I was working on the story I wanted it to be um Priscilla's story at Graceland like arriving at Graceland and her arrival and then at the end her leaving I shouldn't give it away but her driving through the gates was an important uh kind of bookends and um and i just thought of um dolly parton because that song uh there's a story about him singing that

to her and also it just feels like it has exactly the sentiment that she's sound like she was going through where she loved him but they couldn't you know that she had to move on and she was growing growing up and growing out of that and and also that the fact that I wanted to end with a woman's voice and it's her going into her kind of grown womanhood, finding her identity in herself. And, um, and there's also a great story about Dolly keeping ownership of that song. So I don't know, it just, I'm so, I'm so glad that we were able to use that song because it's so emotional and it helps us so much. Yeah. It plays beautifully. Um, I'm curious for for you like you've made a lot of films now like what is your favorite part of making them at this point oh yeah I mean to me when you find a song and it

fits and it fits and it just like elevates the scene that's really an exciting moment so that's really one of the fun fun parts in editing is putting the music together although it's it's hard but when it starts to work it's exciting and um i yeah there's so many i think when you're it's fun to be on set because i write alone and then when you're together with um all your friends and collaborators and there's that energy of just getting it all done and seeing it come together that's exciting um and then i enjoy the edit so they're all they're all different they're all they all are hard and fun i guess it's hard to pick what what moment you recreated the era so well it did have me thinking and even thinking a little bit about your parents and some of the

experiences that they've had but i'm sort of like what is like the 100 million dollar sophia coppola like big period piece or genre movie like do you ever think about that or do you feel like you will always kind of work in this particular meter like with this kind of framework or like a story that is a little bit more intimate yeah I think an intimate story I mean Marie Antoinette was really fun we had a bigger scale budget we had so many extras and costumes and palaces like that that was really fun but after that I was like oh I just want to be with two characters in a hotel room. Like it's a different kind of focus.

So I enjoyed that, but I, I, I do, this was fun. Cause it was like really focused on these two characters, but we still had the fun of the sets and costumes. So it was,

it was a good balance. I think when you've done an adaptation, do you then look to do something original? Do you think that way? Like, how does, how do you arrive at what you're going to do next? Yeah, it takes a while. I mean, I feel adapted feel adapted i mean original screenplays are so much harder for me i feel like you have to i think i listen i feel like i need to have 10 years in between

each one because you have to live enough to have something to write about so that that's really daunting for me um i feel like your first one is easier because you break your whole life's experience to put into it and then you have to drum up some more. So that, yeah, that's scarier for sure. Looking at a blank page where an adaptation is fun because you always have something to refer to. And you also know that somebody else liked it probably, you know, because it was a book and, you know, someone liked that book. And so, you know, there's that and you always have something to go to. You still think that even after like the success that you had?

Yeah. Cause you never know. I mean, I think with adaptations, I always feel like if I'm interested in it, I've gotten past that because, or like the loss of translation when I was writing and I thought, Oh,

this is so indulgent. Nobody's going to care. And the fact that people connected to it is like, was such a surprise. I really thought I was being totally indulgent. So now I don't, I never second guess. I just think like if I am drawn to making it, there'll be someone else out there that will connect with it.

I hope, you know, but yeah, you never, it's always scary putting, you know, you put yourself into it. Yeah. I mean, that means if On the Rocks was 2020, we were waiting seven more years for another original story from you, you think? I don't know. Yeah. I don't know right now what i have no idea um we end every episode of this show by asking filmmakers what's the last great thing that they've seen you seen anything you really like lately could be anything but i like i love when people suggest movies you know i saw um past lives at the angelica i think i was lost in the theater and

i really i really loved it and it was so fun to see it hadn't been in a theater with the audience for a while which i i'm always reminded you know it's such a great experience it's so much better to see a movie in the theater with an audience and um yeah and i really loved that movie what did you what did you like about it's one of our favorites on the show too what did you dig about it oh i just i didn't know that much about it. So I was, I was surprised. Like I, I,

in the opening shot of them, I was really curious, you know, how they end up there. And then, and then hearing that story that I've never heard. And, and I loved the actors and,

um, incredibly it was great. And I, and I wasn't familiar with her from her comedy, other shows. I hadn't seen her before. So, um,

and I just, yeah, no, I just loved her. I don't know the way so um and i just you know i just loved her i don't know the way it was told and the tone and how it was subtle and yeah that's my kind of thing i really and it's sincere sophia thanks for doing the show congrats on priscilla it's wonderful thank you it's so nice to talk to you about it thank you Thank you to Sofia Coppola. Thanks to our producer Bobby Wagner

for his work on today's episode. Later this week, we will discuss David Fincher's The Killer. An absolutely fantastic movie. We'll see you then.