Sofia Coppola – This Had Oscar Buzz

StaightioLab cohost and Gawker editor George Civeris returns to us this episode, and we’re going to Paris’. In 2013, Sofia Coppola delivered another tale of disaffected youth, this time ripped from gossip column headlines with The Bling Ring. With a post-Harry Potter Emma Watson at the center, the film follows several Los Angeles celeb-obsessed teens who famously got busted for breaking into the homes of tabloid staples like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Already demoted to Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section (after Marie Antoinette was notoriously booed in competition), the film was one of the director’s most harshly received films for its depiction of teen misguidedness.

This episode, we talk about our varying opinions on Watson’s performance and our picks for the weakest films in Coppola’s oeuvre. We also talk about comparisons to another film from A24′s first year, the film’s atypical portrayal of the gay teen experience, and the film’s precisely-timed soundtrack.

Topics also include how mid-aughts celeb culture has evolved to today, Secret Celebrity Drag Race, and another round of Alter Egos.

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After reaching Oscar success in 2003 with Lost in Transalation, Sofia Coppola has stayed mostly on the fringes of Oscar conversations with her distinct but understated filmography. This week, comedian and StraightioLab cohost George Civeris joins us to look back at perhaps her quietest film, 2010′s Somewhere. Starring Stephen Dorff as a B-movie star and Elle Fanning as his preteen daughter visiting him at his home at the Chateau Marmont, the film received a muted release at the end of the year and has since gained more ardant fans of its subdued emotional insight.

We discuss the film’s triumph and mishegoss at the Venice Film Festival, where it was awarded the Golden Lion by a jury led by Coppola’s friend Quentin Tarantino. We also look at Coppola’s frequently revisited portraits of privilege, her exceptional taste in song choices, and her performance in The Godfather Part III.

Other topics include the 2010 Best Actor lineup, newspaper ads as a bygone Oscar campaign tool / gay recruitment tool, and Britney Spears’ “Everytime” video.

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Tag: Sofia Coppola

212 – The Bling Ring (with George Civeris)

105 – Somewhere (with George Civeris)