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October 2006
MARIE ANTOINETTE An Interview with Director Sofia Coppola, Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman
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MARIE ANTOINETTE An Interview with Director Sofia Coppola, Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman By Kevin R. Scott October 17, 2006 How do you conjure compassion for a historical figure marred by centuries of resentment? If you are Sofia Coppola, director of the recent revisionist Marie Antoinette biopic, the first step is casting American sweetheart Kirsten Dunst as the ill fated Queen of France. Coppola who originally directed Dunst in “The Virgin Suicides,” repositions the now legendary life story, rendering it for the first time ever from Marie Antoinette’s point of view. This fresh interpretation begins as the Comtesse de Noailles (Judy Davis) ships off her then teenage daughter, Marie Antoinette, from their native Austria to France to be betrothed to King Louis XVI (Jason Schwartzman). Ironically, Dunst and Schwartzman met in real life for the first time as teenagers at Coppola’s own wedding; the first of many parallels, often illustrated in the film’s modern soundtrack. Although many will and have already resisted, “Marie Antoinette” certainly cooks up the decadence, opulence and spirit of the Palace of Versailles, the court and Marie Antoinette that is as satisfying to the eyes as eating cake. How did you go from reading Marie Antoinette’s autobiography to making this movie? Can you tell us a little bit about your vision and inspiration for the direction you took the film in? When I first visited Versailles and the private apartments behind her big public bedroom I saw the scale of it was much more human. There were still the fabrics that she had chosen; these turquoise and pinks with flowers. I was surprised because usually when you think of that time period you usually see it faded in museums and the court portraits are a much different palette. When I actually saw what she had chosen which made sense for a 15 year old girl, I wanted to do the film in her world; in the palette that she lived in. Did you always have Kirsten in mind since you worked with her on “The Virgin Suicides,” did you always want to work with her again? Some people might say that this film doesn’t show the socio-political underpinnings of what was going on at the time, what when into the decision not to show that? What was it like to shoot at the Palace of Versailles? It looked like a really complicated shoot. I had people ask, “what would you do if they didn’t let you film there.” I remember just not having a Plan B. I thought we just have to be able to shoot in France and at Versailles. I just met with the directors and explained my approach and they liked that my approach was from her point of view. They were very open to me and my crew. Fortunately the director of Versailles said he liked “Lost in Translation.”
How was it getting prepared to play Marie Antoinette? In making that real for myself I was trying to an essence about her that I felt comfortable portraying. It messes with your mind to think you are playing Marie Antoinette. I don’t think that I could ever play her; I could only find her perfume somewhere, maybe to try and smell like her. What about the costumes, what were they like. Did you have a favorite? I noticed in the eating scenes that you didn’t really eat. What would you say is the most surprising discovery about Marie Antoinette? Were there parallels that you saw in being royalty and being a celebrity? What other projects do you have coming up? Did you film that before Marie Antoinette? Working with Sam Raimi is like working with an independent director. Even though we are making a big movie and there are elements about it that are straining, like blue screens and acting to nothing. All those things can make you go crazy, but when it comes down to the scene everything is always collaborative. I respect him completely and that character is very important to me. I was really excited to get that started again. ---------------- What mindset did you have to get into to play this character, to make Louis The XVI human? Stupidly that was the insight that I needed. I didn’t need a way in. The vagueness was the way in. Instead of playing a character that said one line or didn’t say anything and didn’t look her in the eye, because I felt that didn’t was way too passive I tried to play a character who couldn’t. I wanted him to want to communicate. So you gained 40lbs for this role. Did you find it weird that King Louis XVI had difficulty consummating his marriage to his wife? Did you read the Antonia Fraser book? Would you have liked to have given King Louis any advice? MARIE ANTOINETTE opens on October 20, 2006
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