Of all the coquette-coded protagonists in Sofia Coppola’s back-catalogue, Kirsten Dunst’s Marie Antoinette is among the most iconic. Unfortunately, the filmmaker’s TV series The Custom of the Country – previously teased as equivalent to “five Marie Antoinettes” – is no longer on the cards, as Apple pulled funding due to its “unlikeable” main character. There is, however, a making-of documentary on the horizon (cue: anachronistic Aphex Twin-type beat).
Revealed in a recent profile for the New Yorker, the chronicle of what went on behind-the-scenes of Marie Antoinette comes courtesy of Coppola’s mum, Eleanor Coppola. Eleanor has frequently filmed footage backstage at her daughter’s shoots, as well as her husband – and Godfather director – Francis Ford Coppola’s.
In total, the footage from the making of Marie Antoinette apparently adds up to 80 hours. Luckily, Sofia Coppola is also on board to help her 87-year-old mum (who released her own debut feature in 2016) to turn this raw footage into a full-fledged documentary. Similarly, Eleanor turned BTS footage from Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now into the full-length documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse back in 1991, which aired to critical acclaim.
Elsewhere in the New Yorker profile, Coppola reminisces on Marie Antoinette itself, comparing the film, her most expensive to date, to her latest feature, Priscilla. Released in 2006, Marie Antoinette was filmed inside the real Versailles – with design details that made Quentin Tarantino want to “eat the goddamn furniture” – but years later the Priscilla team had to make do with a fake Graceland, as the Elvis Presley estate was wary of a film told from Priscilla Presley’s perspective.
Unfortunately, the making-of documentary on Priscilla is still TBC, but luckily you can read Dazed’s interview with star Cailee Spaeny here, for an insight into the process behind becoming Priscilla.