FRESH AIR
Sofia Coppola‘s latest film is about a Hollywood actor who seemingly has it all on the surface. But in between the more public moments of his life, Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) is bored and depressed. His life is intellectually and emotionally empty, and he compensates with an endless stream of pills, alcohol and random one-night hookups in his suite at the Chateau Marmont, the Hollywood hotel famous for catering to raucous celebrities. Coppola, who wrote, produced and directed the film, says she wanted to show a side of the movie-star lifestyle that people don’t normally get to see. “I wanted to show what happens in between the more public moments [of an actor’s life,]” she says. “When I was writing the script, there were a few stories in the news about a couple of really successful actors and performers having personal crises, and it looked like they were having this fun party lifestyle — and from there, I tried to imagine what [Marco’s] life would be like the next morning.” MORE