Across a career of indie-film favourites – ranging from simmering not-quite-rom-coms, to anachronistic period pieces, to teen crime dramas – Sofia Coppola has more than made a name for herself as a director in her own right. It’s no mean feat, considering her father, Francis Ford Coppola, is behind some of the most acclaimed films of all time, the Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now among them. And while Sofia’s style and tone is entirely distinct, her latest film – On The Rocks – does take some inspiration from her dad, not in a filmmaking sense, but in the relationship between father and daughter.
The film stars Rashida Jones as Laura, a new mum who has a growing distrust of her partner Dean (Marlon Wayans), and teams up with her dad Felix (Bill Murray) to tail him around New York.
In its exploration of dads and daughters across generational divides, Coppola tells Empire that she fed moments from her own relationship with her dad into the On The Rocks script. “There’s also friends of my dad, and my father-in-law [in there],” she says. “How men back then looked at women, and related to women. I remember as a young woman my dad telling me, ‘This is what guys are thinking,’ his generation, his point of view. So I was thinking about that. I wanted them to be a little bit of an odd couple, a modern young woman and this old-world guy with those attitudes.” Since Francis has seen and liked the final film, it shouldn’t make things too awkward at the next Coppola family gathering. “I think he appreciated it,” says Sofia. “It’s really a tribute to him and to that relationship.”
Read Empire’s full interview with Sofia Coppola – and Jones, Wayans, and Murray himself – in the November issue of Empire, on sale Thursday 1 October and available to order online here. On The Rocks is in cinemas from 2 October, and streams on Apple TV+ from 23 October.