A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Sofia Coppola is best known for her films, such as "The Virgin Suicides," "Lost In Translation" and "Priscilla," winning a slew of awards. She also straddles the beauty and fashion worlds. Coppola launched cosmetic lines, had her own clothing brand, Milkfed, and she has often sat in the front rows at fashion shows of New York designers, including her friend Marc Jacobs. They've worked together on ads where Coppola was photographed for Jacobs' perfume and fashion lines. So for her first documentary, she turned the lens on him. It's called "Marc By Sofia."
SOFIA COPPOLA: It was different because there was no script, so I didn't have a map of where we were going. And in that way, it was exciting and then interesting to find the film in the editing room. I found it really freeing and - 'cause, you know, anything was possible, and it was sort of like making a collage.
MARTÍNEZ: So, Sofia, this is your very first documentary. What made Marc Jacobs, of all people and all topics that you could've chosen from, your first documentary subject?
COPPOLA: Yeah. I wasn't planning on making a documentary, but Jane Cutler, who makes documentaries, approached Marc about doing a documentary, and he said, only if Sofia does it. Neither of us were looking to make a documentary, and then he was open to it.
MARTÍNEZ: It wasn't scary at all? Because, you know, coming from news, we have scripts that we kind of use, and we don't necessarily follow them to the letter, but it's nice to have that there.
COPPOLA: It was scary and, especially, I felt pressure because Marc's my friend, and I want to do a good job. But it was really like putting a lot in a blender and then finding a shape as we went. So we were going to follow Marc making this collection from the very beginning of the blank page through the whole process. And then within that, I wanted to weave elements from his past work and then also his references. There're so many artists and films that inspire him that I wanted to incorporate all of that 'cause he's such a cultural encyclopedia to me, and I wanted to see how we could share that and hopefully for a younger generation to see.
MARTÍNEZ: So let's go back a second. How did you two meet?
COPPOLA: Yeah. I was always interested in fashion since I was a little kid, and I heard about Marc's grunge collection in the early '90s. And I was on a trip to New York with my mom, and I said, oh, can we visit Perry Ellis? I really want to see this. And he came out from the studio, and we started talking. And so that's where we first met. And then I was, you know, spending a little time in New York off and on in the '90s, and our worlds collided, and we hung out and became friends ever since.
MARTÍNEZ: I have a theory on why New York felt smaller in the '90s. And I think every place felt smaller in the '90s because that's the last decade in our human history before social media and cellphones, and it was...
COPPOLA: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...Cellphones with cameras. I mean...
COPPOLA: Yes.
MARTÍNEZ: That was the last 10-year stretch where we could almost hide in a way.
COPPOLA: Yeah. It really felt like a different time, and there was a freedom in not having things documented. But I don't know why I did feel like there were only a few places and you would run into people. Things weren't planned because, yeah, we weren't all texting on our phone. I'm glad I got to see that era.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Now, Marc made a really big splash on the fashion scene. You mentioned the grunge aesthetic that he brought to the runway...
COPPOLA: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...In the early '90s. Years later, 2001, he also brought that to Louis Vuitton.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "MARC BY SOFIA")
MARC JACOBS: That thinking kind of brought me to the idea of graffiti or defacing this, like - you know, you can't touch the monogram. Print is sacred, and da da da da. I was like, yeah, we should just write all over it.
MARTÍNEZ: See, that sounds like someone anyone would want to be friends with. You just have to deface it, have to show it no respect.
COPPOLA: Yeah. He's so smart, and also he has a rebellious spirit, which I think all creative people can relate to.
MARTÍNEZ: And I guess someone like Marc would have to be.
COPPOLA: And he always had a great, like, sense of, like, high and low. He made, like, cashmere thermals. What thermals were like, you know, what people were wearing under their jeans in the grunge era. And then he made, like, luxurious cashmere ones. So that kind of combination of - funny combinations, I think.
MARTÍNEZ: Well, it sounds in a lot of ways, like the film industry. There - I'm sure there are executives...
COPPOLA: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...That are afraid and terrified of things that might not make them money or make them lose money, and maybe they don't want certain things in films, right?
COPPOLA: Oh, of course. You always come up against people saying, you can't do it that way 'cause it hasn't been done that way. And I felt like that with "Marie Antoinette." Like, you're not supposed to put...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
COPPOLA: ...Contemporary music over a period film. Whatever. But that's the fun of trying things.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Now, when you won your first Oscar, 2004, best original screenplay for "Lost In Translation," you wore a Marc Jacobs dress. How much of your wardrobe is from his fashion lines or maybe from something that he just made for you and you only?
COPPOLA: Oh, my God. It's a very big percentage. I mean...
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
COPPOLA: It was like my whole grown-up life is - was being dressed by Marc. So I feel very lucky. What a dream.
MARTÍNEZ: One of the things in the film that I was very surprised to see and hear is how Marc wrestles a lot of times with self-doubt. He - like, when he said this...
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "MARC BY SOFIA")
JACOBS: I work to show the work.
COPPOLA: Yeah. But...
JACOBS: But then showing the work is a very frightening thing.
MARTÍNEZ: I would assume that you would relate to that because you also work to show the work, and we're here discussing your first documentary.
COPPOLA: Yeah. I mean, watching him kind of finding his way and doubting, not knowing where he was going, I was going through the same exact thing making the film. So it was, like, paralleling that. And it was - I don't know, it was really interesting and nice to do together. Like, we're all nerds, really, people that make stuff.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
COPPOLA: But we keep that more hidden, I guess.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
COPPOLA: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: If there was a pill that could just take away self-doubt and impostor syndrome, I think that pill would sell like crazy.
COPPOLA: I know, but I don't trust anyone that doesn't have a little self-doubt.
MARTÍNEZ: Really?
COPPOLA: Yeah. I think you need a little keep you on your toes, maybe.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. When you were making this film, did you gain any insights as to how his process worked? 'Cause it seems like, I mean, every little tiny detail, he's all over it.
COPPOLA: And also to see, like, his expertise, you know, as someone outside of that and - but really, the incredible detail that goes into it, that he looked at, like, 15 shades of beige-pink nail polish that, you know, looked the same to me. And he was very - they all were very different to him. So just - yeah. The level of detail that goes into it, I thought was really interesting.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, Marc Jacobs obviously known as a designer for women's wear, but one of the things that also kind of grabbed me was how candidly he speaks about his own limitations as a man.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "MARC BY SOFIA")
JACOBS: You should never listen to a designer, especially a man designer. I mean, I can't wear these clothes. It doesn't matter. You know, it's just a fantasy for me.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
COPPOLA: I think he likes to see how women wear it. He doesn't - like, you have to wear it like this. He's like...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
COPPOLA: He makes beautiful things. He has an idea of women, but it's much more relaxed and free about how you want to wear it for yourself.
MARTÍNEZ: That's director Sofia Coppola. Her latest film is a documentary, "Marc By Sofia." Sofia, thanks a lot.
COPPOLA: Thank you so much. Fun talking to you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONIC YOUTH SONG, "100%") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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