Like everyone, I was blown away by Sofia Coppola's break out film Lost in Translation in 2003. It earned her an Oscar nomination, and our intense interest in what she'd choose as her next project. Lower your expectations, it's a little disappointing.
Coming Soon reports that Jason Schwartzman has been cast as a part of her next project, a period piece about Marie Antoinette. At least she's not remaking Pride and Prejudice. Schwartzman will play the famous French King Louis XVI opposite Kirsten Dunst as his wife, for whom the film has been titled. Schwartzman is no stranger to the Coppola's, he starred in her brother Roman's mostly ignored film CQ.
For me, doing such a stock sounding period piece is a terrible disappointment after the honesty, beauty, and shocking originality of Lost in Translation. I'd rather see Sofia stick to subtle and revealing stories set in the modern world than talky period pieces that exist mainly to feed women's bonnet fantasies.
Ok, maybe I'm being a little unfair to the genre. Still, unless she has some sort of big surprise up her sleeve I can't think of anything less interesting she could have chosen as her next project. Perhaps the casting of Jason Schwartzman signifies something weird and wacky. He's not exactly normal.
