Eleanor Coppola's 'Making Marie Antoinette' Documentary — SkimNews
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- Eleanor Coppola's posthumous documentary 'Making Marie Antoinette' draws on nearly 80 hours of behind-the-scenes footage she shot during Sofia Coppola's 2006 film 'Marie Antoinette.'
- Sofia Coppola finished the project after Eleanor's death in 2024; the film began in earnest during early COVID lockdown and shares editing credits with Aaron Matthews.
- Diane Lane narrates Eleanor's tender diary entries throughout the documentary, reading lines such as 'my husband and daughter are directors. And I became the audience.'
- Costume designer Milena Canonero created 72 unique gowns for Kirsten Dunst in the original production, and Eleanor's documentary captures the craftsmanship of wig preparation, color-coded sets, and edible food pairings encased in gelatin.
- On-camera appearances include Kirsten Dunst (then 24, reflecting on her own coming-of-age in Hollywood), Rose Byrne, and Jason Schwartzman, while Francis Ford Coppola advises Sofia: 'Throw a Marie Antoinette party and invite everyone to it.'
- Eleanor's diary entries reflect on her own deferred ambitions — she co-directed 'Hearts of Darkness' in 1991 but didn't helm her narrative debut 'Paris Can Wait' until age 80 in 2016, wondering whether she should have stayed in the periphery so long.
Why it matters: Eleanor's diary entries — read by Diane Lane — reframe the film as a meditation on maternal sacrifice: she co-directed 'Hearts of Darkness' in 1991 but didn't make her narrative debut 'Paris Can Wait' until age 80 in 2016, wondering aloud whether deferring to her directing family cost her a creative life of her own.
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