Somewhere is a 2010 drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola. The film follows Johnny Marco (played by Stephen Dorff), a newly famous actor, as he recuperates from a minor injury at the Chateau Marmont, a well-known Hollywood retreat. Despite money, fame, and professional success, Marco is trapped in an existential crisis and has an emotionally empty daily life. When his ex-wife suffers an unexplained breakdown and goes away, she leaves Cleo (Elle Fanning), their 11-year-old daughter, in his care. They spend time together and her presence helps Marco mature and accept adult responsibility. The film explores boredom among Hollywood stars, the father–daughter relationship and offers an oblique comedy of show business, particularly Hollywood filmmaking and the life of a "star".
Somewhere premiered at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, where it received the Golden Lion award for best picture, and it was released to theaters in December 2010. Critical opinion was generally positive. Critics praised the patience of the film's visual style and its empathy for a handful of characters, but some felt that Somewhere repeated themes in Coppola's previous work or that its protagonist was less than sympathetic.
Plot As the film opens, a black Ferrari circles on a race track in the desert, roaring in and out of the shot. When it eventually stops, Johnny Marco steps out. Marco is a recently divorced Hollywood actor who, despite his rise to fame, does not feel much meaning in his daily life. He resides at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, where he is nursing a broken wrist in a plaster arm cast.
Despite drinking and socializing occasionally with Sammy, a fellow actor and childhood friend, Marco spends much of his time alone, driving his car, drinking beer and taking pills, watching a pair of pole-dancing twins perform in his rooms, and having casual sex with various women and aspiring starlets. He receives an unexpected visit from his 11-year-old daughter Cleo.
Johnny completes various publicity obligations for his new film: he is photographed with his contemptuous co-star and gives an interview to the press. Cleo's stay changes his lifestyle little at first. They spend time together in his room and he brings her with him on a publicity trip to Milan, where they stay in a lavish hotel suite and he has a blonde woman as an overnight guest. He is awarded with a "Telegatto" on a television show in which local celebrities play themselves. He helps Cleo prepare for summer camp, takes her on a gambling trip to Las Vegas, and hires a helicopter to drop her off at the camp.
After their time together, Johnny's fatherly emotions emerge and force him to re-assess his otherwise "successful" life. He calls his ex-wife and tearfully breaks down, admitting to his inadequacies and unhappiness. His ex-wife seems indifferent and declines his request to come see him. Johnny checks out of the hotel, promising not to return, and drives his Ferrari into the countryside. Eventually, he stops by the roadside and gets out, leaving behind his Ferrari and walking down the highway with a faint smile on his face.
Cast Stephen Dorff as Johnny Marco Elle Fanning as Cleo, Johnny's daughter Chris Pontius as Sammy, a fellow actor and childhood friend of Johnny Lala Sloatman as Layla, Johnny's ex-wife and mother of Cleo Michelle Monaghan as Rebecca, an actress playing co-star to Johnny Kristina and Karissa Shannon as pole-dancing twins Bambi and Cindy Amanda Anka as Marge Ellie Kemper as Claire Nunzio Alfredo D'Angieri as Pupi Laura Chiatti as Sylvia Romulo Laki as Romulo
Production
Conception The film was inspired in part by a trip to Italy the director took with her father Francis Ford Coppola. The parental focus of the film developed because Coppola had recently had her second child. However, Coppola denied it was an autobiography, pointing out her childhood in a small northern Californian town being raised by married parents is different from that of the character of Cleo, whom she based on a friend's daughter whose parents work in Hollywood. Federico Fellini's Toby Dammit (1968), a favorite film of the director's which she screened several times for lead Stephen Dorff, was also an influence.
Casting Johnny
In casting the lead role of Johnny Marco, Coppola met with Leonardo DiCaprio, but from an early stage of writing had her old acquaintance Stephen Dorff in mind. Coppola was drawn to Dorff by his "bad-boy actor" aura and also what she considered "this really sweet, sincere side".
Dorff had emerged as a television actor in the mid-1980s before becoming a film star in the mid-90s, and had lived for several months at the Chateau Marmont, where he celebrated his 21st birthday. He earned the bad boy reputation in the process, and was soon after typecast in genre films such as Space Truckers and Quantum Project, culminating in his role as the antagonist in sci-fi horror Blade (1998), after which he struggled to get considered for serious roles.
Coppola called Dorff to ask him to read the script on what happened to be the one year anniversary of the death of his mother, who had encouraged him to expand beyond his villainous roles. Dorff flew to Paris to discuss the project with her, and on his final day there she told him he had the part. The parallels between Dorff's career and Johnny Marco's backstory made Dorff an appealing choice for the lead. Dorff commented:
Cleo Elle Fanning was the front-runner to be cast as Marco's daughter Cleo, and after a day of screen-testing with the already cast Dorff, was offered the role. Fanning and Dorff spent time together before filming to bond. Fanning noted commonalities between the actors: that they were both from the state of Georgia, attended the same school, and were compulsive nail biters.
Dorff, Fanning, and Lala Sloatman (who plays Marco's ex-wife) improvised meals and fights to understand the family's dynamic. During principal photography, Dorff stayed in the Chateau Marmont, making it easier to get to the set and understand the character. Coppola also showed Dorff Paper Moon (1973), a film about an unconventional bond between a feckless father and his daughter, during production.
Supporting cast Chris Pontius, famous as a member of the raucous slapstick Jackass collective, had also been known to Coppola for years before she approached him to play the role of Marco's friend Sam. He drew on his improvisational work in Jackass to expand upon the sparse lines in the script for his character. Kristina and Karissa Shannon were Playboy models, brought to Coppola's attention by a friend, who were told nothing about their characters before being cast as twin poledancers. Benicio del Toro, Erin Wasson and members of the band Rooney have cameos in the film.
Visual development Coppola wanted a minimalist look for the film, especially after the mixed reactions to her richly costumed Marie Antoinette. The overall effect was to be "sweet and genuine but without being sappy." For the visual style she discussed Bruce Weber's Hollywood portraits and Helmut Newton's photographs of models at the Chateau Marmont, and Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), a film by Chantal Akerman about the routine of a Belgian housewife, with Harris Savides, the cinematographer. He said, "The main thing was to tell the story really simply and let it play out in long beats and have the audience discover the moment." Coppola used the lenses that her father had used to film Rumble Fish (1983) in an effort to give the film a more period look, although it is set in the present.
Filming took place in Los Angeles and Italy in June and July 2009. In a feature for The New York Times website, Coppola discussed making the scene when Marco visits a special effects studio. She said she initially was unsure of how to approach it, but Savides did a long, slow zoom which captures his breathing and creates a sense of claustrophobia. Despite many takes, Dorff was a "good sport", she said. The sound of the phone ringing was added by Sarah Flack, the editor, to indicate that Marco has been forgotten.
Music Phoenix, a French rock band, contributed to the film's score. The band's singer Thomas Mars is Coppola's husband whom she met when he contributed to a song by Air on the soundtrack to her debut film The Virgin Suicides (1999). She liked the Phoenix songs "Love Like a Sunset Part I" and "Love Like a Sunset Part II" and requested the band do similar music for the film. In 2010 the film score for Somewhere was announced, but remains unreleased.
Track listing "Love Like a Sunset Part I" – Phoenix "Gandhi Fix" – William Storkson "My Hero" – Foo Fighters "So Lonely" – The Police "1 Thing" – Amerie "20th Century Boy" – T. Rex "Cool" – Gwen Stefani "Che si fa" – Paolo Jannacci "Teddy Bear" – Romulo "Love Theme From Kiss" – Kiss "I'll Try Anything Once" – Julian Casablancas "Look" – Sebastien Tellier "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" – Bryan Ferry "Massage Music" – William Storkson "Love Like a Sunset Part II" – Phoenix
Themes and interpretation Celebrity ennui Coppola's early films examine feminine self-definition and maturation, usually in privileged circumstance. Lost in Translation (2003) depicts an encounter and brief friendship between two lonely Americans in a luxurious Tokyo hotel; Marie Antoinette (2006), a stylized biopic of the eponymous queen, examined her loneliness. Somewhere examines similar themes of success and isolation, but from a male perspective. The film explores Marco's seclusion and depression despite his outward professional success and the resulting wealth and fame. He appears to suffer from anhedonia, the inability to feel pleasure, but the film itself is reticent in suggesting its causes. "He believes he's nothing", summarized film critic Roger Ebert, "and it appears he's correct". The film's opening shot, a Ferrari circling a race-track in and out of a stationary camera position, its whine and roar rising and falling, establishes the theme of ennui. The sequence's length also offers a visual cue from Coppola to relax, observe and withhold expectations. Coppola said she wanted to hint at this with a simple camera set-up, "so you're alone with this guy and not aware that it's a movie. But I hope it's a welcome contrast to the style of most movies out there. Something that gives you a chance to take a breath".
The Chateau Marmont, a well-known retreat for Hollywood celebrities, is the film's setting and can be "either a paradise of easy wish-fulfillment or a purgatory of celebrity anomie" (A.O. Scott), but Coppola subtly conveys the emptiness of Marco's situation without denying its appeal. Coppola has stayed at the hotel, and said "I've seen a few Johnny Marcos"; in contrast, writing the part of the daughter, she drew on childhood experiences with her director father, Francis Ford Coppola, such as attending film festivals, though she denied the film was autobiographical. Coppola said that cultural depictions of fame are unbalanced, and at a time when so many strive for it she is trying to show a different side of it.
Parenthood Coppola mentioned that the parental angle was inspired by the birth of her second child. As the film progresses the "tender and temporary" father–daughter relationship comes to the fore. Marco has partial custody of his daughter from a failed marriage. Ebert speculates that she probably understands the reasons for the split better than he, and wonders why the child must suffer his hedonism and "detached attempts at fatherhood". In some ways Cleo—having grown up inside the Hollywood bubble—mothers her father, cooking for him and being more worldly aware, but she also watches him with the wide-eyed adoration of a child.
Comedy of show business