A new documentary, ‘Making Marie Antoinette,’ directed by the late Eleanor Coppola, chronicles the making of Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film. The documentary utilizes 80 hours of behind-the-scenes footage shot during the original production and was completed by Sofia Coppola after her mother’s death as a tribute.
The film, which premiered at Cannes in 2006 and has seen a resurgence in appreciation, is the subject of Eleanor Coppola’s documentary. The raw footage remained unused for years, only partially appearing in the marketing campaign for ‘Marie Antoinette.’ Eleanor and Sofia Coppola began organizing the material during lockdown in 2020, with Sofia completing the project after Eleanor’s death in 2024, ensuring her mother received sole director credit.
The documentary showcases Eleanor Coppola’s unique perspective as the mother of the director, Sofia Coppola, an aunt to actor Jason Schwartzman, and a long-time acquaintance of Kirsten Dunst. This insider status allowed her to observe the challenges Sofia faced during the $40 million production, anxieties Sofia attempted to conceal. Eleanor captured details like the extensive hair and makeup process for extras and close-ups of actors’ shoes beneath period costumes, revealing her artistic eye.
While not as weighty as Eleanor Coppola’s 1993 documentary ‘Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse,’ which detailed the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Apocalypse Now,’ ‘Making Marie Antoinette’ offers a different kind of behind-the-scenes look. The film features Diane Lane voicing Eleanor Coppola’s diary entries from the time, and early shots show Eleanor reflected in the mirrors of Versailles while filming.
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