'Wanna relax?' - relax For Girls November 2001

A conversation with Sofia Coppola in Los Angeles.

We spent some time chatting about this and that in the backyard of Sofia Coppola’s home in Los Angeles.

Photos: Takashi Homma
Interview and text: Aya Muto

Aya Muto (AM): Did you take any classes other than film and photography when you were at Art Center in Los Angeles?

Sofia Coppola (S): Actually, when I first started art school, I was studying painting. I told a friend the other day that I’d been a painting major, and they just burst out laughing. I guess the idea of me painting, let alone majoring in it, was pretty funny to them.

AM: Do you still have any of your paintings?

S: Of course not! I don’t even like them myself. (Laughs.) I took one experimental film class at school. It was the kind of class where you watched lots of strange art films. That was interesting. But I didn’t really take any filmmaking classes, because I figured I could learn that from my family. I did take photography classes, though. Learning how to develop photographs and things like that was fun.

AM: There’s some footage you shot when you were really young included in the DVD extras for The Virgin Suicides.