Marie Antoinette

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Coppola: My friend told me that a lot of moms and pre-teen daughters watch it together as a sort of tradition. There was a screening a few years ago where I got to watch it on a big screen with my daughter, and it was so gratifying to see it through her eyes and how into it she was. Katz: I was pissed off. I told our publicist, “You’ve gotta get a hold on this, nothing happened the way it’s being reported.” We had people jump to their feet and give us a standing ovation at the premiere, so I was upset that it got lost because of something so petty as a few boos at a press screening. Coppola: A lot of friends came to visit, like Marc [Jacobs] and Anna [Sui]. Pedro Almodóvar was in Paris hanging out with Wes Anderson, so I invited them over too. We were just so excited to show everything off at Versailles. Having read numerous books about the French Revolution, amongst my favourites is this fascinating biography of Lucie Dillon – who became Lucie du la Tour du Pin – by Caroline Morehead. I unhesitatingly recommend it, certain that, from Morehead’s striking presentation, most readers will experience a keen sense of what it was like to live during the twilight of the Ancien Régime, and thence on, into and through the nightmare that followed. As an Irish-French aristocrat, whose father commanded the regiment of the Irish Brigade of France that bore the family’s name, whilst her mother was a lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette, Lucie was in a singular position to observe and chronicle the tragic upheaval. Married for political reasons at the age of 14, Marie Antoinette was naive, impetuous, and ill-equipped for the role in which history cast her. From her birth in Vienna in 1755 through her turbulent, unhappy marriage, the bloody turmoil of the French Revolution, her trial for high treason during which she was accused of incest, and her final beheading, Marie Antoinette's life was the tragic tale of disastrous circumstances colliding.

At the end of filming, the wigmakers gifted Jason Schwartzman an 18th-century wig for his dog, Arrow. Photo: Courtesy of Desiree Corridoni “It Needed to Sound Organic”I am perhaps more familiar with – and fonder of – Marie Antoinette than I am of any other historical personage. Emersed in French history since an early age, I have had a near-lifetime fascination for this complicated woman – who never said, “Let them eat cake!” But by the time she took the throne, everything had changed. In Queen of Fashion, Caroline Weber tells of the radical restyling that transformed the young queen into an icon and shaped the future of the nation. With her riding gear, her white furs,… The increasing unpopularity of Marie Antoinette in the final years before the outbreak of the French Revolution also likely influenced many to attribute the phrase to her. During her marriage to Louis XVI, her critics often cited her perceived frivolousness and very real extravagance as factors that significantly worsened France's dire financial straits. [8] Her Austrian birth and her gender also diminished her credibility further in a country where xenophobia and chauvinism were beginning to exert major influence in national politics. [9] While the causes of France's economic woes extended far beyond the royal family's spending, anti-monarchist polemics demonized Marie Antoinette as Madame Déficit, who had single-handedly ruined France's finances. [10] These libellistes printed stories and articles vilifying her family and their courtiers with exaggerations, fictitious anecdotes, and outright lies. In the tempestuous political climate, it would have been a natural slander to put the famous words into the mouth of the widely scorned queen. Nighy: Some of the dialogue was scripted, but Sofia left quite a lot of space in the script for improvisation. There were lots of descriptions that said “In X conversation, Y is said.” Sofia would just throw us into environments like the masked ball and start filming. Lance and his camera seemed incredibly discreet and very fluid throughout filming, which really allowed the actors to feel un-self-conscious.

Coppola: I thought it’d be weird if everyone spoke with some Ye Olde Mid-Atlantic tone. I thought as long as nobody was speaking French, everyone might as well just speak with their preferred accent. It’s kind of a mish-mosh, and was maybe a weird decision at the time, but that was my thinking. Coppola: Amy was totally behind me. She pursued the project so adamantly and was willing to give me the budget to make it the way I wanted. She totally got it, whereas some straight guy at another studio maybe wouldn’t have. “I’d Do Anything for Sofia” Dunst: Getting to work with Molly was such a huge deal to me because I was the biggest SNL fan in the world. Sofia is so good at casting people who work well off of each other. The cast was her reimagining of what the court would look and feel like at that time – there’s the funny one, that one’s the gossip, she’s the mean girl. It was like high school at Versailles. Kate Mulleavy, Rodarte co-founder: Sofia has always made such personal films, and Marie Antoinette is one of our favourites. I remember seeing the film in a Paris theatre and just being captivated by [Dunst’s] performance and the whole world Sofia created. I knew I had seen something completely iconic. I love reading novels that take me to another time, place, or adventure (an antithesis to my 30-year career as a professor teaching physiology & pathophysiology to medical and nursing students). I read for entertainment and variety. As an author, I write books I'd like to read! Drawn to history, I've written five historical romances—a woman of courage, intellect, and compassion at the heart of each. I've authored two contemporary espionage thrillers with a woman as the protagonist. I enjoy stepping out of the bounds of empiricism in my novels, blending genres, and stretching the imagination.Upon her arrival in Versailles, Marie Antoinette lived in the Queen’s State Apartment and was bound by the official rituals of her royal position: the waking-up ceremony, the elaborate preparations, royal audiences, public meals, etc. Having grown up with the less elaborate ceremonial routine of Austria’s royal palaces, she had a hard time adapting to Versailles’ complex etiquette and tried to seek out a more private life. Surrounded by a circle of friends whom she had chosen herself (although not always wisely), she preferred to remain in her Private Chambers, located behind her State Apartments and which she hoped to extend into the floor above, and in the Petit Trianon, built by Louis XV and given to her as a gift by Louis XVI on his accession.