Roman Coppola on Life, Love, And - A glimpse inside the mind of charles swan iii

[MUSIC PLAYING] SAUL: You got any whiskey? KIRBY STAR: Ah la la! EDDY MORETTI: Hi, Roman. ROMAN COPPOLA: Hey. EDDY MORETTI: Thanks for sitting down. ROMAN COPPOLA: It's my pleasure. EDDY MORETTI: OK. Where did the inspiration for "Charles Swan III" come from? ROMAN COPPOLA: It came from a few places. I had done "CQ," which is a film I'm very proud of. But the main character is very internalized, and he's not a very outgoing or dynamic person. Having done that, it would be fun to do a contrasting kind of character study, and just have a character just balls out, just showy and flashy and full of verve and panache. EDDY MORETTI: So Charles is kind of-- he's just been dumped. And he and the people around him like Saul, the business manager, and Jason's character, they all represent parts of a man's relationship with women and perspective on love. ROMAN COPPOLA: Yeah. EDDY MORETTI: And Saul's character has this amazing line, something like, desire is as close as I'm going to get to happiness. SAUL: I want to be free to lay whatever girl who might be interested in an old, balding business manager. CHARLES SWAN III: You ever stop wanting the sexy young ones? SAUL: Mm. Desire is about as close to happiness as I'm going to get. EDDY MORETTI: How do you feel about that perspective on love and desire? ROMAN COPPOLA: Well, the movie doesn't have any answers or definitive statements. It's sort of an exploration of those notions. And it speaks to this thing of there's a beautiful thing when people come together that is so joyous. And there's the difficulty of maintaining a relationship. It's just a fact of life from time immemorial. IVANA: I can't believe this is how you treat me! [SOBBING] EDDY MORETTI: Your first film, "CQ," was set in the '60s more or less. And this film is set in the '70s. Do you draw inspiration from those periods? And what's wrong with today? ROMAN COPPOLA: I am someone who is nostalgic, I guess. And a lot of the things that I'm drawn to in my adult life are things that I have a connection with as a kid. I think both "CQ" and this recent film, "Charles Swan," they were both set in a time that was very vibrant and very vivid to me as a kid. -Not these two turkeys again. What did they do this time? CHARLES SWAN III: Just pour your phone number into my coffee. KIRBY STAR: Look at me. Don't break eye contact. It's bad luck. CHARLES SWAN III: Well, if I can't get your phone number, then you should take mine. -Go hot. -Coordinates 3-2-niner. -Prepare to fire. -Roger. Standing by. -And fire! ROMAN COPPOLA: Those impressions that you have, at least for me, really, really resonate and are very interesting. And in terms of "Charles Swan," I wanted to tell a story in this kind of visual style from the mid-'70s graphic design. It's so playful. It's fun. It's sexy. It's kind of carefree. I don't think I'm too obsessed in an unhealthy way, but I'm just drawn to that. EDDY MORETTI: It does feel like a lot of these scenes were heard before they were written, at least. ROMAN COPPOLA: Definitely. EDDY MORETTI: Does music really inspire you? ROMAN COPPOLA: It does. My tastes are kind of narrow in that when I was preparing this movie, I listened pretty much exclusively, and that's not an exaggeration, to Liam Hayes' music. EDDY MORETTI: Right. ROMAN COPPOLA: That was the soundtrack of that time. When I heard "Whose Blues," which is the lead track on "Fed," which appears in the film, that had all the DNA of this movie in that song. EDDY MORETTI: Oh, wow. ROMAN COPPOLA: Because it's the sequence where he's gathering all the stuff up, the shoes, putting them in the bag. And there's this kind of melancholy, very intimate sound that the music expresses. Very internalized. [MUSIC -- LIAM HAYES, "WHOSE BLUES"] ROMAN COPPOLA: And then there's a transition. And in the movie, the garage door opens, the car pulls out, and it's like-- [MUSIC -- LIAM HAYES, "WHOSE BLUES"] ROMAN COPPOLA: And that's the other side of this movie. And that song, to me-- when I heard that, I was like, oh, I want to make the movie for that song. And I think my work doing music videos probably relates to that somehow. And the movie is a bunch of little episodes and little moments and glimpses. And I tried to tell a story in a kind of kaleidoscopic way that was more-- you had a very free-form style that was able to go anywhere. And the state of mind that you can get into when you're in a break-up situation can be very confusing and distressing. Your emotions can go-- you can still be in love, you can hate someone, and all these kind of contrasting things that you're sort of flailing around. I thought it would be fun to portray that state of mind in the form of a movie. -OK. It looks like about 70% of your brain, this whole region here, is concerned pretty much exclusively with sex. You're using about 20% of what remains on your desire for power and money. This small section here is used to deal with bodily functions and also manage your affairs. CHARLES SWAN III: Affairs? ROMAN COPPOLA: I like diversity, and so you want to--and I think "CQ" has this, maybe to a fault, where I like black and white, I like action scenes, I like dramatic scenes. I like so many things, I just try to put it all in there. And so I'm kind of like that in my work. I like the scene-- like the Western scene has a lot of cuts and B camera. CHARLES SWAN III: Ivana, can't we just talk? [GROANING] I'm hit. ROMAN COPPOLA: And then another scene just takes its time to let a scene play. [MACHINE BEEPING] -Do-do, do-do. CHARLES SWAN III: Go ahead and unplug it. I don't want to live. EDDY MORETTI: The film is visually gorgeous, and the script is excellent. The writing's great. And you've been recognized as a great writer. Where did the written word come for you in the history of your career? ROMAN COPPOLA: It's interesting, because I don't really see myself as a writer. So when I've written things, in the case of my film, I'm really writing more as a filmmaker. Like, oh, I want to make this movie. And so I'm not really thinking about the word. In fact, a lot of times when I was directing on the set, I wasn't even referring to the script, because I was operating the camera. I didn't even have it. And then I would go home and say, oh ***, I forgot to do something, because I wasn't paying attention to the script. So the script to me is not precious or any kind of goal unto itself. EDDY MORETTI: Why Charlie Sheen? And how did that work out? ROMAN COPPOLA: I wrote the thing without thinking of Charlie at all. It was just something I was working on and cooking up. And I had a sense of this guy-- a certain age, handsome, a little getting into that next chapter of life. And then as I was just finishing the writing, it so happened that a mutual friend put us together on the phone. I had known Charlie as a boy during "Apocalypse Now." We were kids together. And that friendship we had over those months in the Philippines, he was my pal. He was my buddy. And I think anyone who has a friend from that age, it just doesn't go away. So I had that sense of camaraderie with him, or friendship. And I realized that he would be great for this movie. So I approached him. And this is all prior to the very public kind of stuff. And he was interested but a little trepidatious in that it was a challenging role, and he had to do a lot of stuff-- dance, speak Spanish, do it. EDDY MORETTI: He nails it. ROMAN COPPOLA: Yeah. And all that stuff. So he was sort of pushing back. And during all that kind of public stuff, I just never wavered in my belief that he would do a fantastic job. And I think he does. And I thought it was kind of outrageous that there's this kind of presumption about-- you read something in a tabloid and sort of don't understand. So he's my friend, and so I defend him in that regard. But also, he's my colleague and a very talented one and a very loyal one. So I feel that loyalty towards him. So anyway, I'm very proud of his performance. EDDY MORETTI: His farewell speech to her is like the oddest and strangest farewell speech, because he's not begging to be with her. It's almost like he's nostalgic about the idea of their love and sad about the fact that they won't be in love anymore. CHARLES SWAN III: You know, Ivana, I was thinking. It's kind of a sad thought. I'll meet someone, and it won't be you. And I'll fall in love with her, and I'll have kids and a happy family. And I won't love you like this anymore. And I'll miss it. And I'll miss you. EDDY MORETTI: Where did that particular speech come from, writing-wise? ROMAN COPPOLA: I was involved with a break-up that just kind of was over. And there was no scene like that. So in a way, it probably-- being honest, was a little bit of a chance to write the scene that never happened. CHARLES SWAN III: Goodbye. EDDY MORETTI: You're not dark. Your world view on life and love and the inevitability of heartbreak and failure and re-loving someone new seems to be almost something that you embrace and celebrate. And ultimately, the film, it ends with this amazing, I'm going to throw the whole, everything including the kitchen sink at this last scene, where all of the characters are there. And it's a celebration. Everyone turns to the camera and does that awesome farewell to the audience. CHARLES SWAN III: I'm Charlie Sheen, and I played Charles Swan III. KIRBY STAR: I'm Jason Schwartzman, and I play Kirby Star! IVANA: I'm Katheryn Winnick, and I play Ivana. SAUL: I'm Bill Murray. I play Saul. IZZY: I'm Patricia Arquette. I play Izzy. LIAM HAYES: I'm Liam Hayes, and I wrote the music. ROMAN COPPOLA: I'm glad that you feel that way about the ending. I recognize the things that are dark and unpleasant and cause suffering at the same time. That's no reason to get down. There's so many beautiful things to celebrate. [MUSIC PLAYING]