Sofia Coppola Got ‘Scolded’ at ‘Lost in Translation’ Premiere by Spike Jonze’s Friend Michel Gondry, Who ‘Apologized’; She’s Never Watched ‘Her’

variety.com:

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Fresh off the world premiere of her last directorial effort, “Priscilla,” at the Venice Film Festival (where star Cailee Spaeny won best actress), Sofia Coppola joined Rolling Stone to reflect on the 20th anniversary of her beloved “Lost in Translation.” Coppola, whose script for “Lost in Translation” won the Oscar for original screenplay, partly used the dissolution of her marriage to fellow director Spike Jonze as inspiration for the film, which follows a college graduate (Scarlett Johansson) who accompanies her celebrity photographer boyfriend (Giovanni Ribisi) on a trip to Tokyo.

While he’s out flirting with a Hollywood actress (Anna Farris), she befriends a faded movie star (Bill Murray) who’s in town to shoot a commercial.

Since the film premiered in 2023, viewers have associated Johansson’s character with Coppola and Ribisi’s with Jonze. Coppola remembered Michel Gondry — who directed “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” written by Charlie Kaufman who also penned Jonze’s “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation” — scolding her at the “Lost in Translation” premiere out of support for Jonze. “He apologized to me about that,” Coppola said about Gondry. “He scolded me at my premiere, but he apologized.

I think he was being a good friend. He thought he was defending Spike, but he was putting me down at my premiere. It came out of him trying to be a good friend to Spike.” Variety reached out to Gondry’s rep for additional comment.