Sofia Coppola and her aborted 200 million series: “Apple didn’t understand my heroine”

“Undine is particularly detestable. But so is Tony Soprano!” regrets the director.

During the promotion of Priscilla, Sofia Coppola told to New Yorker, his difficulties in carrying out his biopic project, having obtained less money than expected to stage it. Explaining at the same time that she loved the fact of working in independent cinema, a field which offers a certain freedom to artists, she still regretted the inequality of opportunities in Hollywood between female directors and their male colleagues, finding it unfair that they find financing more easily than women to shoot blockbusters. She added that she thought she could shoot a big-budget series for Apple herself. “The equivalent of five Marie-Antoinettes“, she joked about her historic show, which should therefore have cost around 200 million dollars, since her film carried by Kirsten Dunst in 2006, had a total budget of 40 million.

Taken from the novel byEdith Whartonthis series entitled The Custom of the Country would have followed Undine, an underprivileged woman from the beginning of the 20th century dreaming of joining Manhattan’s high society. The director would have approached Florence Pugh (Midsommar) for the role, but it was never confirmed, and for good reason: before even officially launching its casting, Apple canceled the series.

Because of its large budget? According to Sofia Coppola, there was above all a misunderstanding around its heroine. “Apple has failed us. They just canceled our funding,” she told the New Yorker. I was really disappointed because I thought they had endless resources.“

“They didn’t understand Undine Spragg, she adds. She is particularly detestable, but so is Tony Soprano!”

When the project was announced, she explained about the novel byEdith Wharton and its main character who thinks outside the box: “She’s my favorite anti-heroine in literature, I can’t wait to tell her story on screen.” She adds today, regarding the abandonment of the series: “I experienced it as a relationship in which you know deep down that you should have left a long time ago.“

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