Even Sofia Coppola is having a tough time getting her projects greenlit by streaming giants. In an interview with The New York Times, the filmmaker revealed that her past collaborator, Apple TV, axed her series because they didn’t want an “unlikeable woman” as the protagonist. (Also Read: Priscilla trailer: Sofia Coppola charts the troubled love story of Elvis Presley. Watch)
What Sofia said
“The idea of an unlikable woman wasn’t their thing. But that’s what I’m saying about who’s in charge,” Sofia said in the interview, explaining why Apple TV gradually started reducing the budget of the five-hour limited series.
What was the series about?
Sophia’s series was an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s 1913 novel The Custom of the Country, which follows Undine Spragg, a social climber who makes her rich parents abandon the Midwest and relocate to New York. Once in NYC, she seduces an influential, young man to marriage. However, her greed and ambition come back to suffer her relationship.
Sofia’s past collaboration with Apple TV
Sofia has previously directed the 2020 dramedy On The Rocks for Apple TV. The film starred Rashida Jones and Bill Murray as a daughter-father duo, where Bill’s womanising character and a regretful dad suggests his daughter that her husband is cheating on her under the pretence of overtiming at work. She gives in only to realise her father’s theory stems more from his regret than her husband’s potential unfaithfulness. The film released to largely positive reviews.
Interestingly, once Sofia dropped the idea of her series adaptation of The Custom of the Country, she turned to reading Priscilla Presley’s 1985 memoir Elvis and Me: The True Story of the Love Between Priscilla Presley and the King of Rock N’ Roll. She then reached out to Priscilla, bought the rights of the book, and has now directed a film adaptation with Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi as the titular characters. The film is slated to release in US cinemas on November 3.
