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24 Winter 2015 25 Winter 2015 IT WAS AN OFFER SHE COULDN’T REFUSE. Improbably enough, Gia Cop- pola, granddaughter of uber-director Francis Ford Coppola, had never seen The Godfather films until James Franco sat her down and showed them to her last year. “Everybody in my family had seen them so many times, and I didn’t want to watch them by myself,” says the 27-year-old. What she didn’t anticipate was that the private screening would evolve into a collaboration. Franco, the actor and artiste-of-all-trades, was introduced to Gia in 2008 at an L.A. party by her mother, Jacqui Getty. It was Franco who not only encouraged Gia to watch great films— he prodded her to make them. In fact, after seeing some photos she’d taken, he entrusted her to adapt for the screen his teen-centric short story collection, Palo Alto. The movie, Gia’s feature film debut, premiered at the Telluride Film Festival before screening at the Venice, Tribeca, and San Francisco film festivals. Critical acclaim for the 100-minute coming-of-age story, which nods to such early-’80s touchstones as Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Valley Girl , was swift. Coppola’s strong work with her largely young cast—led by Emma Rob- erts (daughter of Eric; niece of Julia) and Jack Kilmer (son of Val)—anchors Palo Alto. And Franco, ever the trouper, con- tributes a fine turn as a lecherous school soccer coach. The film’s other adults are all in the family: Gia’s mother and, briefly, her great-aunt, Talia Shire (of Rocky and The Godfather fame). One half expects Nicholas Cage to raid one of the kids’ drug-and-booze-fueled house parties. When asked about working with Franco, Gia gushes like Emma Roberts’ character in the film, who becomes smitten I’m so weird—I like things a little bit unusual or random.” Though it’s clear from Palo Alto that Gia has her family’s knack for compelling storytelling, she also shares their com- mitment to another creative endeavor: winemaking. As a child, Gia spent idyl- lic summers in Napa with her grand- father and grandmother, Eleanor, at their Inglenook Winery (Gia’s father, Gian- Carlo Coppola, died in a boating accident shortly before she was born). “I’m very close with my grandfather,” she says. (So close, in fact, that when little Gia com- plained that he never made movies for kids, her grandfather made Jack espe- cially for her, in 1996.) The patriarch’s Napa home is still Gia’s favorite place. Gia also picks the grapes left after the harvest each year with Eleanor, and together they make grape jam. Recently, though, Gia has spent more time at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Sonoma, where her first line of wines, Gia by Gia Coppola, is produced. “I was taking on Gia wine when I had just finished Palo Alto,” she says. “Making wine is similar to movies. You have dif- ferent departments. It’s a collaboration.” The three wines (all of which retail for less than $20) are less about sniffing and swirling than sipping and chilling; they’re the opposite of pretentious. “I don’t try to be something I’m not,” she says. Modesty aside, with a debut assured enough to impress The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times—and her grandfather—will another film hit the fes- tival circuit before she turns 30? “I’d like to have a second movie completed by then,” she admits. “But Palo Alto took five years from start to finish, so I’d better get started—I’m running out of time.” FAMILY BUSINESS ( ES ) GIA COPPOLA KEEPS HER CLAN’S TRADITIONS—AND TASTES—ALIVE // BY MICHELE SHAPIRO ALEXEI HAY / TRUNK ARCHIVE by his side during the filming of 2011’s little-known Twixt. Before that experience, she’d hung out on the set of Dracula: “My grandpa had Gary Oldman in a bat suit come up to me and tap me on the shoulder. It was terrifying.” But Francis Ford wasn’t the only Coppola whose trade and work ethic rubbed off on Gia. She also logged time on the set with her aunt, director Sofia Coppola, working in the wardrobe depart- ment of Somewhere. “I learned so much from observing her,” Gia says. “I saw how she can be authoritative but true to her- self—not this big, forceful presence.” Even so, the weight of the family legacy is undeniable: “I’m the fifth generation of Coppolas to be in the film industry,” Gia notes. And though she describes Francis Ford as “excited” about her career, and says he’s there for her when she seeks advice, Gia, with characteristic self-depre- cation, says that both he and Sofia “think “MAKING WINE IS SIMILAR TO MOVIES. IT’S A COLLABORATION.” — GIA COPPOLA with Franco’s character: “He’s funny and super-nice and humble and really intel- ligent,” she says, adding that she’s work- ing on a few other screenplays and hopes to collaborate with Franco again. “I feel inspired by him. He’s totally fearless. It’s fun to learn from someone like that.” Though she studied photography at Bard College, Gia never attended film school. Instead, she learned the ropes from her grandfather, spending months INSPIRATIONS // ARTS ARTS // INSPIRATIONS
