Sofia Coppola Still Hasn’t Watched Ex-Husband Spike Jonze’s ‘Her’, Which Is Based On Their Divorce: “I Don’t Know If I Want To See Rooney Mara As Me”

In 2003, Sofia Coppola cemented herself as an independent filmmaker with Lost in Translation, a dreamy feature that is believed to be loosely based on her former marriage to director Spike Jonze. Though she recently had much to say about the film on its 20th anniversary, the filmmaker did not have as much to offer about her ex-husband’s response to it, which came in the form of the 2013 feature Her.

“I never saw it!” she admitted in an interview with Rolling Stone. She added that the film appeared to even have a similar look to Lost in Translation, considering they both worked with production designer K.K. Barrett. “From the trailer, it looks the same too. We have the same production designer. But I haven’t seen it.”

She continued with a laugh, “I know people really like that movie, but I haven’t seen it. I don’t know if I want to see Rooney Mara as me.”

Lost in Translation follows a young woman, played by then-17-year-old Scarlett Johansson, who travels to Tokyo with her aloof boyfriend who is more interested in working and hanging out with a young starlet (Anna Faris, rumored to be playing an exaggerated version of Cameron Diaz) than he is in keeping her company. She soon finds herself striking up an unlikely bond with Bob Harris, played by Bill Murray.

Jonze and Coppola got a divorce just months after Lost in Translation made a splashy debut at Venice Film Festival in 2003.

Many were quick to point out that the main character’s boyfriend, played by Giovanni Ribisi, was likely based on Coppola’s then-husband Jonze, which later led some cinephiles to believe Jonze’s 2013 romance Her was his way of sharing his side of the story.

In the film, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) forms an intimate relationship with an operating system (which was ironically voiced by Johansson) after going through a brutal breakup from his partner (Mara).

Coppola has since confirmed many’s suspicions that the aloof partner in the story was based on Jonze. “It wasn’t a slight at anyone in particular. But the character of the husband, I was just married and trying to figure it out, so that relationship was based on what I was going through at the time,” she told The Daily Beast in 2013.

Others also speculated that the bubbly young actress in Lost in Translation, played by Anna Farris, was meant to be a dig at Cameron Diaz.

“It really wasn’t based on her,” she said. “It was a combination of a bunch of people. It was a type, so it wasn’t a diss on her.”

Coppola’s next feature, Priscilla, is currently scheduled to release in theaters November 3, 2023.