Film royalty Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman conspire with YouTube virtuoso Graydon Sheppard of “Sh*t Girls Say” fame to create today’s videogram, which features the cousin duo bantering on love and obsession. Shooting six-second vignettes on the iPhones inspired by Twitter’s new mobile app Vine, Sheppard pays homage to Coppola’s latest feature A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, whose comic flavor hinges on absurdist amorous pursuits. The film stars Charlie Sheen as an unrepentant LA playboy who spirals out of control when his girlfriend leaves him and enlists the help and guidance of best friend Kirby Star—played by Schwartzman—to win her back in a 1970s-style romp complete with surreal revenge fantasies and winking parallels to Sheen’s own very public meltdown. A recent Academy Award nominee for Best Original Screenplay, Coppola is the son of polymath Francis Ford and brother of fellow filmmaker Sofia; Schwartzman, meanwhile, has made a name for himself starring in Wes Anderson films from Rushmore to Moonrise Kingdom, on which Roman collaborated, and cousin Sofia's Marie Antoinette. From major film production to casual smart phone clips, Coppola and Schwartzman know how to keep their sense of humor, while keeping it in the family. We caught up with Roman to go deeper into his amorous inspirations.
First serious kiss:
It was in Morocco. I was 16. The girl was an actress in a movie I was working on. We started off kissing through a piece of fabric—as a tease, she was holding back. Then, the real thing.
Favourite romantic exchange in movie:
Grace Kelly and Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window. Or a more cynical choice, from Gilda:
Johnny Farrell: I want to go with you, Gilda. Please take me. I know I did everything wrong...
Gilda: [sobbing] Isn't it wonderful? Nobody has to apologize, because we were both stinkers, weren't we? Isn't it wonderful?
Johnny Farrell: Wonderful.
Craziest thing you've ever done for love:
I can't think of anything too crazy.
Love song-cum-guilty pleasure:
“I melt with you,” by Modern English.