Wouldn’t You Like to Be a Coppola, Too?
I have disturbing news. It has been brought to my attention that Jason Swartzman, the guy who plays opposite Steve Martin as Claire Danes’ love interest in the movie Shopgirl, is … a Coppola. Yes, folks, it’s true. Don’t let the name (Schwartzman) fool you. He’s part of the clan; he is the son of “Yo Adrian!” Talia Shire so that makes him the nephew of her brother, Francis Ford Coppola. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the Coppolas as much as the next guy, but it kind of freaks me out that there are just so many of them. How is it even possible that one family can be that large? Can you imagine their family reunions? I mean, really, who isn’t a Coppola these days?
It’s like that game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Do you know it? It’s based on the premise that Kevin Bacon is connected to every single Hollywood actor by no more than six degrees of separation. Think of an actor. Got one? Okay, the probability that the actor has either been in a movie with Kevin Bacon, or has been in a movie with someone who’s been in a movie with (… yada yada … ) Kevin Bacon is, supposedly, 100%. Denzel Washington was in a A Soldier’s Story with David Alan Grier who was in The Woodsman with Kevin Bacon. Jennifer Aniston was in Picture Perfect with Kevin Bacon; her ex-husband, Brad Pitt, was in Sleepers with him. You get the point. So, now, back to the Coppolas. For them, I swear the degrees of separation are reduced to almost, well, nothing.
Everyone is a Coppola! (Either that, or they can be directly linked to a Coppola.) Kirsten Dunst? She starred in Virgin Suicides with a Coppola, Jason Schwartzman’s brother, Robert Schwartzman. Nicolas Cage? That’s easy. He is a Coppola. He’s Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew because he’s the son of his brother, August Coppola. Ben Stiller? Barbara Streisand? Ben Affleck? Billy Bob Thornton? They all worked directly with cinematographer John Schwartzman who did movies like Meet the Fockers, Seabiscuit, Pearl Harbor and Armageddon. John is a Coppola because he’s Jason Schwartzman’s half-brother. Halle Berry? She presented at this year’s Gloden Globes with Patricia Arquette. Patricia used to be a Coppola; she’s Nic Cage’s (1st) ex-wife … which reminds me … For crying out loud, even Elvis Presley belonged to the Coppola Clan! Technically, at one point, the King would have been Nic Cage’s father-in-law because Nic was married to his daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.
Coppolas. They are everywhere. Don’t believe me? Let’s test it. Throw any actor at me and we’ll see if I can link that person to a Coppola using only one or two people. Come on, try me. Give me a name … any name …
November 28th, 2005 at 9:10 am
Any name? How about Isabelle Adjani?
November 28th, 2005 at 9:43 am
Oooh, you picked a hard one! Although Isabelle Adjani has been in a lot of international films, she’s not really that well-known stateside. (Most Americans would probably only know her from that Sharon Stone flick, Diabolique.)
I can connect her to the Copolla Clan through Gerard Depardieu. Isabelle and Gerard were in Bon Voyage together and Gerard was in CQ with not one, but two Coppolas: Jason Schwartzman and his cousin Sophia Coppola.
Sheesh, this first one was a tough one. Anyone else got a name for me? How about your favorite actor / actress?
November 28th, 2005 at 11:38 am
Hilarious. How about Aishwarya Rai?
November 28th, 2005 at 12:08 pm
How about Peter Fonda?
It’s funny but I can connect myself to Kevin Bacon as I was a paid extra in the Tommy Lee Jones biopic “Cobb” based on the life of baseball’s Ty Cobb.
November 28th, 2005 at 12:58 pm
Anhoni Patel: Aishwarya Rai? Good one! (A very pretty one, too, I might add.)
Hmmm … Let’s see … a Coppola connection … Aishwarya Rai is in Bride & Prejudice, right? (I met her at the Chicago International Film Festival when Chokher Bali opened there.)
Okay, Francis Ford Coppola directed Apocalypse Now. Martin Sheen is in that movie and he’s also in a movie called … [drum roll please, because damn I’m good] … Gandhi. Aishwarya Rai starred in several different films with several different actors that appear in Gandhi.
Tonito Bandito: YOU WERE AN EXTRA IN A MOVIE?!?!?!?!! OMG! Why didn’t you tell me? I love you even more today than I did in previous days.
And, by the way … Peter Fonda? Too easy. He’s Bridget Fonda’s dad; Bridget was in the Godfather Trilogy which is directed by Francis Ford Coppola and stars every single Coppola under the sun.
November 28th, 2005 at 1:35 pm
How about Holly Hunter?
Just watched Piano again so first name that comes to mind!
November 28th, 2005 at 1:54 pm
Trivia Question:
In which movie does Holly Hunter say the line: “Give me back that baby, you wart-hog from hell!”
Answer:
Raising Arizona*
*In the film, Holly Hunter co-stars with Nic Cage, a Coppola.
November 28th, 2005 at 2:08 pm
ok–I give up. Who’s Jason Schwartzman and why doesn he have that look on his face??
November 28th, 2005 at 2:49 pm
Bloody hell…do you KNOW all this or are you sneaking into IMDB?!
Either way, I’m impressed!
November 28th, 2005 at 3:09 pm
Missbhavens: Good point! I guess I should have explained who the guy is, huh? Jason Schwartzman is Claire Danes’ (younger) love interest in Shopgirl. He was also in Rushmore and I HEART HUCKABEES. In Rushmore he’s this totally geeky, ugly kid. So, when I saw him in I HEART HUCKABEES, I didn’t recognize him at first and then I thought: “Whew-wee! Baby grew up nice and goooood!!!!” He doesn’t always look like the photo posted. He’s looking even better and better these day; but, I suspect plastic surgery is involved …
Darwin: I support all of the visual and performing arts, but cinema is my absolute favorite. I’m not joking when I say that I’m a *HUGE* film buff. I’ve volunteered at a couple of film festival abroad; attended festivals in Europe, Canada and the US; freelanced on the PR campaign for an independent filmmaker’s award-winning short film; and I’m a Netflix junkie (current queue: 89; # of films seen over the years / rated: 672+). Wanna hear something slightly ironic? I don’t watch TV; I don’t even own a television.
November 28th, 2005 at 3:57 pm
Question is, who the hell is Jason Swartzman?
As for your challenge… how about Chinese flavour-of-the-month actress Zhang Ziyi (House of Flying Daggers, Crouching Tiger Hidden Drago and the upcoming Memoirs of a Geisha)?
November 28th, 2005 at 4:34 pm
I bow down to the Goddess of Movies and Movie Trivia!
How about Brittany Spears? I’m NOT a fan, but I just saw her on the cover of Star Magazine and I thought it might be a challenge…
Oh, you don’t own a TV? What’s all your furniture pointed at?*
I just realized, you don’t have a TV so you might not get the Friends reference…
November 28th, 2005 at 4:41 pm
Well, I’m impressed to say the least.
How about Daniel Radcliff (Harry Potter)?
November 28th, 2005 at 5:15 pm
JAY Jason Schwartman is the younger of Claire Danes’ two love interests in the movie Shopgirl; I saw it recently and that’s what inspired this post … Now for our dear, sweet, tiny, little Ziyi Zhang. How could you not love this actress? I was living in the Netherlands at the time that I agreed to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. A friend and I entered the show, the lights went down, the movie started and then it hit me. Damn! Mandarin spoken. Dutch subtitles. (I still need to rent the English-subtitled DVD so that I can catch the 63% of the movie that I missed.) But, back to the Coppolas … I had to think about this for a while but, believe it or not, Ziyi Zhang is only two people away from the Greatgrandaddy of the Coppolla Clan, Francis Ford Copolla himself. She plays the role of Sayuri in Memoirs of a Geisha, right? Well, Memoirs is directed by Rob Marshall [person 1]. He’s the guy that directed Richard Gere [person 2] in Chicago. Gere stars in a boatload of movies including one written, directed and produced by G-daddy Coppolla, The Cotton Club.
Mama Christy: Brittany Spears isn’t an actress, so she doesn’t count. :) … Re the TV: I’ve only been TV-free for less than a year. I used to be a junky, so I’ve seen all of the Friends episodes.
goldennib: Yuck!!! Daniel Radcliff? Oh how I hate that kid. I hate Harry Potter, period. The only good thing about the Harry Potter movies is that Alfonso Cuarón directed one of them. Cuarón became one of my favorite directors after I saw Y tu mamá también. GREAT FILM, one of my all-time favorites!!! Anyway, Cuarón also directed the film Great Expectations which starts Robert DeNiro. (DeNiro was in Coppola’s movie, The Godfather.) Daniel Radcliff = Alfonso Cuarón = Robert DeNiro = Francis Ford Coppola. I only needed two connecting people, but new rule: NO MORE HARRY POTTER. I’m serious. I hate Harry Potter.
November 28th, 2005 at 6:20 pm
Stolie – I am impressed by your connectivity.
I wish I could give up TV – hard to do when the whole family, including the cat, is addicted.
I am really hurt you don’t like DR (I won’t say his name so I don’t upset you.) He’s got to be one of this century’s finest Act – tors.
November 28th, 2005 at 7:18 pm
Great post!
How about Gene Wilder?
November 28th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
Instead of trying to “Stump Stolie,” I’m going to pull a name out of the air and say “Philip Seymour Hoffman.”
As for “Six Degrees of Coppola,” I think “Six Degrees of Baldwin” is another no-brainer.
And this is weird. I was also blogging about an Elvis connection today. Huh.
November 28th, 2005 at 9:30 pm
Fair enough, Stolie. Brittany Spears may have been in a horrible movie, but that doesn’t make her an actress!
November 28th, 2005 at 10:15 pm
golden nib: Thanks for the compliment! And, about kicking the TV habit? Try it. It’s liberating.
sethro: There is a direct Coppola connection via Richard Pryor, but I like this one better: In the movie Adaptation, Nic Cage looks like Gene Wilder. Frizzy blonde hair. Big eyes. So, Spike Jonze directed Adaptation, right? Who’s Spike Jonze’ ex-wife? Sofia Coppola. Does “looks like” Gene Wilder count? Of course it does, silly. It’s my game and I make the rules :)
Andy: What a wonderful actor! In Along Came Polly, PSH plays the role of Ben Stiller’s best friend. Remember? PSH tells Stiller to spank his girlfriend and says something like, “some women are into that.” Later that night, Stiller tries it out. He spanks his girlfriend, but she gets pissed off. So, the next day, Stiller complains to PSH: “you said women like that!” PSH’s response? “No, I said some women like that. Some women are offended by it.” Classic. Very funny movie! (See original post for Ben Stiller’s Coppola connection; also, PSH was in Spike Lee’s movie 25th Hour and there’s a Coppola connection that way, too.)
mama Christy: Whoa, Wait a minute. Are you serious? Britney Spears has been in a movie?!?!!?! Who gave that woman an acting role? Wow. Kudos to you for finding a movie that I didn’t even know existed! Hmmm … since I haven’t seen the Britney movie(s?), I’d have to connect her to the Coppolas via J-Lo. Brit & J-Lo have been in a bunch of MTV shows together and J-Lo’s husband, Marc Anthony, is in Bringing Out the Dead, a pitiful movie, with Nic Cage.
November 29th, 2005 at 12:04 am
Okay, time for a new entry. Although this post — as all others — will remain on this site; the Coppola game is officially over.
November 30th, 2005 at 9:54 am
I know it’s over but I can’t help adding, Sofia Coppola also directed The Virgin Suicides. The whole connection is mad.
February 24th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
It’s crazy isn’t it?!?!
December 8th, 2008 at 1:46 am
i fell in love after my mom had seen marie anoinett with jason. than i thougt i should thrwe a second eye. and heard his music. i was a fan. so a last actor wich is my love since i was 6 years old
marilyn monroe
April 27th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
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May 20th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I don’t normally post, but this reminded me of the recent news with the CEO of Craigslist wanting for an apology from the AG of South Carolina. Always something happening with CL and things in the news.
June 28th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Great read, nice post :)
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Thoughtful post and well written. Please write more on this if you have time.
July 19th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Anybody know if I wanted to bookmark your blog do I have to set-up an account for Yahoo Buzz?
September 28th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
[...] hung around here for a while (and/or know me personally), you’re familiar with my love of film and you’re likely aware I used to work international affairs before moving to New York and [...]
October 4th, 2009 at 2:04 am
Hey guys, I was searching the web today and came up on a few corporate websites that I was able to get in quite easily. I’m awesome! So I went in and found a bunch of Google Wave invites for their employees just sitting there. I gave away 13 of these to all my friends already and there are a few left. I don’t want to get in trouble by listing the steps up here, if you want one, shoot me an email to stevencruisest@gmail.com. BTW, it’s not that easy to do this, I’ll have to talk you through it. But I can only do a few, so when you get one then you need to go on and help others in getting another. Spread the goods around.