Gia Coppola – Success is in her name

For cinema lovers new talent, especially in the way of edgy directors, is hot and exciting news. The Coppola family name has become synonymous with groundbreaking artistic work in cinema and it certainly seems as if this momentous storytelling is in their blood.

Enter Gia Coppola – the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, the pioneer of this genius family. She is the daughter of Gian-Carlo Coppola, a film producer, the eldest child of Francis Ford Coppola, and also the older brother to Roman and Sofia. Roman Ford Coppola, Gia’s uncle, is an American film and music video director, who was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his 2012 film, Moonrise Kingdom.

The other well-known female in the Coppola family is Sofia Coppola, who has stunned Hollywood with her intuitive eye and mesmerizing filmmaking skills. She is a successful and acclaimed screenwriter, director, producer and actress. In 2003, she won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for her film Lost in Translation, starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, and she also became the third (and the first American) woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.

And did you know that Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage, also known as Nicolas Kim Coppola, is the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola and had changed his name to make his own way in the film business?

With a family like this, it would be hard not to follow in the footsteps of such accomplishment and trademark brilliance. Gia has now also captivated Hollywood with her debut film offering, Palo Alto. The film is an adaption of actor James Franco’s collection of short stories of the same title and premiered in the “Orizzonti” section of the 70^th Venice International Film Festival, as well as the 38^th Toronto International Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado. The film stars James Franco, Emma Roberts and Val Kilmer and tells the story of a group of menacing teens with a weakness for trouble.

This maiden work of Gia has been cited to have many similarities with Sofia’s film The Virgin Suicides for its technique and scope. Palo Alto has been picked up by Tribeca Films for distribution with a release date in May 2014. Whether or not the film fares well critically or at the box office, Gia definitely doesn’t have to worry about finding a place to fit in as the Coppola name unquestionably has a home in Hollywood already.