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In this author interview, I speak with Suzanne Ferriss whose first book about Sofia Coppola The Cinema of Sofia Coppola: Fashion, Culture, Celebrity was published in February 2021 and she edited The Bloomsbury Handbook to Sofia Coppola, which was published in early 2023. She joins me today to talk about her latest book, Lost in Translation from BFI Film Classics about Coppola’s film that celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Listen to hear about Suzanne’s approach to writing about Coppola’s work, the wealth of films she recommends, and thoughts on who might be a good fit to cast in Lost in Translation if it were made today.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
• The Bloomsbury Handbook to Sofia Coppola edited by Suzanne Ferriss
• Sofia Coppola: The Politics of Visual Pleasure by Anna Backman Rogers
• Sofia Coppola: A Cinema of Girlhood by Fiona Handyside
• The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
• The Overstory by Richard Powers
• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
• The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
• Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleshman

Films mentioned in this episode:

• Virgin Suicides directed by Sofia Coppola
• An Affair to Remember directed by Leo McCarey
• Manny & Lo directed by Lisa Krueger
• Girl with a Pearl Earring directed by Johannes Vermeer
• Asteroid City directed by Wes Anderson
• Groundhog Day directed by Harold Ramis
• Rushmore directed by Wes Anderson
• On the Rocks directed by Sofia Coppola
• Past Lives directed by Celine Song
• Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Parasite directed by Bong Joon-ho
• Somewhere directed by Sofia Coppola
• The Thin Man directed by W. S. Van Dyke
• Party Girl directed by Daisy von Scherler Mayer
• Silver Linings Playbook directed by David O. Russell
• Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Grand Budapest Hotel directed by Wes Anderson
• The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick

John Kacere on Wikipedia, inspiration for the opening shot of Lost in Translation.

Video for Shawn Mendes's sons "Lost in Japan", inspired by Lost in Translation.

​Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and we receive a commission if you visit a link and buy something on our recommendation. Purchasing via an affiliate link doesn’t cost you any extra and the opinions expressed in this post are the author's own. For more details see our disclosure policy and privacy policy.

​In my second author interview, I speak with guests Charlotte Booth and Brian Billington. Charlotte Booth is a professional writer of history books (including The History of the Undead, and How to Survive in Ancient Egypt), and was also an extra in a Bollywood movie. Brian Billington is an IT professional, amateur photographer, and a lover of movies who enjoys working out where those movies were filmed.

Over the years they’ve created personal movie location tours including Wells, Turin and London, and decided it was time to share this with others. They join me today to talk about their collaboration, The Movie Lover’s Guide to London.
 
Listen to hear about how Charlotte and Brian came up with the idea for the book, some diverging thoughts on James Bond, and the oddest dinner party guest list in film.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Hollywood Wants to Kill You: The Peculiar Science of Death in the Movies by Michael Brooks and Rick Edwards
  
• The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London by Sarah Wise

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• Hot Fuzz directed by Edgar Wright
  
• Mission: Impossible - Fallout directed by Christopher McQuarrie
  
• Cockneys vs Zombies directed by Matthias Hoene
  
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels directed by Guy Ritchie
  
• Paddington directed by Paul King
  
• Bridget Jones's Diary directed by Sharon Maguire
  
• Snatch directed by Guy Ritcie
  
• James Bond Franchise