'The Beguiled' Director Sofia Coppola Makes History at Cannes After Winning Best Director Award
Sofia Coppola, director and screenwriter of "The Beguiled," makes history as she became the second woman to grab the title of best director at the Cannes Film Festival.
The 2017 drama film is based on the novel of the same title (originally titled "A Painted Devil") by Thomas P. Cullinan, and on its 1971 film adaptation, which also has the same title.
"The Beguiled' is about a wounded soldier from the Union Army who takes refuge in a women's boarding school in Virginia during the Civil War. The solider, Colin Farrell's John McBurney, charms each of the women in the house and creates a hostile environment among them.
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Farrel is joined by Nicole Kidman as headmistress Martha, Kirsten Dunst as the teacher named Edwina, and Elle Fanning as Carol, one of the students.
Coppola's "The Beguiled" premiered at the Grand Theatre Lumiere last Wednesday and received a five-minute standing ovation, Deadline reported. Not only that, it won her the honor of best director at the Cannes Film Festival, making her the second woman to bag the title since Yuliya Solntseva in 1961 for "Chronicle of Flaming Years."
At first, Coppola said she had no intention to remake any film. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she explained that she found no appeal in remaking someone else's film.
However, when she saw the 1971 "The Beguiled," she was hooked. Coppola then decided to create a remake of the movie as she wanted tell the story from the female characters' perspective.
"I thought it'd be interesting to tell the same story, but flip it to the women characters' point of view — the idea of these women cut off during that time, left behind during the war," Coppola shared in an interview with The Hollywood Report
"The Beguiled" is slated to premiere this June 23.
