Sofia Coppola and Rashida Jones have cool dads – Francis Ford Coppola and Quincy Jones, respectively. And now, both have worked with Bill Murray, once described as “the coolest guy on the planet.”

Seventeen years after their acclaimed first film collaboration, Lost in Translation, Sofia and Bill teamed up again for On the Rocks. This time, the writer-director and her star joined forceswith The Office and Parks and Recreation actress, Rashida.

The three previously collaborated on a holiday TV special, A Very Murray Christmas.

Quoted in another interview as saying that On the Rocks is “a father-daughter buddy movie with martinis (while) discussing life and relationships,” Sofia cast Rashida as a New York novelist who reluctantly enlists her dad, Bill, a bon vivant art dealer, to help her when she suspects that her executive husband (Marlon Wayans) is having an affair.

Simple and quiet like its filmmaker, On the Rocks is nonetheless entertaining, especially when we see the charmingly deadpan Bill on stakeouts with Rashida, playing a daughter exasperated with her dad but obviously devoted to him.

One of the film’s pleasures is watching and listening to Bill sing a full version of Gene Autry’s Mexicali Rose in a scene set in a Mexican resort.

“Bill loves to sing and I always love it when he sings,” said Sofia, wearing a Film Forum tee in our video call. On the Rocks is her love letter to New York, where she was calling from and where she lives with her husband, Phoenix band lead singer Thomas Mars, and their two kids, Romy, 13, and Cosima, 10.

“It was a thrill when I first got Bill to sing in Lost in Translation,” Sofia brought up her Tokyo-set film for which she won a best original screenplay Oscar. “When I was a little kid, I remember on Saturday Night Live, Bill had a lounge singer character that I always loved.  So I know he loves to sing and he’s a great singer.

“I thought, we have to write a moment for him to sing in this because he’s the kind of character that would come in and just sing for every one and not be shy. I asked him to prepare a song for (a scene in) Mexico with Paul Shaffer.

“Bill told me what song it would be but I didn’t hear it until we were shooting. He really performed it for the first time for Rashida and me. That was really fun to hear him sing at that moment.”

Sophia was a little girl when she and her brothers were brought by Francis and Eleanor Coppola, who served as a documentary supervisor, to the Philippines to shoot his epic, Apocalypse Now, in 1976 and 1977.

In an earlier interview, Sofia floored me when she shared that she still remembers how to sing Pambansang Awit, the Philippines’ national anthem.

The shy, soft-spoken director said in our 2013 interview, “I could sing it, but I won’t. I was very young (she told me later she was about 5 years old), but I have nice memories of the Philippines and its people. My nanny, who raised me, was Filipino. It was such a warm culture and a beautiful place. I’d love to go back.”

In our recent chat, Sofia smiled as she recalled, “I just felt lucky that I got to be on film sets since I was little. Because it was always magical and fun to see what they were making and to see how these interesting adults are working together to make something.”

The little girl went on to become a director like her dad and mom whose credits include the award-winning Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, a documentary on Francis’ saga to make his Vietnam War masterpiece, and Love Can Wait.

For her work on Somewhere, Sofia became the first American woman to bag the Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival’s top honors. For The Beguiled, she was the first American woman to win Cannes Film Festival’s best director prize.

And thanks to Lost in Translation, she became the first American woman to earn an Academy Award best director nod.

Sofia’s other films are her directing debut feature, The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette and The Bling Ring.

Asked if she had a similar experience with Francis as in On the Rocks when Rashida’s Laura catches her dad Felix (Bill) watching an age inappropriate TV show with her two kids as he babysat them, Sofia answered, “I just thought it was a funny moment when my dad was watching Breaking Bad with my then six year old. He said, ‘Oh, it’s a good show and she loved it.’”

“He thought that was ok for a little kid. But no, he hasn’t shown them Apocalypse Now. During this quarantine period, he showed them a lot of great movies. They watched Singing in the Rain on the big screen and Jacques Tati movies. He showed them a lot of wonderful classic movies that he loves. So that (Breaking Bad anecdote) was just a one-time funny story.”

Also asked if Bill’s Felix was inspired by the 81-year-old Francis, Sofia, who is divorced from director Spike Jonze, was quick to reply. “Yes and no. There are definitely parts that came from my dad, the unique closeness of a father and daughter, how you don’t have that kind of relationship with any other man in your life like that. I remember talking to him about when I liked some guy and I didn’t understand. I wanted a male perspective. So that came from him.”

“But the bon vivant character was from childhood memories of kind of eccentric things. But I remember when I was a kid, afterApocalypse Now, he was friends with the helicopter pilot and we were in LA. The pilot tried to land the helicopter in the parking lot at Disneyland. The Disneyland security came. It was like those over the top memories.”

“But my dad is not like that character talking his way out of things (a traffic ticket). That maybe is a little bit Bill and guys of that generation. That debonair playboy art dealer is something invented from people I’ve met and friends of my dad, the way certain characters are of that generation.”

“So I definitely made that character. It’s a fictional character made up of different people, the love for my father and that feeling and wanting to be a buddy movie.”

As for traits she inherited from her parents, the 49-year-old said, “I know in myself I can see aspects I’ve gotten from my mother and father. My mother’s very much an observer and about details. I get that from her. My father is very stubborn. I’ve gotten my stubbornness (from him) which comes in handy to make a movie. And also just seeing him make it happen, not take no for an answer and have the courage.”

“It was inspiring to me in my own work, seeing that example of working under crisis, being very flexible and driven in that way. I learned a lot from my dad.”

As a kid, while her dad occasionally brought her to events like the Cannes film fest, Sofia enjoyed growing up in Napa Valley, where the family has a popular winery, and away from Hollywood.

“I’m grateful my parents raised us in a small town (Rutherford, California) in the country where we knew everyone,” said Sofia. “We were accepted as part of the community and definitely, when we went outside of that, I had some encounters that were more unusual. Like going to Cannes as a little kid or something like that.”

Also unusual was her acting debut. She was only an infant when she appeared in the climactic baptism scene in her dad’s The Godfather.

Sofia is already working on her next project. “I am actually working on a limited series with Apple TV+ based on the Edith Wharton book called The Custom of the Country, which I love. It is one of my favorite books. It will be a five-part series. I am starting to write that and working on it.”

For Rashida, shooting On the Rocks was challenging because she had just lost her mom, model and actress Peggy Lipton when filming began. She appreciated Sofia and Bill’s support and caring on set.

“By the nature of the script, Bill is this loving doting father even though he sends me on this crazy journey that might send my life into a complete chaotic mess,” Rashida said.

“He does truly love his daughter so much and wants to be with her and take her on these adventures. So just by the sheer nature of the script, the character was doting and loving.”

“And Bill was just incredibly gentle, sensitive and patient with me at times when it wasn’t necessarily easy for me to act or go on in the day. On the times when I did have to be emotional, he understood that that was probably connected to my real life.

“It was a very safe place to be emotional and know that sometimes those lines blur between reality and screen. To have people around who understand that was really essential to me at that time.”

Like Sofia, Rashida had the pleasure of being up close when Bill sang Mexicali Rose. “He’s got a beautiful voice and a great range,” she gushed.

But did you know Bill is also “a great whistler”? Rashida added, “The big surprise of the movie is that he’s a really skilled whistler. And a lover of music. We talked a lot about music.”

On highlights she shared with Quincy, who produced, composed and arranged for a veritable who’s who in the music industry, the daughter shared, “There are so many great adventures I’ve been on with my dad. He’s co-founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. He just really comes alive during that time. It’s just the best music, best food and late night hangs.”

“Anytime I go with him to that festival, those are some of my best memories with my dad. He loves to travel. So anywhere I can meet him, I’m happy to go.”

Recounting when she first realized that her dad was famous, Rashida said, “He’s always been my father but it really changed around when Thriller came out. Because before that, he was a producer and a composer. People kind of knew who he was in perspective of him.”

“But then, once there was a picture of him winning all those Grammys, he became a famous person.  That really changed the way people interacted with him and talked about him. They knew his name. I went back to school on Monday and people were talking about it.”

Rashida, 44, has been linked to men in the music field. She was briefly engaged to DJ turned record producer Mark Ronson. In 2018, she gave birth to Isaiah, her son with Vampire Weekend singer and guitarist, Ezra Koenig. – Rappler.com