In the simplest of terms, 2020 wasn’t the best year for A24. Following one botched release with First Cow (2020), the studio struggled to find a footing. By the time they got to On the Rocks (2020), the third time may have not been the charm but it was enough to remind people of better days. As the first official collaboration between A24 and AppleTV+, the Sofia Coppola comedy marked many significant returns. For starters, it was Coppola’s first work with the studio since The Bling Ring (2013) during their inaugural year. It was also the first significant collaboration between Coppola and actor Bill Murray since their Oscar-winning film Lost in Translation (2003). Whatever it lacked in making the usual splash that A24 made, it was a nice consolation to a tumultuous year of cinema.
The story begins several years before. On the Rocks specifically stemmed from several conversations that Coppola was having. The most noteworthy was of a friend hiding in the bushes while spying on her playboy father having an affair. The other, and more noticeable, came from her own life as a mother. She was contemplating the struggle to find her own voice as a creative artist. When would she have time to write when she had a family to take care of? Along with the conflicts she saw between men of her father’s generation and her own, there was a desire to explore a woman’s midlife crisis through the father-daughter relationship, which she believed hadn’t been seen often. She considered The Thin Man (1934) as a basis for how she perceived the comedy while also considering Murray for the role.
However, the other major pieces of the puzzle culminated throughout her career. In the case of Rashida Jones, she was someone whom Coppola knew personally from her days of workshopping Lost in Translation. During rehearsals, Jones would stand in for the character that Scarlett Johansson would eventually play. It proved to be a meaningful film in her career, earning her an Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay and altering public opinion of Murray from simply a comedic actor into something more dramatic. It was a film so beloved that Coppola was hesitant to work with him again. While they would on the Netflix Christmas special A Very Murray Christmas (2015), plans for a film took longer to culminate until Coppola accepted that she could play around with his character. The actor, likewise, felt she was a very confident filmmaker.
Jones has also claimed that the film was significant for a variety of other reasons. She had just finished shooting a documentary about her father called Quincy (2018) and her mother had also recently passed. She recalls feeling extreme periods of grief, even while filming On the Rocks, and drew from it for inspiration. Given that the story centered around a father figure mourning the loss of his mistress, there was already a certain heaviness to the script. Jones would also suggest that On the Rocks was important to her because it represented a perspective of Black identity rarely explored. As only her second lead performance after Celeste and Jesse Forever (2011), she was enthusiastic about playing the woman of a biracial family.
Even if it wasn’t billed as reasoning for this design, many saw it as Coppola’s apology for her previous film The Beguiled (2017), which also earned her a historic title as only the second woman to win the director prize at Cannes. This is specifically in reference to her excising a Black slave character when adapting from the book. However, she sees it as merely coincidental as she claimed that she mostly wanted to work with Jones. They were willing to create the character together into what it became. With that said, the director also rejects the idea that it is a wholly autobiographical film even if she drew from personal experiences. She claims that Murray in the film is nothing like her father. However, she recalls an incident in which she caught him watching Breaking Bad with her children, which was the basis for a scene in the film.
The most noteworthy thing about the film was that it was a departure from her previous work. Having been known for heavier dramas, Coppola reveled in the chance to make a lighthearted comedy. She claimed that she was stepping outside of her comfort zone, sometimes even blending reality with a heightened sense of self. The espionage plot in particular was considered a little odd. However, she found that the more she pulled away from the visual motifs that steered her other work, the more she found herself giving into dialogue. She centered a lot of conversations around talking in diners. When it came to editing, she found it difficult to parse it down in order to keep a faithful tone.
Another struggle that she had came from trying to make New York feel like her own. She recalled her own youth when her father would take her to places where children weren’t allowed. The intrigue of this grown-up world allowed her to see things from different perspectives. From there, New York grew into something grander and more organic. She referenced several institutions within the city and helped to make it thrive as an environment. With all of that said, she would claim eventually that she never intended for it to be a period piece. Having been shot in 2019, she was said to have finished sound mixing just short of when the pandemic and quarantine were put into place.
While there would be edits made gradually over time, On the Rocks is one of the last films distributed by A24 to film prior to the spread of COVID-19. Given that it was a cozy setting, Coppola came to accept that it would be fine on streaming as a great piece of escapism. New York would become a place of fantasy for viewers looking to return to a normal life. It was a chance to grapple with complicated emotions around family and attempt to rekindle meaning in one’s life. Given that some of the comedy stemmed from the existential dread of being an older woman still trying to feel relevant, it made sense that audiences could latch onto it.
A major thing to note is that A24’s initial announcement about partnering with Apple TV+ was in reference to On the Rocks. While they had been distributing titles since The Elephant Queen (2019) and, more successfully, Boys State (2020), this was the one that was to launch a lucrative deal. Coppola was in talks to also produce an Edith Wharton adaptation for the studio around this time. The difference between On the Rocks and the other A24 films of that year was that it was the only one not hindered by a theatrical release. It would have a minor rollout that included a memorable premiere. It would be held at a drive-in. Even as Coppola and Jones dressed up, they were amused by the fact that people were honking and cheering along. Jones hadn’t actually been to a drive-in, which made the experience all the more exciting to her.
The film proved to be a moderate success given the circumstances. Earning $992,000+, it would prove to be one of the more successful theatrical releases of late 2020. Even then, it was an excuse to draw audiences to Apple TV+. The reviews were largely positive even if they acknowledged that it felt like minor Coppola. With many seeing obvious comparisons to her father, they couldn’t help but comment on a correlating trend of the time. Francis Ford Coppola was set to release a remastered version of The Godfather Part III (1990) now called The Godfather Coda (2020). This inspired them to ask how Sofia felt about her part in the film as a teenager which had earned her a Razzie and decades of criticism of nepotism. She claimed that she didn’t feel bothered by it as much as she used to since she didn’t have any passion for acting. Given that she’s made other films relating to father relationships, notably Somewhere (2010), it was an easy topic.
On the Rocks would do fantastic critically. On critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the film would earn 87%. Among those who loved the film were Nell Minow of AWFJ . org who suggested, “This is by far the warmest and most engaging film we have seen from Sofia Coppola, whose films have always made great use of spaces and silences.” Elsewhere was Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express who shared the sentiment by noting, “For a while, the film teeters on the brink of sitcom territory, but rescues itself by introducing a degree of complexity in the proceedings.” The few who disagreed included Witney Seibold of Critically Acclaimed Podcast who deterred, “There is a lazy, wine-soaked charm between the two leads, but ultimately there is no tension or interest in their "wacky" road trip.” While the film would also fail to earn an Oscar nomination for such an acclaimed reunion, On the Rocks proved to be the most awards-friendly film of A24’s 2020 roster, even earning a Golden Globe nomination for Murray.
When all is said and done, A24 could’ve done a lot worse for 2020 than what they ended up doing. While a ton of productions were likely scrapped or delayed, their three films reflected the studio at their best and in very diverse ways. Returning to a partnership with Coppola was always going to be a highlight of any year, and while it never got to be what many hoped, it still managed to produce buzz. As of this publication, A24 and Coppola are planning to release a Priscilla Presley biopic during Fall 2023. Similarly, co-star Jenny Slate would go on to co-star in Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022), which would win Best Picture at the Oscars. Even if the film was small, it would go on to bigger and better things for those involved.
So where does that leave A24? Many will be quick to write 2020 off as a loss. Nobody really won that year with most of Oscar’s eventual nominees being pushed to early 2021. The slow progression back into regular releases was imminent with their next film. While it had been on the agenda as of January 2020, it would quickly be moved around in order to obtain a more exciting release strategy. It was a return to horror with a film that was genuinely insane, capturing a pocket of the studio that often thrived on major press. After a year like 2020, it was only right to experience a tale of true madness while kicking in A24’s slow return to normalcy.
Coming Up Next: Saint Maud (2021)
Comments
Post a Comment