Conception, finance, production: A distinctly indie approach

Lost in Translation is rooted, in several respects, in Coppola's own background, a fact that was emphasised in much of the media coverage of the film's release and is a significant dimension of the manner in which it might be positioned in the wider cinematic spectrum. The jet-lagged setting in Tokyo was inspired by her experiences during several years of travel to the city and elsewhere in connection with various aspects of her earlier career (including photography, work in music video, the development of a line of clothing and the promotion of The Virgin Suicides [1999]). From this, apparently, came the starting point, a romance of some kind involving two Americans, temporarily detached from routine and beginning to question the directions of their lives during periods of enforced exile and cultural alienation in a luxury Tokyo hotel. The script was written from the start with Murray in mind, as a character (Bob Harris) caught in the uncertainties of a mid-life crisis. This was played in conjunction with aspects of the filmmaker's personal equivalent: an ‘early-twenties crisis’ undergone by Coppola, a period that included time spent in Tokyo wondering what to do with her future.