PRESS CONFERENCE – Sofia Coppola: “Los Angeles plays a key role in American culture”

Sofia Coppola was surrounded by her Bling Ring to answer questions from journalists. With her were Emma Watson, Claire Julien and the film’s other actors. The Bling Ring will be projected tonight as the opening film for Un Certain Regard. Selected extracts from the conference.

Sofia Coppola, on bling-bling in Los Angeles :
Los Angeles plays a key role in American culture. This is what we see in this film: a world of celebrities and reality TV. This story could not have happened anywhere else. These children lived right next to these stars.

Emma Watson – from Hermione Granger to the Bling Ring:
It’s strange for me. I feel like Harry Potter is in the past. It is still present, it is still in people’s minds. I don’t try and deny the work I’ve done in the past three or four years, my life has been incredible. I love playing these different characters, I’m very lucky.

Emma Watson’s thoughts on women in the film industry:
There are a lot of women playing leading roles in film series, there are young women who make their break in comedies, there are women script writers… From what I see, it’s fantastic being a woman in the film industry. In my opinion, they do very well. Nothing is perfect, there isn’t equality in our profession, but we are heading in the right direction.

Sofia Coppola’s choice to avoid creating publicity for the real Bling Ring:
I changed the names of the characters so that those young people don’t become more well known. I met one or two of them, it was fascinating to hear them tell the details of their story. One girl wanted more than anything to see Paris Hilton’s dog. You can’t make that up!

Quotes collected by TK