Johnny Marco is a porn star name

I’ve never really thought about the motif of driving in Sofia Coppola’s oeuvre before but it’s present in most of her films. The teens driving around looking for something to do (rob) in The Bling Ring; the towncar taking Bob Harris back to real life at the end of Lost in Translation; the fantasy the boys have of rescuing the titular virgins and hitting the open road in The Virgin Suicides.

Somewhere, the first of Coppola’s two drop dead masterpieces that I’ll be covering, opens and closes on its protagonist driving. First image and final image. The opening shot shows a car going round and round in circles on a racetrack, wheels spinning and getting nowhere.

We don’t know yet that the driver is action movie star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff). He lives at the Chateau Marmont, the famous hotel at the base of the Hollywood Hills. I used to have to drive up Marmont Lane every single day for years to get to my boss’s house and it was always super annoying when the valet would make you stop on the hill and hover while some celebrity or other was trying to pull out of their driveway. One time Aaron Paul almost ran into my car, something that Johnny Marco would definitely do. Anyway.