Eleanor Coppola Did Not Live to See Her Documentary Finished. Sofia Coppola Completed It.
Eleanor Coppola died before she could finish her documentary about the making of her daughter Sofia's 2006 film "Marie Antoinette," ABC News reported on Friday. Sofia Coppola saw the project through to completion after her mother's death.
The footage dates back to 2005. Eleanor Coppola shot about 80 hours of behind-the-scenes material while Sofia was making the movie. She filmed it mainly to gather moments for marketing, not to make a film of her own, according to ABC News.
Years later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Eleanor decided to go back to that footage. Before she died, she told Sofia that she wanted the documentary finished. The result is "Making Marie Antoinette," which chronicles the production of the 2006 biopic and is credited to Eleanor as its director. Yahoo Entertainment has called it Eleanor's final film.
The film has reached audiences in stages. In July, the arthouse streaming service and distributor MUBI acquired worldwide rights to it, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap reported. Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline all reviewed the film in early September. Film at Lincoln Center lists it among the films in its 2026 New York Film Festival lineup.
"Making Marie Antoinette" is now playing in select theaters, according to ABC News. MUBI will make it available to stream on November 6.
For many viewers, the appeal may be the view from behind the camera. The documentary takes the audience onto a film set through the eyes of someone who was not there to direct, and who later chose to tell the story herself. It also carries a family thread that rarely makes it into a studio's press kit: a mother's footage, a daughter's movie, and a finished project that arrived after one of them was gone.
Eleanor Coppola's death is a loss for her family and for the many people who knew her work. Sofia Coppola, who is the daughter of Eleanor and who made the 2006 film, has now seen her mother's last project through. For anyone curious about the making of a famous costume drama, or about how a family's old footage can become a new film, the documentary is now available in theaters and will soon arrive on streaming.
