Sofia Coppola admits she was 'always kind of ashamed' of The Bling Ring

Sofia Coppola has admitted that she was "always kind of ashamed" of her 2013 movie The Bling Ring.

The crime film starred Emma Watson, Katie Chang, Israel Broussard and Taissa Farmiga as members of The Bling Ring, a real-life gang of fame-obsessed teenagers who used the Internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes.

Reflecting on the project on the Happy Hour with Ina Garten podcast, Coppola admitted that The Bling Ring is "kind of trashy" and not her most aesthetically pleasing film.

"I was always kind of ashamed of that movie because it's so kind of trashy, but then it's like my kids' favourite. I was like, 'Really? That one?'" she shared, referring to her daughters Romy, 19, and Cosima, 16.

"It was aesthetically not my world at all and I remember feeling like, 'Oh my God, I'm dragging all these people through these like tacky nightclubs in LA', but there was just something about the world and the kids that intrigued me," she continued. "They had Us Weekly tabloids as references; it was just not the most aesthetically beautiful world."

Coppola, who is known for films including Lost in Translation, The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette, noted that the real Bling Ring story of 2008 and 2009 marked a permanent shift in the culture around fame, celebrity, the Internet and access to stars via social media. As such, she was inspired to explore that world after reading a 2010 Vanity Fair article about the burglaries.

She added that her daughters are not alone, as the younger generation in general seems to have a different take on the movie.

"I think kids read it differently. I intended it as a cautionary tale, but they're like, 'Oh, it's so cool,'" she added.

Coppola is currently promoting Making Marie Antoinette, a documentary about the making of her 2006 movie Marie Antoinette. The film was directed by her mother, Eleanor Coppola, and Sofia completed the project after Eleanor died in 2024.

The documentary will be released in cinemas on 23 October.