Lost in Translation
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Sofia Coppola
Scarlett Johansson
Bill Murray
Akiko Takeshita
Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe
Kazuko Shibata
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Bob Harris, a middle-aged, American actor struggling with a midlife crisis, is forced by his declining movie career to accept a lucrative contract endorsing Suntory, a Japanese whiskey. Upon his arrival in Tokyo to film a television commercial for the whiskey, Bob is overwhelmed by culture shock. En route to the luxurious Plaza Hotel, Bob gazes at the staggering array of neon signs and is bemused to see one of his own billboards touting Suntory. At the hotel, Bob meets the executives who will be guiding him through his daily duties, and after they leave him, futilely attempts to sleep. Jetlagged and remorseful over having forgotten his son's birthday, Bob makes his way to the hotel's lounge, where a female American singer is performing. Bob wearily abandons his refuge when two enthusiastic fans question him about one of his famous action movies, then spends a restless night tossing and turning. After being wakened by automatically opening curtains and battling an awkwardly placed shower head, Bob goes to the set of the television commercial. There, he is confused by the long conversations in Japanese between the intense director and the nervous translator, who relates only the briefest of instructions to Bob. Uncertain that he is receiving an adequate translation of the director's wishes, Bob does the best he can with the mundane dialogue. Meanwhile, also staying at the Plaza is a young American couple, Charlotte and John, who is a photographer. John is in Japan to photograph a rock and roll band, while Charlotte has accompanied him more out of a sense of boredom than of purpose. Unnerved by her lack of direction and a growing feeling that her marriage is failing, Charlotte also suffers from insomnia and spends her time roaming the crowded streets or visiting Buddhist shrines. After filming the commercial, Bob returns to his room, where a prostitute sent by the advertising agency visits him. Appalled by the woman's mangled English and bizarre attempts to seduce him, Bob escapes from her. The next morning, the executives ask Bob to stay a few extra days in order to appear on a highly rated television show, but Bob, feeling increasingly disoriented, is reluctant to agree. Bob then focuses on a photo shoot for the whiskey, at which the photographer, who barely speaks English, asks the tuxedo-clad actor to assume poses reminiscent of the "Rat Pack" and "James Bond." Disgusted by his posturing and still unable to sleep, Bob goes to the hotel lounge, where Charlotte, amused by his ill-fitting tuxedo, smiles at him. The next morning, Charlotte is less amused when John bumps into Kelly, a vacuous American actress who gushes over his photography. While Charlotte is irritated by Kelly's lack of intelligence and imagination, John urges her not to be so condescending. That night, the two insomniacs again meet in the lounge and upon striking up a conversation, Bob admits to Charlotte that his marriage is in trouble, and that he feels he should be doing real acting instead of the high-paying but unsatisfying endorsement. Charlotte, who recently graduated from Yale with a philosophy degree, reveals that she has been married for only two years but also feels lost in the world. The next evening, Charlotte and John are in the lounge with Kelly, who is doing publicity for her latest movie, and Charlotte abandons their pointless conversation to join Bob. Bob teasingly offers to make Charlotte his accomplice in a "prison break" to escape the country, and Charlotte, once again charmed by his ready wit, agrees to accompany him. The next day, John leaves for another city while Charlotte remains behind so as not to interfere with his work. Upon running into Bob at the hotel pool, Charlotte invites him to accompany her and some friends on a night out on the town. During an unusual evening of visiting nightclubs, drinking, attempting to converse in a hodge-podge of Japanese, English and sign language and singing karaoke, Bob and Charlotte become fast friends. After carrying the sleepy Charlotte from the taxi to her hotel room, Bob tucks her in and resignedly goes to his own room, from which he calls his wife Lydia. As usual, Bob and Lydia's conversation is strained on both sides. The next day, Charlotte shows Bob her recently injured toe, and he insists on taking her to a hospital. After another strange encounter with people whom they cannot understand, they are drawn even closer to each other. That night, Bob meets Charlotte and her friends at a strip club, but Bob and Charlotte, uncomfortable with the lurid atmosphere, quickly leave together. After a walk through the city, they return to the hotel, and upon discovering that neither of them can sleep, watch television in Bob's room. Lying companionably together on the bed, they share their frustrations about their lives, and when Charlotte asks Bob if marriage gets easier as time passes, Bob answers her honestly that it sometimes does not. Charlotte confesses that she has tried both writing and photography but is proficient at neither and feels that she is aimless. Content at being together, the pair finally falls asleep with Charlotte curled up next to Bob. The next day, Charlotte goes alone to Kyoto, where she admires the more traditional Japanese appearance of the countryside and its residents. Meanwhile, Bob agrees to stay in Tokyo in order to be near Charlotte for a few more days, but is deeply depressed after appearing on the ridiculous talk show with its hyperactive host. Bob then receives a call from Lydia, who does not know how to respond when he sadly declares that he feels lost. After watching himself on the show that evening, Bob goes to the lounge and ends up sleeping with the singer. The next morning, Charlotte knocks on Bob's door and invites him to lunch, but when she hears the singer, becomes upset and leaves. Bob meets Charlotte for lunch anyway, but Charlotte's feeling of betrayal and Bob's defensiveness over having hurt her prevent them from enjoying the oddly prepared meal. Late that night, a fire alarm draws them outside, where, hoping to make up, they discuss their lunch. In the lounge, they try not to succumb to their romantic attraction, even though they are both distressed that Bob is returning to the United States in the morning. Finally going upstairs, they give each other a kiss on the cheek before saying good-night. In the morning, Bob is frustrated in his attempt to bid Charlotte a proper farewell by the fawning Suntory executives, who repeatedly ask him to pose for photographs. Unable to break free of the crowd, Bob says an awkward goodbye to Charlotte, then leaves in a car bound for the airport. As he is being driven away, however, Bob glimpses Charlotte walking along the street and asks the chauffeur to stop. Running to Charlotte, Bob finally embraces her. Charlotte also gives in to her feelings and cries as Bob comforts her. After sharing a brief but tender kiss, the couple then says goodbye and smiles fondly at each other before parting.
Director
Sofia Coppola
Cast
Scarlett Johansson
Bill Murray
Akiko Takeshita
Kazuyoshi Minamimagoe
Kazuko Shibata
Take
Ryuichiro Baba
Akira Yamaguchi
Catherine Lambert
Francois Du Bois
Tim Leffman
Gregory Pekar
Richard Allen
Giovanni Ribisi
Yutaka Todakoro
Jun Maki
Nao Asuka
Tetsuro Naka
Nanako Nakazato
Fumihiro Hayashi
Hiroko Kawasaki
Daikon
Anna Faris
Asuka Shimuzu
Ikuko Takahashi
Koichi Tanaka
Hugo Codaro
Akika Monou
Akitmitsu Naruyama
Hiroshi Kawashima
Hiromix
Nobuhiko Kitamura
Nao Kitman
Akira
Kunichi Nomura
Yasuhiko Hattori
Shigekazu Aida
Kazuo Yamada
Akira Motomura
Osamu Shigematu
Mathew Minami
Kei Takyo
Ryo Kondo
Yumi Ikeda
Yumika Saki
Yuji Okabe
Diedrich Bollman
Georg O. P. Eschert
Mark Willms
Lisle Wilkerson
Crew
Hitoshi Abe
Lance Acord
Akemi
Dawn Angel
Mikiko Anzai
Kim Aubry
K. K. Barrett
Ashley Bearden
Richard Beggs
Richard Beggs
Richard Beggs
George Berndt
Susan H. Bodine
Anita Brown
Nacio Herb Brown
Buddy Buie
Eva Z. Cabrera
Andrea Cannistraci
Chie Che
Shari Chertok
Daiki Chiba
Alison Cohen
David Cohen
Paul Cook
Francis Ford Coppola
Roman Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Blake Crawford
Giovanni Cristiani
Rick Darnell
Dean Daughtry
Ethan Derner
Des-row Union
Maureen Duffy
Jean-benoit Dunckle
Akira Ebata
Jason Falkner
Jonathan Ferrantelli
Bryan Ferry
Susan Finch
John Finn
Sarah Flack
Bob Fredrickson
Eiji Fujii
Shu Fujimoto
Arthur Garfunkel
Mitch Glazer
Nicolas Godin
Hirohito Gotou
Callum Greene
Marvin Hamlisch
Hiroshi Harada
Matthew Hartman
Noriko Hattori
Roy Hawkins
Stephanie Hayman
George T. Hayum
Susan Hebert
Koji Hirano
Tim Holmes
James Honeyman-scott
Haruomi Hosono
Chrissie Hynde
Ai Ichiki
Hiroya Igawa
Kiyotaka Inagaki
Kiyoshii Inoue
Yoshio Ishikawa
Tomiko Ishiyama
Takuro Ishizaka
Rick James
Tom Jenkinson
Steve Jones
Takeshi Kagami
Gus Kahn
Sakae Kaminaka
Michiaki Kamochi
Sayuri Kanamori
Takuya Kaneko
Akira Kanno
Glenn Kaspryzcki
Anthony G. Katagas
Motonobu Kato
Ross Katz
Takahide Kawakami
Hiroko Kawasaki
Fukushi Kawata
Takahiro Kikuchi
Michael Kirchberger
Jamie Kirkpatrick
Robert Knox
Brian Kobo
Tomoko Kojima
Ryoichi Kondo
Drew Kunin
Kiyoshi Kurokawa
Towako Kuwajima
Helmut Lang
Jennifer Letterman
James Levine
Nick Lowe
John Lydon
Roger Joseph Manning Jr.
Roger Joseph Manning Jr.
Glen Matlock
Takashi Matsumoto
Masako Matsumura
Richard Mcguire
Jill Meyers
Ross Miller
Eriko Miyagawa
Taro Miyake
Yasushi Miyata
Everett Moore
Marnie Moore
Takuji Murata
Atsushi Naito Esq.
Hiroto Nakagaki
Momoko Nakamura
Katumi Nakane
Rika Nakanishi
Hirofumi Nakase
Natsuko Nezu
David Nichtern
Hitomi Nimura
Masayuki Nishimura
Tonomi Nishio
Robert Nix
Ryo Nobuka
Kimiko Onishi
Yuji Oshige
Angela Panetta
Peaches
Phoenix
Bennett Pozil
Jory K. Prum
James Mcleish Reid
William Reid
Dennis Reiff
Brian Reitzell
Brian Reitzell
Brian Reitzell
Anne Rice
Fred Roos
Giorgio Rosciglione
Anne Ross
Morag Ross
Nino Rota
Tom Rowlands
Carole Bayer Sager
Miwa Sakaguchi
Keisuke Sakurai
Masae Sakurai
Dominic Sands
Francesco Santucci
Brian Sarvis
Osamu Sasaki
Yoko Sato
Yoshio Sato
Stephen Schible
Tomohiko Seki
Yumiko Sekiguchi
Tomoo Senuma
Kevin Shields
Kevin Shields
Yuki Shimizu
Kazuko Shingyoku
Julia Shirar
Keizo Shukuzaki
Howard Shur
Paul Simon
Ed Simons
Matt Sims
Kira Smith
Hauko Sone
Miles Murray Sorrell
Kent Sparling
Dan Sperry
Howard Stein
Nancy Steiner
William Storkson
William Storkson
Ryo Sugimoto
Taiichi Sugiyama
Noaki Takagi
Haruka Takahashi
Toru Takahashi
Yoko Takeuchi
Koichi Tanaka
Kumi Tanaka
Sebastian Tellier
Michelle Tomaszewski
Mayumi Tomita
Greg Trattner
Minoru Tsuruno
Satoshi Tsuyuki
Barry W. Tyerman
Nobuko Uranishi
Antonello Vannucchi
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Wins
Best Original Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Award Nominations
Best Actor
Best Director
Best Picture
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Sofia Coppola's onscreen credit reads "Written and Directed by," and she is also listed as one of the producers on a separate title card. The opening and closing cast credits differ in order, with the opening credits listing Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris and Fumihiro Hayashi, while the closing credits are listed in order of appearance. The film's closing credits list "Alone in Kyoto," performed by Air, twice, and include "thank you" acknowledgments for the staff of the Park Hyatt Tokyo and Mathew's Best Hit TV, among others. Included in the acknowledgments for "Location Support," "Product Support," "Wardrobe Support" and "Additional Support" are the Tokyo Medical University Hospital, various temples and shrines, several Japanese publishers, Kurosawa Film Studios and a robotics company.
Some of the television clips appearing in the picture were taken from MTV, Saturday Night Live and the Federico Fellini-directed Italian film La Dolce Vita (1960). The clip from Saturday Night Live features Murray, in one of the many skits he performed during his years as a regular on the show in the late 1970s, and is supposed to be a scene from one of "Bob Harris'" movies.
As discussed in several interviews with director-writer Coppola, she wrote the part of Bob specifically for Murray and had no other actors in mind if he declined the part. Lost in Translation, while marking Coppola's second film as a director, represents her first feature-length, original screenplay. Coppola is the daughter of noted filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who served as an executive producer on Lost in Translation and founded American Zoetrope. Coppola's brother Roman served as the director of some of the second unit footage. As noted in the onscreen credits, the film was shot entirely on location in Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan. According to a September 15, 2003 Time article, Coppola became intrigued by Japanese culture while spending time there to develop and promote a clothing line.
The setting of the film, the exclusive Park Hyatt Hotel in Tokyo, was Coppola's first and only choice for the location. An August 2003 Screen International article on the film noted that due to the Park Hyatt's restrictions on when the filmmakers could work, they had to shoot at "crazy hours," especially at night, so that they would not disturb the guests. Coppola noted in the article that when they could not obtain necessary shooting permits for exterior or subway sequences, they "just snuck on with the camera and shot like a documentary. If someone stopped us, we went on to some other place." According to a September 19, 2003 Wall Street Journal item, the Park Hyatt Tokyo was going to offer "film-theme packages" to take advantage of the publicity resulting from Lost in Translation.
In a September 21, 2003 New York Times article, Coppola stated that the scene in which Bob is befuddled by long directions given to him in Japanese by the television director, which are then translated into English as only very short statements, was based on her own experiences promoting her 1999 debut film, The Virgin Suicides, in Japan. Coppola wrote the scene in English, which was then translated into Japanese for the actor, Japanese rock singer Yutaka Tadokoro; Murray was not given the dialogue in order to enhance the feeling that he could not understand what was being said to him.
According to a September 15, 2003 Time article, the film had a modest $4 million budget, and in a December 1, 2003 Hollywood Reporter piece, Coppola asserted that she shot the film "low budget enough that if it turned out to be a mess, we just wouldn't release it" in the United States. The film was shot in 27 days over five weeks, with the dailies being shipped to New York every day for editor Sarah Flack to begin the initial assembly of the film.
According to an October 2003 Variety article, in order to maintain complete control over the production, Coppola sought financing from various companies in exchange for distribution rights in specific countries. Other trade paper news items reported that the remaining foreign distribution rights were sold to Focus Features for $4 million shortly after the picture had begun production. After the film had been completed and was being edited in February 2003, the North American distribution rights were sold to Focus. On September 15, 2003, Daily Variety reported that due to the film's spectacular performance in limited release, "expansions [to more screens] are expected to be more aggressive than previously planned." By the end of 2003, the film had grossed more than $30,000,000 in the United States.
Lost in Translation garnered excellent reviews, with many critics singling out Murray's performance. In addition to being named one of AFI's top ten films of 2003, Lost in Translation was named in the top ten lists of Newsweek and the National Board of Review. Coppola won the Lina Mangiacapre award at the Venice Film Festival, was named best director of the year by the New York Film Critics Circle and received a Special Achievement nod from the National Board of Review for her direction, writing and producing. Coppola also received a nomination from the Directors Guild for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2003. Scarlett Johansson was named Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival, and Murray garnered the Best Actor award from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, as well as being nominated for Best Actor in a Film by the Screen Actors Guild.
Lost in Translation won the following Independent Spirit Awards: Best Director, Best Feature, Best Male Lead and Best Screenplay. Coppola received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for Best Director. The film received a nomination for Best Picture, as did Murray for Best Actor. The film also received the following Golden Globe nominations: Best Director, Best Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical, Best Screenplay-Motion Picture, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical and Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical. The Art Directors Guild nominated the picture for Best Production Design in a Contemporary Film.
Miscellaneous Notes
Nominated for the 2003 award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film from the Directors Guild of America (DGA).
Voted one of the 10 best films of 2003 by the American Film Institute (AFI).
Winner of the 2003 award for Best Actor (Bill Murray) from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
Winner of the 2003 award for Best Actor (Bill Murray) from the National Society of Film Critics (NSFC).
Winner of the 2003 award for Best Original Screenplay by the Writer's Guild of America (WGA).
Winner of the 2003 awards for Best Director and Best Actor (Bill Murray) from New York Film Critics Circle--marking the first time in 10 years that the director's prize has gone to a woman.
Winner of the 2003 awards for Best Picture and Best Actor (Bill Murray) from the San Francisco Film Critics Circle.
Winner of the Best Actress award (Scarlett Johansson) at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival.
Winner of three 2003 awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics including Best Director, Best Actor (Bill Murray) and Best Actress (Scarlett Johansson).
Winner of three 2003 Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) awards including: Best Picture, Best Actor (Bill Murray) and Best Screenplay. (Note: Tied for Best Screenplay with "The Barbarian Invasions")
Limited Release in United States September 12, 2003
Released in United States Fall September 12, 2003
Released in United States on Video February 3, 2004
Released in United States 2003
Shown at London Film Festival October 22-November 6, 2003.
Shown at Venice International Film Festival (Upstream competition) August 27 - September 6, 2003.
Limited Release in United States September 12, 2003
Released in United States Fall September 12, 2003
Released in United States on Video February 3, 2004
Released in United States 2003 (Shown at London Film Festival October 22-November 6, 2003.)
Released in United States 2003 (Shown at Telluride Film Festival August 29-September 1, 2003.)
Released in United States 2003 (Shown at Venice International Film Festival (Upstream competition) August 27 - September 6, 2003.)
Nominated for the 2004 Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) award for Best Actor (Bill Murray).
