Gian-Carla Coppola[1] (born January 1, 1987) is an American film director and screenwriter. She made her directorial feature film debut with Palo Alto in 2013. She is a member of the Coppola family.
Coppola is the only child of film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola and Jacqui de la Fontaine. Her father died in a speed boating incident while her mother was pregnant with her.[2]
The credits of the 1996 film Jack, directed by her grandfather Francis Ford Coppola, include the dedication "for Gia 'When you see a shooting star...'" (with her name stylised in lower case). She was close in age to the characters in the film at the time.
Peter Getty, son of Gordon Getty, became her stepfather when he married her mother in 2000. They separated in 2009.[3] Coppola grew up in both Los Angeles and the Coppola family vineyard in Napa Valley.[4] Coppola spent much of her childhood on the sets of her aunt Sofia Coppola's films.[5] Coppola worked as a staff assistant in the costume department in Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, and as a creative consultant in Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt.[6]
Coppola dropped out of high school (Archer School for Girls) and subsequently earned her GED. After attending community college, Coppola studied photography at Bard College in New York.[1][7] After attending Bard College, Coppola stated that she "felt a little burnt out on taking pictures after years of churning out so many for classes".[8] This resulted in her turning to film as a medium of interest.[8]
Coppola's film career began when she directed a short film for her friend's fashion label.[9] Subsequently, Coppola was hired to make short films for Opening Ceremony which starred Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman (her father's cousin), Zac Posen (who said that "she's going to be the next Coppola force to be reckoned with"), Diane von Fürstenberg, Rodarte, and Elle China.[9][10]
In December 2013, it was announced that distributor Tribeca Film had picked up the film for distribution, and it was released theatrically on May 9, 2014.[14][15] The film was released on DVD in the United States on September 9, 2014.[16]
In May 2019, Coppola began filming Mainstream, for which she co-wrote the script with Tom Stuart. The film, starring Andrew Garfield, Maya Hawke and Jason Schwartzman, follows three lovers who struggle to preserve their identities as they form an eccentric love triangle within the modern internet age.[17]
