Sofia Coppola completes her late mother’s unfinished 'Marie Antoinette' documentary

On the Versailles set of her 2006 movie Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola’s mother, documentary filmmaker Eleanor Coppola, rolled cameras for an estimated 80–100 hours, capturing the controlled chaos and craft behind the confection-box visuals. Two decades later, that footage has been shaped by Sofia into a feature-length documentary titled Making Marie Antoinette, a project she took over after Eleanor’s death in 2024 and discussed on Happy Hour with Ina Garten.

The film promises a rare look at how Coppola and her crew pulled off on-location shoots inside the Palace of Versailles and built the movie’s pastel world, with the cast — led by Kirsten Dunst — navigating court rituals, towering wigs and dawn calls in gilded rooms. It ’s also a snapshot of a production that slowly grew into a cult favorite for its modern soundtrack and candy-colored take on royal adolescence.

From Eleanor to Sofia

Eleanor Coppola, the Emmy-winning filmmaker behind Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, originally planned to turn her set footage into its own movie. When she couldn’t finish it, her daughter stepped in to complete what she started.

“She really wanted to have it made into a film. She passed away a few years ago and I I finished it for her this past year … I’m really glad to finish this work.”

In the same conversation, Sofia revisited the spark that guided Marie Antoinette in the first place: Antonia Fraser’s biography Marie Antoinette: The Journey. Learning the future queen arrived at Versailles at 14, Coppola zeroed in on the emotional reality of a teenager dropped into court life — the angle that shaped everything from the needle drops to the costumes and may get fresh texture in the new footage.

Making Marie Antoinette will first screen at the New York Film Festival before heading to theaters via MUBI on October 23, 2026 .