Gia Coppola (born 1987) is the newest member of the Coppola dynasty to venture into the family business of filmmaking. Born to Francis Ford Coppola’s son Gian-Carlo (who was born in 1967 and killed in a tragic speedboating accident in 1986), Gia was seven months away from being born when her father was killed.
Gia’s debut feature film, entitled PALO ALTO, is based on the eponymous book of short stories by James Franco. Franco’s book, which tells the stories of teenagers and their experiments with vices and their struggles with their families, is named after his home town of Palo Alto, California, and is dedicated to many of the writers he worked with at Brooklyn College. Inspired by some of Franco’s own teenage memories, and memories written and submitted by high school students at Palo Alto Senior High School, the book is a chronicle of life in Palo Alto as experienced by a series of teenagers who spend most of their time indulging in driving drunk, using drugs and taking part in unplanned acts of violence. Each passage is told by a young narrator.
The very first trailer for the film was released yesterday and stars James Franco, Emma Roberts, Val Kilmer, and Nat Wolff, and premieres soon at Telluride and TIFF. There’s no doubt this will be picked up by a distributor in the weeks ahead, so I’ll be sure to keep you posted on details of its release date as soon as I find out. To pick up your own copy of James Franco’s PALO ALTO simply head over to Amazon.
SEE ALSO: Read James Franco’s VICE Essay On Timeless Themes Explored In “Stand By Me”
SEE ALSO: James Franco Writes For VANITY FAIR About Opening The 612 Mysterious Boxes Andy Warhol Left Behind
