Sofia Coppola’s directing career has been defined by examinations of girls growing up in unusual circumstances (The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette, The Bling Ring) or with strained father/daughter dynamics (Somewhere, arguably Lost In Translation). Her next project looks to continue that trend, as Coppola and regular collaborator Andrew Durham will co-write an adaptation of Fairyland, Alysia Abbott’s memoir of life before and after the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco with her father, poet and gay activist Steve Abbott. Following the tragic death of his wife in a car accident, Steve Abbott moves his daughter to the Bay Area, where he sheds the guise of heterosexuality and entered the growing gay cultural scene in San Francisco, eventually settling in Haight Ashbury. Two decades later, Abbott died of AIDS complications. Coppola describes the book as “a sweet and unique love story of a girl and her dad, both growing together,” which places Fairyland firmly within her stylistic wheelhouse.
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