Coppola 'planned to make vampire movie'

Sofia Coppola has revealed that she was working on a European-set vampire movie before Somewhere.

The director, who won an Oscar for her Lost In Translation screenplay, told Vulture that the Somewhere character Johnny Marco, a Hollywood actor estranged from his daughter, originated from the vampire project.

She said: "It's sort of embarrassing. After Marie Antoinette, I was thinking, 'Oh, I feel like it's time for a vampire movie.' So I was writing this vampire story, and then that character came in. It was before Twilight and all that stuff.

"I was writing the character of the daughter, and I asked my friend's daughter what books she would be reading, and she was explaining to me the plot of Twilight, and I didn't know what it was. So that's why we have the daughter talking about that [in Somewhere]."

Coppola also confirmed reports that she was in the running to direct Breaking Dawn before Bill Condon was hired.

"I talked to them about it," she said. "I liked the first story, and I have so many friends' kids who love it. I think it's romantic."