First Apple Original Movie Will Be A Sofia Coppola A24 Film Starring Bill Murray, Rashida Jones
Sixteen years have passed since Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray got lost in the neon-lit streets of Tokyo, but now the director and her Lost in Translation star are reuniting for Apple's first original film. Coppola will be directing Murray and Rashida Jones in On the Rocks, a father-daughter drama that will mark the first project under the pact between indie studio A24 and Apple.
Apple is starting its original content era strong with an A24 feature film directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Bill Murray and Rashida Jones. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news about On the Rocks, which "follows a young mother who reconnects with her larger-than-life playboy father on an adventure through New York."
Jones stars as the aforementioned young mother, while Murray will play her playboy father. On the Rocks will film on location in New York City this spring.
On The Rocks will be the first project under the deal struck by A24 — the wunderkind indie studio behind critical darlings like Moonlight, Lady Bird, and Eighth Grade — and Apple, which was sealed in November 2018. And it will only be the first of many, as A24 is set to produce a slate of multiple films for the upcoming streaming service as Apple prepares to enter the original content battlefield. But judging by the star power it has for its first original project, Apple could be positioned to rival the current streaming giant Netflix, as well as its biggest rivals Hulu and Amazon.
Coppola and Murray's names attached also suggest that the Apple films won't abide by the same strict "family-friendly" guidelines as its original TV shows. This is an A24 film after all, a studio known for pushing the envelope in ways that would totally flout Apple's apparent ban on sex, violence, and risque content. Or could we be gearing up to see our first PG-rated Coppola film?
It's also still unclear how the films under the A24-Apple deal will be distributed. A24 is set to handle theatrical distribution for its films, so it seems likely that the films will premiere at some point on Apple devices, similar to how the company's original television shows are said to be available for free on Apple devices when they debut next year. Whether that's day-and-date like many Netflix releases, or months after a theatrical run like Amazon, that's yet to be seen.