The Baldwins. The Sheens. The Olsens. All are showbiz family empires. But none can quite compare to the sheer number of talented members of The Family Coppola. Bigger than an empire, they make up a constellation of individuals united by blood, stardom, and canned wine.
To keep you, and myself organized, here is a family tree I drew up:
Now that you have the lineage down pat, let's mix things up a bit. Who knew Jason Schwartzman was part of this clan? Kind of rando if you ask me. He definitely got the looks side of the family. Not to say Sofia is a dog, because she's not (she's actually the queen of my heart, film-wise only), but Jason and his wide eyes are what must have captivated Mr. Wes Anderson way back in 1998, which led to his screen debut as the precociously charming and annoying Max Fischer in Rushmore. Years later, he started banging on the drums for Phantom Planet and recorded half of Guest, including single "California" that still rings in all our ears. His current-ish solo project is called Coconut Records. The following is the song "West Coast," which might get you a little blurry-eyed if you're from the East Coast. And it was also featured in Cloverfield, so there's that.
While we're on the random kick, let's just get Nick Cage out of the way because frankly, I'm not super into talking about him. After Leaving Las Vegas, I lost interest and I'm pretty sure I was only into that movie because of Elizabeth Shue anyways (one half of a brother/sister dream team). He's got a weird reputation or maybe it's just me who thinks that. While researching The Cage, I came upon the lost but not forgotten viral video of him "Losing His S**t," and let me tell you, it's pretty entertaining. I watched it twice.
Phew. Glad that's over and to tell you the truth, it wasn't all that bad. Let's talk Sofia's older bros for a second. Although he's been involved in moviemaking for decades, Roman's truly been popping up all over the scene -- especially the Wes Anderson scene -- over the past five or so years. He's more of a backstage kind of dude, difficult to recognize his face but easy to recognize his name as producer of two of Sofia's films and co-writer of two of Anderson's. The photo above is of Gian-Carlo as a youngster, the oldest of Francis Ford's children. Sadly, Gian-Carlo was killed at the age of 22 in a speedboating incident. Like many who came before him, the potential was huge. Little "Gio" is the third piece of the talented trifecta whose train stopped way too soon.
Finally, the Big Kahuna himself, Francis Ford. You've seen his wine at Safeway on the second to top shelf. You've seen his daughter's wine cans in the hands of sorority girls. You've been rejected from his literary magazine, Zoetrope: 
