‘Hi-Octane’: Sofia Coppola and Zoe Cassavetes’ forgotten TV show
What do you get when you mix two of the biggest and brightest Hollywood nepo-babies with cameras, a limitless cast of celebrity guests, and heavy backing from Comedy Central? A sensation, that’s what.
If those two nepo-babies happen to be a young Sofia Coppola and Zoe Cassavetes, the result is not only a 1990s sensation but a true masterpiece of television. Criminally forgotten in the passing of time, the pair directed a quite brilliant TV show called Hi-Octane.
Hi-Octane was a perfect coming together of two bright Hollywood ‘It girls’, their clear cinematic education and vision, and their youthful spirit. Creating a time capsule of 1990s celebrity and style, the show included incredible guests, monster trucks, fast cars, and buckets of humour.
It all started with the friendship between Coppola and Cassavetes, both of whom are the daughters of major movie figures. Coppola is obviously the prodigal daughter of Francis Ford Coppola and would go on to be an influential director in her own right with films like The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette and the recent Priscilla. Cassavetes, meanwhile, is the daughter of John Cassavetes, an actor turned director who helped popularise independent cinema through movies like Rosemary’s Baby and A Woman Under the Influence.
In their early 20s, the two budding directors were close friends with a budget and a silly idea. With Francis Ford Coppola’s production company, Zoetrope, footing the bill, the two friends decided to use all the celebrity connections at their disposal to create what was to become Hi-Octane.
Within only the first episode, a handful of trendy people and close friends included Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, model Naomi Campbell, musicians Johnny Ramone and Beck, actor Nicolas Cage and more. Across the three episodes aired, other guests were Martin Scorsese, Anna Wintour, Debby Harry and The Beastie Boys as a veritable who’s-who of A-list Hollywood celebrities and cultural figures.
But the magic of Hi-Octane comes from its nonchalance. Even when interviewing the world’s most famous faces, the TV show is packed with a heavy dose of humour. The friends never take themselves too seriously, as the entire series carries the feeling of an inside joke taken to its furthest point. In the introduction to episode one, a young Sofia Coppola stares straight into the camera and says, “Can you believe they’re going to let me try this?” Sure, she’s talking about the giant monster truck behind her that she’ll take for a spin later in the episode, but the sentiment can be applied to the entire premise of the series.
One highlight is “Thurston’s Alley”, a repeat feature in which Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore takes control of the airwaves from a deck chair down New York City side streets. With his own comical theme song and a spring in his step as he fake karate kicks the camera, the entire segment is a fever dream. Across the three episodes, they send the grunge rocker into Conde Nast’s headquarters for a hilariously awkward chat with Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and let him take his favourite musicians and actors for the ride. Moore takes it all pretty seriously, which only adds to the ridiculousness, allowing him 15 minutes of TV fame in these Andy Warhol-esque interviews.
Written by the two friends and directed by Coppola, the TV show is the first project the future Oscar winner ever worked on. Released in 1994, the show comes four years before her feature debut with The Virgin Suicides in 1998. However, Coppola fans will spot the early origins of a lot of her signatures.
Episode three of the TV show starts with a phoney argument as Cassavetes complains, “Not only is Sofia walking all over my lines, now she’s got all the lines. What’s she doing, screwing the director or something?” Throwing silly jabs at the industry both of the women were born into, the show is packed with the melodrama that colours Coppola’s work. It has the same dry humour beloved in all her movies, finding its origins in this ridiculous series. Similarly, through the TV shows many musical guests and use of music, Coppola’s obsession with crafting the perfect soundtrack begins.
Released in 1994, Hi-Octane was ahead of the curve. As the internet and sites like YouTube were just about to boom into cultural domination, Coppola and Cassavetes were early pioneers of multimedia, web-show-like formats. “We were like ‘Let’s take these cameras and let’s do these fun things,’” Cassavetes told Vogue. “I don’t think anyone else had really used a digital video as a TV show at that point. We didn’t care about making it look gorgeous or anything. It was really about the spirit of the show, the guests, and two young hot badass chics in a car.”
Hi-Octane really is essential viewing for Coppola fans. Not only is it where her directorial career began and the origin of her style, but it’s such a fun insight into her personality and humour. “People ask me if I revisit my work or want to change things, and I feel like that is a time capsule of us in our 20s and stuff that we were into. I wouldn’t change it because part of the sloppiness makes it unique and what it is,” the director said. “I think if anything has sincerity and heart, this is it.”
