Remembering Sofia Coppola’s messy 1990s television show, ‘Hi-Octane’
It’s no surprise that nepotism runs Hollywood, with some of the most successful filmmakers and actors born the children of other well-known industry figures. The Coppolas are one of cinema’s most prestigious family dynasties, spawning multiple generations of Hollywood royalty. After Francis Ford Coppola rose to prominence as one of the key directors of the New Hollywood era, his daughter Sofia Coppola gained attention in the 1980s due to her poorly-received performance in The Godfather Part III. Stating that she only took the role as a favour to her father, Coppola abandoned acting in favour of a multitude of other pursuits, which proved to be much more fruitful.
Through the 1990s, she studied photography and began modelling for a variety of teen magazines, such as Seventeen. Coppola also teamed up with her pal Stephanie Hayman and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon to design clothes, eventually founding the Japanese clothing line Milk Fed. Coppola quickly became somewhat of a 90s it girl, starring in music videos for the likes of Sonic Youth and Madonna. However, before she eventually cemented her status as one of the most successful directors of the 21st century, she made her own television show, Hi-Octane, which aired on Comedy Central in 1994.
Directed and co-hosted by Coppola alongside her fellow director-daughter friend Zoe Cassavetes (child of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands), Hi-Octane was short-lived, with only three of its four 22-minute episodes making it to air. However, the show was rife with chaos and jam-packed with some of fashion, film and music’s biggest names.
Over its short runtime, the hosts interacted with stars ranging from Martin Scorsese to Keanu Reeves and Karl Lagerfeld. When the pair were not mingling with celebrities, they were discussing cars or attempting to drive monster trucks, with Coppola explaining to W Magazine that she “wrote the script ‘cause I was so into cars. And I have access to all these interesting people – these actors and musicians – so we just wanted to incorporate the things we’re interested in. Cars, painting, music.”
The show is extremely chaotic, moving from segment to segment without a pause for breath. The lo-fi aesthetic gives the episodes an innately nostalgic feel, aided by the low-quality handheld cameras that film the action. It’s surprising how many big names appear in the series, including unlikely interactions between fashion mogul Anna Wintour and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore. The musician even got his own segment, ‘Thurston’s Alley’, where he interviewed artists such as Johnny Ramone. Talking to Stereogum, Moore said, “The space Kim [Gordon] and I were living in at the time was near an alleyway named Jones Alley. So we set up a couple of chairs in that alley and filmed there.”
In one episode, an X-Girl fashion show takes place on the streets of New York, with a young pre-actor fame Chloë Sevigny appearing on the runway. Another segment sees Keanu Reeves make an appearance, sitting on the side of the road with a book in hand before Coppola and Cassavetes show up. Hi-Octane even takes us to a Beck gig, where the interviewer asks him questions such as, “Have you ever had sex in the back seat of a car?” and “Are you old school or new school?”
The randomness of Hi-Octane is wholly indicative of the period it was released and acts as the perfect time capsule for a fascinating time in 1990s pop culture. According to Cassavetes (via Vogue), “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 chicks in a car.” A few years later, Coppola would release her debut film, The Virgin Suicides, launching her incredibly successful movie-making career.
Watch an episode below.
