Lost in Translation is a romantic comedy-drama film [ note 1 ] written and directed by Sofia Coppola. Bill Murray stars as Bob Harris, a fading American movie star who is having a midlife crisis when he travels to Tokyo to promote Suntory whisky. There, he befriends another estranged American named Charlotte Scarlett Johansson , a young woman and recent college graduate.
The film explores themes of alienation and disconnection against a backdrop of cultural displacement in Japan. It defies mainstream narrative conventions and is atypical in its depiction of romance. Coppola started writing the film after spending time in Tokyo and becoming fond of the city. She began forming a story about two characters experiencing a "romantic melancholy" [ 5 ] in the Park Hyatt Tokyo , where she stayed while promoting her first feature film, the drama The Virgin Suicides.
Coppola envisioned Murray playing the role of Bob Harris from the beginning and tried to recruit him for up to a year, relentlessly sending him telephone messages and letters. When Murray finally arrived, Coppola described feelings of significant relief. Principal photography began on September 29, , and lasted 27 days. Coppola kept a flexible schedule during filming with a small crew and minimal equipment. The screenplay was short and Coppola often allowed a significant amount of improvisation during filming.
The film's director of photography , Lance Acord , used available light as often as possible, and many Japanese places of business and public areas were used as locations for shooting. After 10 weeks of editing, Coppola sold distribution rights for the United States and Canada to Focus Features , and the company promoted the film by generating positive word of mouth before its theatrical release.
Bob Harris is a fading American movie star who arrives in Tokyo to appear in lucrative advertisements for Suntory 's Hibiki whisky. He stays at the upscale Park Hyatt Tokyo and is miserable due to problems within his year marriage and a midlife crisis.
