FAMILY AFFAIRS
RASHIDA JONES IS wondering what to do. Everybody is. Empire is on a three-way Zoom video call with Jones, Marlon Wayans and Sofia Coppola — two of the stars, and the director, of On The Rocks . Bill Murray, the film’s other star, is supposed to be here, too, but he’s mysteriously absent.
Jones and Coppola, joining us from California, are trying to reach him on the East Coast, to no avail. Time zones have already caused confusion.
“SHALL WE DO AN INCANTATION TO GET BILL HERE?”
On The Rocks is a reunion for Coppola and Murray, 17 years after they worked together on 2003’s wistful Lost In Translation . They reteamed for 2015’s Netflix song-and-dance special A Very Murray Christmas , in which Jones also appeared and, from there, Coppola began cooking up On The Rocks . A sweet, comical father/daughter buddy movie, it finds Jones’ character Laura struggling to reconcile motherhood with her husband Dean’s (Wayans) contrasting freedom, as he seemingly has a blast with his high-powered job, and strikes up a suspicious-looking friendship with his co-worker Fiona (Jessica Henwick). Embarking on a fact-finding mission (well, spying) with her playboy dad Felix (Murray), she finds herself undertaking a more revelatory journey.
A cathartic exploration of generational and gender divides, it was in part inspired by Coppola and Jones’ own fathers — Francis Ford Coppola and Quincy Jones, who have been friends for decades. All of which will be discussed. First, though, we need to find
