Lost in Translation

Lost in Translation is a 2003 romantic comedy drama film 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. He befriends another disillusioned American, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a recent college graduate and married for two years. Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, and Fumihiro Hayashi are also featured. The film explores themes of alienation and disconnection against a backdrop of cultural displacement in Japan. It does not use 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" in the Park Hyatt Tokyo, where she stayed while promoting her first feature film, the 1999 drama The Virgin Suicides. Coppola envisioned Murray playing the role of Bob from the beginning and tried to recruit him for months. While Murray eventually agreed to play the part, he did not sign a contract. Coppola spent a quarter of the film's $4 million budget without knowing if he would arrive.