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The Virgin Suicides

FILM · 1999 · USA

The Virgin Suicides

26 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026

  • The Virgin Suicides — production image

26 Interesting Facts About The Virgin Suicides

Interesting Facts (20)

  1. #001

    After writing the screenplay, Sofia Coppola was upset to learn that another company had produced its own adaptation of the book. That company was unhappy with its screenplays, so Coppola showed them her script, and they began using hers instead.

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  2. #002

    The girls' pre-graduation photo foreshadows their deaths. Lux reaches out to feel a leak from above (her hand's position resembles holding a cigarette) — later, when she dies, her hand is seen holding a cigarette outside the car running in the closed garage. Therese's eyes are closed, and she died from an overdose of sleeping pills. Bonnie's arm appears to be scratching her upper back but also resembles a hanging; that is how she died.

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  3. #003

    Alicia Silverstone was offered the role of Mary Lisbon but turned it down.

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  4. #004

    Kathleen Turner was the first actor to sign on to the project. Turner had met Coppola after they appeared together in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).

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  5. #005

    In the novel, Mary survives her suicide attempt and lives another month before dying of a sleeping pill overdose, like Therese.

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  6. #006

    At 1:22:51, just before Lux heads to the car in the garage, tears begin to form under her right eye. It is later revealed that all her sisters have killed themselves and were already gone at that point. Lux's tears are likely a mix of fear as well as pain, since she is about to kill herself too.

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  7. #007

    Air's music was first released by Virgin Records on February 23, 2000, and won critical acclaim, being regarded as one of the "best film scores/rock albums."

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  8. #008

    Cecelia wears the same dress in every scene she appears in.

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  9. #009

    The film's occasional use of photographs and collages was intended to evoke the "fantasia" of adolescence.

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  10. #010

    It is adapted from Jeffrey Eugenides's 1993 debut novel of the same name.

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  11. #011

    When the girls and boys call each other to play songs on the record player, they do not use the standard "555-" telephone numbers used in television and film.

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  12. #012

    The shot of Lux's hand holding a cigarette in the car was filmed with Sofia Coppola's hand instead of Kirsten Dunst's.

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  13. #013

    Sofia Coppola played the younger sister of Kathleen Turner's character in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), which was directed by Sofia's father, Francis Ford Coppola. Sofia later directed Ms. Turner in a film.

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  14. #014

    Robert Schwartzman, who plays Paul Baldino, is the real-life cousin of writer-director Sofia Coppola.

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  15. #015

    The film's themes are spelled out in three tarot cards that Peter passes when he enters Cecilia's room: The Star (faith, hope, rediscovering meaning after the Tower's destruction — also significant because Cecilia jumps from the roof at the beginning), The Empress (femininity, nurturing, mother), and the Five of Cups (regret, blindness, pessimism, inability to move on).

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  16. #016

    It was selected by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the ten best films of 2000 (#07, tied with "Yi-Yi").

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  17. #017

    Coppola's brother, Roman Coppola, was the film's second unit director.

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  18. #018

    Hayden Christensen's character, Jake Hill Conley, was the love interest of Leslie Hayman's character, Therese Lisbon, not A. J.'s. Cook's character is Mary Lisbon. When the boys first ask the girls to the dance, you can see that Jake asks Therese to dance. When they drop the girls off, Therese asks Jake whether he will call her.

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  19. #019

    Greg Sestero was considered to play Trip Fontaine, but the role went to Josh Hartnett.

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  20. #020

    A deluxe edition of the film's soundtrack music was released in June 2015, and a vinyl reissue was released by Rhino Records in 2020.

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Production Story (1)

  1. #021

    The Virgin Suicides was shot in the summer of 1998 in Toronto, Ontario, standing in for a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, on a budget of 6 million dollars. Filming lasted about a month.

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Characters & Cast (2)

  1. #022

    Coppola auditioned many actresses for the role of Lux but got a "gut choice" from Kirsten Dunst, who was sixteen when she was cast. Dunst said of the role: "I was nervous. My first role was more 'sexy.' I also wasn't sure how big the part would be, because most of it had no dialogue. When I met Sofia, I immediately saw that she would handle it delicately… [she] really brought out the girls' luminous side; she made them like spiritual angels, as if they weren't really there."

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  2. #023

    James Woods took on the passive father role opposite Turner. Coppola's father Francis gave Woods the script, and he was so struck by it and by the character's "dark humor" that he agreed to play the role.

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Easter Eggs & References (1)

  1. #024

    In the scene where the boys exchange songs with the Lisbon sisters over the phone, a world map using the much rarer Gall-Peters projection can be seen in the background.

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Deeper Meaning (2)

  1. #025

    The French electronic duo Air composed the score for The Virgin Suicides. Coppola did not want 1970s hits; instead she wanted a "consistent soundtrack" suited to the film's theme, which led Air to come on board. She wanted the soundtrack to convey the theme of adolescence in the suburbs. Although they had grown up in a different country, she found that Air shared many of her suburban memories and experiences.

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  2. #026

    After reading the source novel, Coppola was inspired to write the film: "I didn't really know I wanted to be a director until I read The Virgin Suicides and saw so clearly how it had to be done," she said. "I immediately saw that the main story was about distance, time and what memory does to you, and the extraordinary power of the inexplicable."

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Related pages

Sources & editorial notes

Reference databases

  • IMDb IMDb title page (trivia)

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