Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring , a film based on the real-life robbery of celebrity homes, is taking the Cannes Film Festival by storm.
Coppola’s newest film reveals the details of the heists, which occurred in 2009 and 2010. During that time period, a group of Los Angeles teens stole $3 million worth of designer loot from the homes of young celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Orlando Bloom.
The director first heard of the teenage gang while reading a 2010 issue of Vanity Fair . Coppola says she was drawn to the story because she thought it presented a lot of relevant issues for teenagers today.
"It had all these fun appealing elements of young kids getting into trouble and this decadent side," says Coppola, as reported by Indy Star . "It felt so contemporary. This story can only happen right now with the Internet and all this information and reality TV stars that are so big to (youth)."
Star of the Harry Potter series, Emma Watson, portrays one of the Hollywood-obsessed teens. Watson not only stepped out of her wizard image to play this role, but also spent a great deal of time mastering the Los Angeles accent.
The British actress explained some methods of research throughout the film’s promotion. According to Yahoo! Movies, Watson said, "I watched a lot of 'Keeping up With the Kardashians' and 'The Hills,' and I tried to understand the psychology of this kind of girl as much as possible.”
The Bling Ring premiered at Cannes this past week, and is set to release in the United States on June 14.