Sofia Coppola grows up

But now the Movie Child is all grown up. She's 28; she's married to director Spike Jonze.

Now, she's about to endure another rite of passage to Coppola adulthood. Her directorial debut, "The Virgin Suicides," is hitting theaters nationwide this weekend.

It seems every moment, starting from her silver-screen baptism, has been leading up to this moment when she embraces the, um, family business.

So, was it intimidating to finally follow in her father's award-winning footsteps? On a phone call from her home in Los Angeles, Coppola, in a voice that still sounds stuck in her teen-age years, says it was a natural progression.

Dunst portrays Lux, a sexy, feminine teen, in "The Virgin Suicides"

"Since filmmaking is so familiar in my family, it's not foreign to choose that as a way to express myself," she says. "It's familiar to me. It wasn't too daunting."

"Also, I think it helps having it be my first movie and being naive to what it really entails," she says. "You jump into something because you don't realize how hard it really is."

Five beauties, five deaths

"The Virgin Suicides" is the screen version of the 1993 novel by Jeffrey Eugenides. To complement her directing duties, Coppola penned the screenplay.

Based in the 1970s, the film recollects the events leading up to the inexplicable suicides of the five Lisbon sisters, ethereal teen beauties living in a quaint home on an elm-lined Michigan street.

Through the nostalgic filter of neighborhood boys who lusted for them, we see the Lisbon girls struggling under the weight of their repressive parents, played by James Woods and Kathleen Turner. But the film, like the book, never fully realizes a definitive cause for the suicides.

Instead, we search for a reason by focusing on rebellious, sexy Lux (played by Kirsten Dunst), one of the sisters. She falls for athlete-druggie-heartthrob Tripp Fontaine (Josh Hartnett), who ends up breaking the 16-year-old's heart.

"I have a fondness for that character, of Lux just being this symbol -- this icon of youth and life and femininity and everything," says Coppola. "When I met Kirsten, ... she just kind of embodied the way that I imagined Lux to be, in that Lolita way."

Coppola also likes the way Hartnett plays the character of Tripp -- all swagger and hair, with a painfully '70s 'do.

"We put a lot of time and effort into his hair," laughs Coppola. "And Josh came up with that great walk. I'm such a fan of his. I think he's great."

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'It has been great'

While critics might reserve the same review for other movies, Coppola's directing talents are receiving solid marks.

The Village Voice calls "The Virgin Suicides" a "pitch-perfect" adaptation. The New York Times says the movie shows Coppola "to be a filmmaker with fine visual and emotional instincts, adept at matching the book's hypnotic, sensual black humor."

"It's been great to have positive reviews, especially because for so long I put myself completely into it," says Coppola. "You're so vulnerable putting yourself up to be reviewed, so it's exciting that they see something in it that I intended."

Though Coppola's not ruling out future career changes, she seems to have found her calling in directing.

"I really like it and I really want to continue because it combines so many things; it's not limited to one area of interest," she says. "So I definitely want to continue."

For now, the grown-up Movie Child is enjoying the release of her first feature film.

"I've been working on 'Virgin Suicides' for the past four years, so I'm excited to have a little springtime at home," she says, "and to start writing again."

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'The Virgin Suicides'

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