Sofia Coppola and Andrew Durham have maintained a close friendship since 1990, beginning when Durham produced Coppola’s first short film, The Star. Coppola credits Durham’s consistent support by saying,
“He’s been on all my sets,”
Sofia Coppola said during a Zoom conversation with Durham. She also noted her trust in his perspective, explaining,
“I always trust his feedback, and I knew he was looking to do a film.”
This mutual trust set the foundation for their work on Fairyland, a coming-of-age drama set in San Francisco, adapted from Alysia Abbott’s 2013 memoir of the same name.
While Durham typically worked as a photographer on Coppola’s projects, Fairyland marked his feature directorial debut with Coppola stepping into a producing role. The film’s journey to theaters was lengthy—it premiered at Sundance in 2023 after years of development and was released in select theaters nationwide. The process was challenging, especially given today’s climate for low-budget indie films, but both Coppola and Durham were committed to bringing Abbott’s story to life.
Plot and Setting: Exploring 1970s and ’80s San Francisco
Fairyland unfolds against the backdrop of San Francisco during the 1970s and ’80s, a time of immense cultural shifts—from the fading free-love era to the emergence of punk rock and the devastating AIDS epidemic. The story begins as Steve Abbott (Scoot McNairy) moves his daughter Alysia (Nessa Dougherty) from a conservative midwestern town to California after the tragic death of his wife in a car accident. They settle into an old Victorian house filled with bohemian roommates that shape their unconventional family environment.
As an aspiring poet and newly out gay man, Steve experiences a second adolescence while raising Alysia as a single father, a rare family dynamic especially for that era. The film explores their evolving relationship within this vibrant and accepting city, known for its alternative lifestyles, during an era when San Francisco became a hub for queer culture and activism.
Director Andrew Durham’s Personal Connection
For Durham, Fairyland resonated on a deeply personal level. Like the film’s characters, he was raised in the Bay Area and witnessed his father coming out and moving to San Francisco after his parents’ divorce. Reflecting on his upbringing, Durham shared,
“I grew up thinking that my brother and I were the only kids in the world that had a gay dad,”
highlighting the isolation he felt during childhood. Reading Abbott’s memoir helped him connect with a story that mirrored his own childhood in powerful ways.
Durham also lived through similar hardships as his real-life counterpart Alysia, caring for his father after he contracted HIV, which developed into AIDS. He recalled,
“It was quite enlightening that Alysia and I were the same age, at the same time, at the same place,”
and reflected,
“We even talked about whether or not our fathers ever ran into each other. Both of them died the same year, in 1992, so I guess we’ll never know.”
This connection brought a profound emotional weight to Durham’s directorial debut.
Casting Choices Rooted in Authenticity
Sofia Coppola’s influence extended into the casting of Fairyland, where Durham followed her instinctual approach.
Sofia always casts her actors from the gut, and she goes for people who she feels can really deliver,
Durham said, emphasizing the importance of finding individuals who embodied their roles beyond commercial appeal. The leading roles featured Scoot McNairy as Steve, newcomer Nessa Dougherty as young Alysia, a San Francisco native in her first film role, and Emilia Jones portraying older Alysia. The casting took years of careful consideration.
Durham noted,
I always went back to my gut,
also citing notable appearances from actors like Geena Davis, Adam Lambert, and Cody Fern. This deliberate casting process gave the film a natural yet deeply emotional essence that reflects the true spirit of Abbott’s memoir.
Costume Design Inspired by Personal Memories
Durham drew heavily from his own experiences when creating the film’s costume palette, especially to depict the youth culture of 1980s San Francisco. When high school–aged Alysia begins frequenting nightclubs with her friends Isabella Peregrina and Bella Murphy, their looks were inspired by Durham’s recollections of local teens during that era.
He explained,
The way they look and are styled was based on girls that I grew up with: the hardcore punk rock girl with tartan bondage pants and a leather jacket, and the girl who was really into ska bands like The Specials, with a beret and a checkered shirt.
Durham also modeled the older Alysia’s fashion after another acquaintance, describing her as
a little bit more New Wave or New Romantic, with a little Greek fisherman’s cap and a scarf around her neck with a blazer.
This attention to detail added layers of authenticity to the period and characters portrayed onscreen.
Portraying a Transformative and Difficult Era
Fairyland captures the bittersweet coming-of-age journey of Alysia as she grows out of her father’s whimsical, sheltering world and faces a harsher reality that lacks clear boundaries. Her decision to attend NYU and later study in Paris marks her pursuit of independence and the early stages of her career as a writer, which culminated in the memoir adapted for the film.
When Alysia returns home to care for her father during his battle with AIDS, the story grapples with the emotional complexity of becoming a young caretaker. San Francisco itself emerges as a character—offering a community space that fosters identity exploration while simultaneously confronting the devastating circumstances of the AIDS crisis. For Durham, revisiting these themes unlocked repressed memories. He revealed,
It was a horrible, horrible dark chapter, and I just wanted to get back to my life and never think or talk about it again.
The Lasting Impact and Hope for Representation
The experience of making Fairyland prompted Durham to revisit his personal history, a process he described as healing yet painful. He expressed gratitude for Abbott’s memoir, stating,
I’m so thankful for the book, because it made me go back and revisit that time,
reflecting on the opportunity to bring marginalized stories back into the spotlight.
Durham hopes the film inspires greater visibility for underrepresented groups. He noted,
I’m hoping people see my movie and realize we can still make films about marginalized folks. I wish there were people who could see the movie that obviously can’t now. But it’s my tribute to so many of them.
Fairyland stands as a testament to the power of personal storytelling and the perseverance required to create meaningful art amidst challenging circumstances.
