Fifteen years ago, I totally forgot my lines on stage and was mortified. We skipped two pages of dialogue and took three minutes off the play – to the delight of the audience!
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 August 2026 source ↗
Which moment embarrassed you most?
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
Question
Who most deserves an apology from you, and why?
Failure & regret
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Question
What most recently made you cry?
Identity & self
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Being on the cover of a magazine at 18 with the slogan: “Did she ruin The Godfather?”
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2023 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 122 →When I concentrate, I put my thumb in my mouth. I once did it during a really important meeting when asked a question I didn’t know the answer to. When I left the meeting my friend said: “What did you put your thumb in your mouth for?” I didn’t know I’d done it.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 August 2026 source ↗
If you’re a mother, you are embarrassing. Is that not just the way?
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 October 2025 source ↗
John Simm
English musician and actor
Going to pieces while meeting John Squire, the lead guitarist of the Stone Roses, backstage after a gig. I completely lost the ability to speak. I told him I had the same guitars as he’d just used on stage, and when he asked me which ones, the words completely went out of my head and there was a huge pause, and then his wife tapped his shoulder and he wandered off.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 March 2023 source ↗
More from Sofia Coppola
View profile →Making films exactly how I wanted.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2023 source ↗
To follow your path and not worry about what to do too much; one thing leads to the next, and you wind up where you’re meant to be.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2023 source ↗
An Elizabeth Peyton painting.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2023 source ↗
To a girl we were mean to in first grade.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2023 source ↗
Being hard on myself. I don’t want to pass that on to my daughters, so I’m trying to stop.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2023 source ↗
Two weeks before shooting – after some of our financing dropped out – when the producers said I had to cut a week’s worth of scenes out of my script. I was on location and away from my daughters [currently in middle and high school] who I felt were needing a mother.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 March 2023 source ↗
More on failure & regret
- What has been your biggest disappointment? 218 answers
- Who most deserves an apology from you, and why? 209 answers
- If you could edit your past, what would you change? 203 answers
- What is the worst thing anyone has said to you? 122 answers
- How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a favourite failure? 60 answers
- What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? 35 answers
Also answered this · A–Z
Adam Lambert, Adele Parks, Alex Hassell, Alison Steadman, Andrew O’Hagan, Bear Grylls
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