Now that Sofia Coppola has popped out a kid, and those rumours about her directing an adaptation of Tipping the Velvet turned out to be false, people are also wondering if she’ll be popping out another movie anytime soon. While I can’t answer that question right now, I have learned through the cutting edge Big Screen Little Screen that she will be turning her attentions toward the stage in the near future.

Coppola will be directing an upcoming production of Puccini’s opera Manon Lescaut, starring temperamental tenor Robert Alagna. The opera will play at the Montpellier Opera House in southern France during its 2009-2010 season. Well, I suppose after the critical drubbing of Marie Antoinette, what better way to regain artistic respect than to direct an opera? As much as I like Sofia Coppola though, I don’t think I’m cultured enough to really care. No word on whether or not she’ll try and squeeze a movie in between there, but but it seems like she’ll probably take a bit of a break from film. (And no, Scarlett Johansson is not involved in the opera.)