Francis Ford Coppola
Encyclopedia
Francis Ford Coppola
is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's
most innovative and influential film directors. He epitomized the group of filmmakers known as the New Hollywood
, that includes George Lucas
, Martin Scorsese
, Robert Altman
, Woody Allen
, William Friedkin
, Peter Bogdanovich
, and Brian De Palma
who emerged in the early 1970s with unconventional ideas that challenged contemporary filmmaking.
He co-authored the script for Patton
, winning the Academy Award in 1970. His directorial fame escalated with the release of The Godfather
in 1972. The film revolutionized movie-making in the gangster genre, earning praise from critics and public alike. It went on to win three Academy Awards, including his second, for Best Adapted Screenplay, and was instrumental in cementing his position as a prominent American film director.
Coppola followed it with a critically successful sequel, The Godfather Part II
, which became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture
. The film was highly praised and won him three Academy Awards—for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture
. The Conversation
, which Coppola directed, produced and wrote, was released that same year, winning the Palme d'Or
at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival
. He next directed 1979's Apocalypse Now
; notorious for its lengthy and troubled production and critically acclaimed for its vivid and stark depiction of the Vietnam War
. It won his second Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival
.
Many of Coppola's ventures in the 1980s
and 1990s
were critically lauded, but he has never refound his successes of the 1970s
.
, Basilicata
). He received his middle name in honor of Henry Ford
, as he was born at the Henry Ford Hospital
. His parents were Italia
(née Pennino) and Carmine Coppola
, who was the first flutist for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
. He was the second of three children (his older brother was August Coppola
and younger sister is actress Talia Shire
). Two years later, Carmine became the first flutist for the NBC Symphony Orchestra
and the family moved to New York City, finding a home in Woodside, Queens
, where Francis spent the remainder of his childhood.
Coppola had polio as a boy, leaving him bedridden for large periods of his childhood, and allowing him to indulge his imagination with homemade puppet theater productions. Reading A Streetcar Named Desire
at age 15 was instrumental in developing his interest in theater. Eager to be involved in film-craft, he turned out 8mm features edited from home movies with such titles as The Rich Millionaire and The Lost Wallet. As a child he was a mediocre student but was very much interested in technology and engineering; so much, in fact, that his friends nicknamed him “Science”. Initially he trained for a career in music and became so proficient on the tuba that he won a musical scholarship to the New York Military Academy
. After graduating from the Great Neck North High School
, he entered Hofstra University
in 1955 majoring in theater arts. There he won a play-writing scholarship, which furthered his interest in directing theater, though this wasn't approved by his father, who wanted him to study engineering. However, after he chanced to see Sergei Eisenstein
’s October, which impressed him profoundly, particularly the quality of editing in the movie, Coppola decided that he would not go into theater but would opt for cinema. Among his batch-mates were Lainie Kazan
and James Caan
. He would later cast Caan in The Rain People
and in The Godfather
as Sonny Corleone
.
While pursuing his bachelor's degree, Coppola was elected president of The Green Wig, the university's drama group, the Kaleidoscopians, its musical comedy club, and then merged the two into The Spectrum Players. Under his leadership, they staged a new production each week. Coppola also founded the cinema workshop at Hofstra, and contributed prolifically to the campus literary magazine. He won three D. H. Lawrence Awards for theatrical production and direction, and received a Beckerman Award for his outstanding contributions to the school's theater arts division. While a graduate student, one of his teachers was Dorothy Arzner
, whose encouragement Coppola later acknowledged as pivotal to his film career. He graduated from the University in 1959.
at Los Angeles
, where he met Jim Morrison
. Coppola would later use Morrison's well-known song "The End
" in Apocalypse Now
. Very soon he enrolled in UCLA Film School for graduate work in film. At UCLA, Coppola directed a short horror film called “The Two Christophers” inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's
"William Wilson
". He also directed “Ayamonn the Terrible”, a film about a sculptor’s nightmares coming to life. It was then he decided to experiment as a serious film director and ended up directing a softcore porn film Tonight for Sure
in 1962. The film failed to attract any attention. The company that hired Coppola to edit Tonight for Sure brought him back to re-cut a German film titled Mit Eva fing die Sünde an directed by Fritz Umgelter
. He added some new 3-D color footage and earned a writer’s and director’s credit for The Bellboy and the Playgirls
, also a box-office failure. Coppola was hired as an assistant by Roger Corman
. His first job for Corman was to dub and re-edit a Russian science fiction film Nebo zovyot, which he turned into a sex-and-violence monster movie entitled Battle Beyond the Sun
, released in 1962. Impressed by Coppola's perseverance and dedication, Corman hired him as dialogue director on Tower of London
(1962), sound man for The Young Racers
(1963) and associate producer of The Terror
(1963).
While on location in Ireland for The Young Racers in 1963, Corman, ever alert for an opportunity to produce a decent movie on a shoestring budget, persuaded Coppola to make a low-budget horror movie with funds left over from that movie. Coppola wrote a brief draft story idea in one night. It incorporated elements from Hitchcock's
Psycho, and it impressed Corman enough to give him the go-ahead. On a budget of $40,000 ($20,000 from Corman and $20,000 from another producer who wanted to buy the movie's English rights), Coppola directed in a period of just nine days, Dementia 13
, his first feature from his own original screenplay. Somewhat superior to the run-of-the-mill exploitation films being turned out at that time, the film recouped its shoestring expenses and went on to become a minor cult film among horror buffs. It was on the sets of Dementia 13 that he met his future wife Eleanor Jessie Neil
.
In 1965, Coppola won the annual Samuel Goldwyn Award for the best screenplay (Pilma, Pilma) written by a UCLA student. This secured him a job as a scriptwriter with Seven Arts
. In between, he co-wrote the scripts for This Property Is Condemned
(1966) and Is Paris Burning?
(1966). However fame was still eluding him, and partly out of desperation, Coppola bought the rights to the David Benedictus
novel You're a Big Boy Now and fused it with a story idea of his own, resulting in You're a Big Boy Now
(1966). This was his UCLA thesis project that also received a theatrical release via Warner Bros.
. This movie brought him some critical acclaim and eventually the Master of Fine Arts Degree.
Following the success of You're a Big Boy Now, Coppola was offered the reins of the movie version of the Broadway musical Finian's Rainbow
, starring Petula Clark
, in her first American film, and veteran Fred Astaire
. Producer Jack Warner
was nonplussed by Coppola's shaggy-haired, bearded, "hippie" appearance and generally left him to his own devices. He took his cast to the Napa Valley
for much of the outdoor shooting, but these scenes were in sharp contrast to those obviously filmed on a Hollywood soundstage, resulting in a disjointed look to the film. Dealing with outdated material at a time when the popularity of film musicals was already on the downslide, Coppola's result was only semi-successful, but his work with Clark no doubt contributed to her Golden Globe Best Actress nomination. The film introduced George Lucas
to him, who became his life-long friend as well as production assistant in his next film The Rain People
in 1969. It was written, directed and initially produced by Coppola himself, though as the movie advanced, he fell short of his budget and the studio had to underwrite the remainder of the movie. The film won the Golden Shell
at the 1969 San Sebastian Film Festival
.
In 1969, Coppola took it upon himself to subvert the studio system which he felt had stifled his visions, intending to produce mainstream pictures to finance off-beat projects and give first-time directors their chance to direct. He decided he would name his future studio "Zoetrope" after receiving a gift of zoetrope
s from Mogens Scot-Hansen, founder of a studio called Lanterna Film and owner of a famous collection of early motion picture making equipment. While touring Europe
, Coppola was introduced to alternative filmmaking equipment and inspired by the bohemian spirit of Lanterna Film. He decided he would build a deviant studio that would conceive and implement creative, unconventional approaches to filmmaking. Upon his return home, Coppola and George Lucas searched for a mansion in Marin to house the studio. However, with equipment flowing in and no mansion found yet, the first home for Zoetrope Studio
became a warehouse in San Francisco on Folsom Street in 1969. The studio went on to become an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV.
in 1970 along with Edmund H. North
. This earned him his first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
. However, it was not easy for Coppola to convince Franklin J. Schaffner that the opening scene would work. Coppola later revealed in an interview:
Even after the director was persuaded to keep the scene intact, George C. Scott
refused to do it, as he believed it would overshadow the rest of his performance. The director lied and assured him that it would be shown at the end. The movie opens with Scott's rendering of Patton's famous military "Pep Talk" to members of the Third Army, set against a huge American flag
. Coppola and North had to tone down Patton's actual language to avoid an R rating; in the opening monologue, the word "fornicating" replaced "fucking" when criticizing the The Saturday Evening Post
. Over the years, this opening monologue has become an iconic scene, and has spawned parodies in numerous films, political cartoons and television shows.
in 1972 was a milestone in cinema. The near 3-hour-long epic, which chronicled the saga of the Corleone family
, received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, and fetched Coppola the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, which he shared with Mario Puzo
, and two Golden Globe Award
s- for Best Director and Best Screenplay
. However, Coppola had to face a lot of difficulties while filming The Godfather. He was not Paramount's
first choice to direct the movie; Italian
director Sergio Leone
was initially offered the job, but declined in order to direct his own gangster opus, Once Upon a Time in America
. Peter Bogdanovich
was then approached but he also declined the offer and made What's Up, Doc?
instead; Bogdanovich has often said that he would have cast Edward G. Robinson
in the lead had he accepted the film. According to Robert Evans
, head of Paramount Pictures
at the time, Coppola also did not initially want to direct the film because he feared it would glorify the Mafia and violence, and thus reflect poorly on his Sicilian
and Italian heritage; on the other hand, Evans specifically wanted an Italian-American to direct the film because his research had shown that previous films about the Mafia that were directed by non-Italians had fared dismally at the box office, and he wanted to, in his own words, "smell the spaghetti". When Coppola hit upon the idea of making it a metaphor for American capitalism, however, he eagerly agreed to take the helm.
There was disagreement between Paramount and Coppola on the issue of casting; Coppola stuck to his plan of casting Marlon Brando
as Vito Corleone
, though Paramount wanted either Ernest Borgnine
or Danny Thomas
. At one point, Coppola was told by the then-president of Paramount that "Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture". After pleading with the executives, Coppola was allowed to cast Brando only if he appeared in the film for much less salary than his previous films, perform a screen-test, and put up a bond saying that he would not cause a delay in the production (as he had done on previous film sets). Coppola chose Brando over Ernest Borgnine
on the basis of Brando's screen test, which also won over the Paramount leadership. Brando later won an Academy Award
for his portrayal, which he refused to accept. Coppola would later recollect:
After it was released, the film received widespread praise. It went on to win multiple awards, including Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola. The film routinely features at the top in various polls for the greatest movies ever. It has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
. In addition, it is ranked third, behind Citizen Kane
, and Casablanca
on the AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies list by the American Film Institute
. It was moved up to second when the list was published again, in 2008. Director Stanley Kubrick
believed that The Godfather was possibly the greatest movie ever made, and had without question the best cast.
, further cemented his position as one of the most talented auteurs
of Hollywood. The movie was partly influenced by Michelangelo Antonioni
’s Blowup
(1966). The film generated a lot of speculation and interest when news leaked that the film utilized the very same surveillance and wire-tapping equipment that members of the Nixon administration used to spy on political opponents prior to Watergate. Although Coppola insisted that this was purely coincidental, for not only was the script for The Conversation completed in the mid-1960s (before the election of Richard Nixon
) but the spying equipment used in the film was discovered through research and the use of technical advisers and not, as many believed, by revelatory newspaper stories about the Watergate break-in. However, the audience interpreted the film to be a reaction to both the Watergate scandal and its fall-out. The movie was a critical success, and won Coppola his first Palme d'Or
at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival
.
parallel to The Conversation. It was the last major American motion picture to be filmed in Technicolor
. George Lucas commented on the film after its five-hour-long preview, telling Coppola: "You have two films. Take one away, it doesn't work", referring to the movie's portrayal of two parallel storylines; one of a young Vito Corleone
and the other of his son Michael
. In the director's commentary on the DVD edition of the film (released in 2002), Coppola states that this film was the first major motion picture to use "Part II" in its title. Paramount was initially opposed to his decision to name the movie The Godfather Part II. According to Coppola, the studio's objection stemmed from the belief that audiences would be reluctant to see a film with such a title, as the audience would supposedly believe that, having already seen The Godfather, there was little reason to see an addition to the original story. The success of The Godfather Part II began the Hollywood tradition of numbered sequels. The movie was released in 1974, and went on to receive tremendous critical acclaim, with many deeming it superior to its predecessor. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and received 6 Oscars, including 3 for Coppola: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.
The Godfather Part II is ranked as the #1 greatest movie of all time in TV Guide's "50 Best Movies of All Time", and is ranked at #7 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "100 Greatest Movies of All Time". The film is also featured on movie critic Leonard Maltin's
list of the "100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century", as well as Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. It was also featured on Sight and Sound's list of the ten greatest films of all time in 2002, ranking at #4.
, an adaptation of Conrad
’s Heart of Darkness
set in Cambodia
during the Vietnam War
(Coppola himself briefly appears as a TV news director). Before production of the film began, Coppola went to his mentor Roger Corman for advice about shooting in the Philippines
, since Corman had filmed several pictures there. Coppola said that all the advice Corman offered was "Don't go". The production of the film was plagued by numerous problems, including typhoons, nervous breakdowns, the firing of Harvey Keitel
, Martin Sheen
's heart attack, extras from the Philippine military leaving in the middle of scenes to go fight rebels, and an unprepared Brando
with a bloated appearance (which Coppola attempted to hide by shooting him in the shadows). It was delayed so often it was nicknamed Apocalypse When?. The 1991 documentary film
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
, directed by Eleanor Coppola
(Francis's wife), Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper, chronicles the difficulties the crew went through making Apocalypse Now, and features behind-the-scenes footage filmed by Eleanor. After filming Apocalypse Now, Coppola famously stated: "We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane."
The film was overwhelmingly lauded by critics when it finally appeared in 1979, and was selected at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival
and won the Palme d'Or
, along with The Tin Drum
, directed by Volker Schlöndorff
. When the film screened at Cannes, he quipped: "My film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam." Apocalypse Nows reputation has grown in time and it is now regarded by many as a masterpiece of the New Hollywood
era, and is frequently cited as one of the greatest movies ever made. Roger Ebert
considers it to be the finest film on the Vietnam war and included it on his list for the 2002 Sight and Sound poll for the greatest movie of all time.
In 2001, Coppola re-released Apocalypse Now as Apocalypse Now Redux
, restoring several sequences lost from the original 1979 cut of the film, thereby expanding its length to 200 minutes.
One from the Heart (1982) Apocalypse Now marked the end of the golden phase of Coppola's career. His musical fantasy One from the Heart
, although it pioneered the use of video-editing techniques which are standard practice in the film industry today, ended with a disastrous box-office gross of $636,796 against a US$26 million budget, far from enough to recoup the costs incurred in the production of the movie, and he was forced to sell his 23-acre Zoetrope Studio in 1983. He would spend the rest of the decade working to pay his debts. (Zoetrope Studios finally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990, after which its name was changed to American Zoetrope
). In addition he was forced into US bankruptcy court three times in the next 8 years.
in the same year. Although Coppola was not credited for his effort, according to one source, "by the time the final version was released in 1982, only 30 percent of Wenders' footage remained, and the rest was completely reshot by Coppola, whose mere 'executive producer' credit is just a technicality."
The Outsiders (1983) In 1983, he directed The Outsiders
, a film adaptation of the novel of the same name
by S. E. Hinton
. Coppola credited his inspiration for making the film to a suggestion from middle school students who had read the novel. The Outsiders is notable for being the breakout film for a number of young actors who would go on to become major stars. These included major roles for Matt Dillon
, Ralph Macchio
, and C. Thomas Howell
. Also in the cast were Patrick Swayze
, Rob Lowe
, Emilio Estevez
, Diane Lane
, and Tom Cruise
. Matt Dillon and several others also starred in Coppola's related film, Rumble Fish
, which was also based on a S. E. Hinton novel and filmed at the same time as The Outsiders on-location in Tulsa, Oklahoma
. Carmine Coppola wrote and edited the musical score, including the title song "Stay Gold", which was based upon a famous Robert Frost
poem and performed for the movie by Stevie Wonder
. The film was a moderate box-office success, drawing a revenue of $25 million against a budget of $10 million.
Rumble Fish (1983) Rumble Fish
was based on the novel of the same name
by S. E. Hinton
, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Shot in black-and-white as an homage to German expressionist films, Rumble Fish centers on the relationship between a revered former gang leader (Mickey Rourke
), and his younger brother, Rusty James (Matt Dillon
). The film bombed at the box office, earning a meagre $2.5 million against a budget of $10 million, and once again aggravated Coppola's financial troubles.
The Cotton Club (1984) In 1984 Coppola directed Robert Evans
-produced The Cotton Club
. The film was nominated for several awards, including Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Picture (Drama) and the Oscar for Best Film Editing. However the film failed miserably at the box-office, recouping only $25.9 million of the $47.9 million privately invested by brothers Fred and Ed Doumani. The same year he directed an episode of Rip Van Winkle, where Harry Dean Stanton
played the lead role. The next year, along with producer George Lucas, he was able to indulge himself by making Captain EO
(1985), a 12-minute space fantasy for Disney theme parks starring pop superstar Michael Jackson
. At a cost of about one million dollars per minute of film, it was, minute-for-minute, the most expensive motion picture of all time.
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) In 1986
Coppola released the comedy Peggy Sue Got Married
starring Kathleen Turner
, Nicolas Cage
and Jim Carrey
. Much like The Outsiders
and Rumble Fish
, Peggy Sue Got Married centered around teenage youth. The film earned Coppola positive feedback and provided Kathleen Turner her first and only Oscar nomination. It was the first box-office success for Coppola since Apocalypse Now
. The film later ranked number 17 on Entertainment Weekly
's list of "50 Best High School Movies."
Gardens of Stone (1987) The following year, Coppola re-teamed with James Caan for Gardens of Stone
. The film was overshadowed by the death of Coppola's eldest son Gian-Carlo Coppola
during the film's production. The movie was not a critical success and performed poorly at the box office, earning only $5.2 million.
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) Coppola directed Tucker: The Man and His Dream
the following year. A biopic based on the life of Preston Tucker
and his attempt to produce and market the Tucker '48, Coppola had originally conceived the project as a musical with Marlon Brando
after the release of The Godfather Part II. Ultimately it was Jeff Bridges
who played the role of Preston Tucker. The film received positive reviews, earning three nominations at the 62nd Academy Awards
. In addition, Martin Landau
won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, while Dean Tavoularis
won the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design
.
and Woody Allen
for an anthology film
called New York Stories
. Coppola directed
the Life Without Zoe segment starring his sister Talia Shire
, and also co-wrote the film with his daughter Sofia Coppola
. Life Without Zoe was mostly panned by critics and was generally considered the segment that brought the film's overall quality down. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post
wrote a particularly scathing review, stating that "It's impossible to know what Francis Coppola's Life Without Zoe is. Co-written with his daughter Sofia, the film is a mystifying embarrassment; it's by far the director's worst work yet."
The Godfather Part III (1990) In 1990, he released the third and final chapter of The Godfather series: The Godfather Part III
. Coppola successfully managed to get Al Pacino
, Diane Keaton
, and Talia Shire
to return to the franchise, but Robert Duvall
refused to reprise his role as Tom Hagen over salary disagreements. While not as critically acclaimed as the first two films, it was still a box office success, earning a revenue of $136 million against a budget of $54 million. Some reviewers criticized the casting of Coppola's daughter Sofia
, who stepped into a role abandoned by Winona Ryder
just as filming began. Despite this, The Godfather Part III went on to gather 7 Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture
. The film failed to win any of these awards, the only film in the trilogy to do so.
Dracula (1992) In 1992, Coppola directed, co-produced and co-wrote Dracula. Adapted from Bram Stoker
's novel
, it was intended to be more faithful to the book than previous film adaptations. Coppola cast Gary Oldman
in the film's title role, with Keanu Reeves
, Winona Ryder
and Anthony Hopkins
in supporting roles. The movie became a box-office hit, grossing $82,522,790 domestically, making it the 15th highest-grossing film of the year. It fared much better overseas grossing $133,339,902 for a total worldwide gross of $215,862,692, making it the 9th highest grossing film of the year worldwide. The film won Academy Awards for Costume Design
, Makeup
, and Sound Editing
.
as Jack Powell, a ten-year-old boy whose cells are growing at four times the normal rate, so at the age of ten he looks like a 40-year-old man. Jack persuades his parents (Diane Lane
and Brian Kerwin
) to let him attend regular school, based upon a recommendation from his tutor, Mr. Woodruff (Bill Cosby
). The rest of the film deals with Jack's failures and successes as a student in a regular elementary school in the fifth grade, through the end of his life in high school. Jack also featured Jennifer Lopez
, Fran Drescher
and Michael McKean
in supporting roles. Although a moderate box-office success, grossing $58 million domestically on an estimated $45 million budget, it was panned by critics, many of whom disliked the film's abrupt contrast between actual comedy and tragic melodrama. It was also unfavorably compared to the 1988 film Big, in which Tom Hanks
also played a child in a grown man's body. Most critics felt that the screenplay was poorly written, not funny, and the dramatic material was unconvincing and unbelievable. Other critics felt that Coppola was too talented to be making this type of film. Although ridiculed for making the film, Coppola has defended it, saying he is not ashamed of the final cut of the movie. He had been friends with Robin Williams for many years and had always wanted to work with him as an actor. When Williams was offered the screenplay for Jack he said he would only agree to do it if Coppola agreed to sign on as director.
was based on the 1995
novel of the same name
by John Grisham
. An ensemble courtroom drama, the film was well-received by critics, earning an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
. Roger Ebert
gave The Rainmaker three stars out of four, remarking: "I have enjoyed several of the movies based on Grisham novels ... but I've usually seen the storyteller's craft rather than the novelist's art being reflected. ... By keeping all of the little people in focus, Coppola shows the variety of a young lawyer's life, where every client is necessary and most of them need a lot more than a lawyer." James Berardinelli
also gave the film three stars out of four, saying that "the intelligence and subtlety of The Rainmaker took me by surprise" and that the film "stands above any other filmed Grisham adaptation". Grisham said of the film, "To me it's the best adaptation of any of [my books]. ... I love the movie. It's so well done." The film grossed about $45 million domestically. This would be more than the estimated production budget of $40 million but a disappointment compared to previous films adapted from a Grisham novel.
, a literary magazine
devoted to short stories
and design. The magazine publishes fiction by emerging writers alongside more recognizable names, such as Woody Allen
, Margaret Atwood
, Haruki Murakami
, Alice Munro
, Don DeLillo
, Mary Gaitskill
, and Edward Albee
; as well as essays, including ones from Mario Vargas Llosa
, David Mamet
, Steven Spielberg
, and Salman Rushdie. Each issue is designed, in its entirety, by a prominent artist, one usually working outside his / her expected field. Previous guest designers include Gus Van Sant
, Tom Waits
, Laurie Anderson
, Marjane Satrapi
, Guillermo del Toro
, David Bowie
, David Byrne
, and Dennis Hopper
. Coppola serves as founding editor and publisher of All-Story.
began discussing the project and two others involving the life of J. Edgar Hoover
and the children's novel The Secret Garden
. These discussions led to negotiations for Coppola to both produce and direct the Pinocchio project for Warner, as well as Secret Garden and Hoover. However, in mid-1991 Coppola and Warner came to disagreement over the compensation to be paid to Coppola for his directing services on Pinocchio. The parties deferred this issue, and finally a settlement was reached in 1998, when the jurors awarded Coppola $20 million as compensation for losing the film project, Pinocchio. This was the largest civil verdict ever against a Hollywood studio. The Los Angeles jury awarded him $60 million in punitive damages on top of the $20 million, stemming from his charges that Warner Bros. sabotaged his intended version.
Youth Without Youth (2007)_crop.jpg)
After a 10-year hiatus, Coppola returned to film direction with Youth Without Youth in 2007. It was based on the novella of the same name by Romanian author Mircea Eliade
. The film was poorly reviewed, currently holding a 30% 'rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes
. It was made for about $19 million, and was given a limited release. As a result, Coppola announced his plans to produce his own films in order to avoid the marketing input that goes into most films (trying to make them appeal to too wide an audience). The film managed a meager $244,397 at the box-office.
. It was "set in Argentina
, with the reunion of two brothers, the story follows the rivalries born out of creative differences passed down through generations of an artistic Italian
immigrant family." The film received generally positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic
, the film has an average metascore of 63% based on 19 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes
reported that 68% of critics gave positive reviews based on 71 reviews with an average score of 5.6/10. Among Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 71% based on 24 reviews. Overall, the Rotten Tomatoes consensus was: "A complex meditation on family dynamics, Tetros arresting visuals and emotional core compensate for its uneven narrative."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
gave the film 3 stars, praising the film for being "boldly operatic, involving family drama, secrets, generations at war, melodrama, romance and violence". Ebert also praised Vincent Gallo
's performance, but claimed Alden Ehrenreich
is "the new Leonardo DiCaprio
". Todd McCarthy of Variety
gave the film a B+ judging that "Coppola finds creative nirvana, he frequently has trouble delivering the full goods." Richard Corliss
of TIME
gave the film a mixed review, praising Ehrenreich's performance, but claiming Coppola "has made a movie in which plenty happens but nothing rings true."
’s first film, THX 1138
, in 1971. Shortly after completion of production Lucas and Coppola brought the finished film to Warner Bros.
, along with several other scripts for potential projects at American Zoetrope
. However, studio executives strongly disliked all the scripts including THX. Warner demanded that Coppola repay the $300,000 they had loaned him for the Zoetrope studio, and insisted on cutting five minutes from the film. The debt nearly closed Zoetrope, and forced Coppola to (reluctantly) focus on The Godfather
. In 1974, he wrote the screenplay for The Great Gatsby
, and in 1979, he was executive producer for The Black Stallion
.
Coppola, with his family, expanded his business ventures to include winemaking in California's Napa Valley
, where he purchased the former home and adjoining vineyard of Gustave Niebaum
in Rutherford, California. He bought the property in 1975 using proceeds from the first movie in the Godfather
trilogy. His winery produced its first vintage in 1977 with the help of his father, wife and children stomping the grapes barefoot. Every year, the family has a harvest party to continue the tradition. After purchasing the property, he produced wine under the Niebaum-Coppola label. He purchased the former Inglenook Winery
chateau in 1995 and renamed the winery Rubicon Estate Winery
in 2006. The company also produces a line of pastas and pasta sauces. He owns the Turtle Inn in Placencia
, Belize
. For 14 years he co-owned the "Rubicon" restaurant in San Francisco along with Robin Williams
and Robert De Niro
. The restaurant closed in August 2008. Coppola also owns Francis Ford Coppola Winery near Geyserville, California
where he has opened a family-friendly facility with swimming pools, bocce
courts and a restaurant. The winery displays several of Coppola's Oscars along with memorabilia from his movies including a desk from The Godfather and a restored 1948 Tucker Sedan
. This winery is located on the former Chateau Souverain Winery. Coppola is also the owner of Francis Ford Coppola Presents
, a lifestyle brand
under which he markets goods from companies he owns or controls. It includes films and videos, resorts, cafes, a literary magazine and a winery. He brought out the San Francisco-based City Magazine in the '70s. He lost 1.5 million dollars in this venture. Coppola serves as the "Honorary Consul H. E. Francis Ford Coppola" for the Central American nation of Belize
in San Francisco. He was the jury president at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival
. He also took part as a special guest at the 46th International Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece.
Coppola stated that The Godfather Part IV was never made as Mario Puzo died before they had a chance to write the film. Andy Garcia has since claimed the film's script was nearly produced.
Coppola is currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area
. He also spends considerable time in Buenos Aires
, Argentina, where he is establishing a subsidiary of his production company. In San Francisco, Coppola owns a restaurant named Cafe Zoetrope, located in the Sentinel Building. It serves traditional Italian cuisine and wine from his personal vineyard and bottling company.
Over the years, Francis Coppola has given political contributions to several candidates of the Democratic Party
, including Mike Thompson
, Nancy Pelosi
for the U.S. House of Representatives and Barbara Boxer
and Alan Cranston
for the U.S. Senate.
For quite some time, he had been planning to direct an epic movie named Megalopolis, but for some reason or the other, the project hasn't come to fruition. In 2007 he stated that "I have abandoned that as of now. I'm now going to...I plan to begin a process of making one personal movie after another and if something leads me back to look at that, which I'm sure it might, I'll see what makes sense to me."
, who he met on the set of Dementia 13
. They had three children: Sofia Coppola
, Roman Coppola
and Gian-Carlo Coppola
. Sofia Coppola is an Academy Award-winning writer and nominated director. Her films include the critically acclaimed The Virgin Suicides
and Lost in Translation
. In 2004, she became the first American woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, for Lost in Translation. Coppola's eldest son, Gian-Carlo, was in the early stages of a film production career when he was killed on May 26, 1986 in a speedboat accident. Coppola's surviving son, Roman, is a filmmaker and music video director whose filmography includes the feature film CQ
and music videos for The Strokes
, as well as co-writing the Wes Anderson
film The Darjeeling Limited
.
Coppola often works with family members in his films. His sister, Talia Shire
, played Connie Corleone
in all three Godfather films
. His daughter Sofia also appeared in all three (the first two movies uncredited): as the infant being baptized at the end of the first movie, as a young child on board ship in the second, and in a supporting role as Michael Corleone's daughter Mary in the third. He cast his two sons in The Godfather
as extras during the street fight scene and Vito Corleone
’s funeral. His father Carmine, a composer and professional musician, co-wrote much of the music in The Godfather, The Godfather Part II
, and Apocalypse Now
.
Coppola's nephew, Nicolas Cage
, starred in Coppola's film Peggy Sue Got Married
and was featured in Rumble Fish
and The Cotton Club
. Other famous members of Coppola's family include nephews Jason Schwartzman
and Robert Schwartzman, sons of Talia Shire. Jason Schwartzman has starred in several films, including Rushmore
and Slackers. He also co-wrote (along with director Wes Anderson and cousin Roman Coppola) and starred in the 2007 film The Darjeeling Limited. Robert Schwartzman is the lead singer in the band Rooney
and appeared in The Princess Diaries
as well as having small appearances in several films, including his cousin Sofia's The Virgin Suicides.
's top fifty directors of all time. Four of Coppola's films- The Godfather
, The Godfather Part II
, Apocalypse Now
and Patton
featured in WGAW
's list of 101 greatest screenplays ever. Three of his films feature in AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies: The Godfather (#2), Apocalypse Now (#28) and The Godfather Part II (#32). The Godfather also ranks at number #11 in AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills.
The following Coppola films were also nominated for the list:
1991, he was honored with the Berlinale Camera at the Berlin International Film Festival
. In 1992, he was awarded a Golden Lion – Honorary Award at the Venice Film Festival
. In 1998, the Directors Guild of America
honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He was honored with a special 50th anniversary award for his impressive career at the 2002 San Sebastián International Film Festival
. The same year he received a gala tribute from Film Society of Lincoln Center
. In 2003, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Denver Film Festival
. He was given an honorary award at the 2007
Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival
. In 2010, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
decided to honor him with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the 2nd Governor's Awards in November. The honor was bestowed on him on November 13, along with Jean-Luc Godard
, Kevin Brownlow
and Eli Wallach
. George Lucas
said that he based the Han Solo
character in Star Wars
on Coppola.
is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
most innovative and influential film directors. He epitomized the group of filmmakers known as the New Hollywood
New Hollywood
New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave", refers to the time from roughly the late-1960s to the early 1980s when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, influencing the types of films produced, their production and...
, that includes George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
, Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
, Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
, William Friedkin
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
, Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
, and Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
who emerged in the early 1970s with unconventional ideas that challenged contemporary filmmaking.
He co-authored the script for Patton
Patton (film)
Patton is a 1970 American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H...
, winning the Academy Award in 1970. His directorial fame escalated with the release of The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
in 1972. The film revolutionized movie-making in the gangster genre, earning praise from critics and public alike. It went on to win three Academy Awards, including his second, for Best Adapted Screenplay, and was instrumental in cementing his position as a prominent American film director.
Coppola followed it with a critically successful sequel, The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
, which became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
. The film was highly praised and won him three Academy Awards—for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
. The Conversation
The Conversation
The Conversation is a 1974 American psychological thriller film written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman...
, which Coppola directed, produced and wrote, was released that same year, winning the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival
1974 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*René Clair *Jean-Loup Dabadie *Kenne Fant *Félix Labisse *Irwin Shaw *Michel Soutter *Monica Vitti *Alexander Walker *Rostislav Yurenev -Feature film competition:...
. He next directed 1979's Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
; notorious for its lengthy and troubled production and critically acclaimed for its vivid and stark depiction of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. It won his second Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival
1979 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Françoise Sagan *Sergio Amidei *Rodolphe-Maurice Arlaud *Luis García Berlanga *Maurice Bessy *Paul Claudon *Jules Dassin *Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács...
.
Many of Coppola's ventures in the 1980s
1980s in film
The decade of the 1980s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 Events2 Top Grossing films3 Trends4 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.-Events:...
and 1990s
1990s in film
The decade of the 1990s in film involved many significant films.-Events:* Thousands of full-length films were produced during the 1990s....
were critically lauded, but he has never refound his successes of the 1970s
1970s in film
The decade of the 1970s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 World cinema2 Hollywood3 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.4 Events-World cinema:...
.
Early life
Coppola was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a family of Italian ancestry (his paternal grandparents were immigrants from BernaldaBernalda
Bernalda is a town and comune in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. The frazione of Metaponto is the site of the ancient city of Metapontum.Until the 15th century, it was called Camarda...
, Basilicata
Basilicata
Basilicata , also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, having one short southwestern coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania in the northwest and Calabria in the southwest, and a...
). He received his middle name in honor of Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
, as he was born at the Henry Ford Hospital
Henry Ford Hospital
Henry Ford Hospital, the flagship facility for , is an 805-bed tertiary care hospital, education and research complex located in Detroit ....
. His parents were Italia
Italia Coppola
Italia Pennino Coppola is most famous as the matriarch of the Coppola family.Born in New York City, she was one of six children of Anna and composer Francesco Pennino, both of Naples, Italy. Her father was a composer of Italian songs, an importer of Italian films and a movie theater owner...
(née Pennino) and Carmine Coppola
Carmine Coppola
Carmine Coppola was an American composer, flautist, editor, musical director, and songwriter. Coppola was a composer and conductor who contributed to many of the musical scores in The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Godfather Part III, and Apocalypse Now directed by his son Francis Ford...
, who was the first flutist for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its main performance center is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood...
. He was the second of three children (his older brother was August Coppola
August Coppola
August Floyd Coppola was an American academic, author, film executive and advocate for the arts. He is also known as the father of actor Nicolas Cage.-Family life:...
and younger sister is actress Talia Shire
Talia Shire
Talia Shire is an American actress most known for her roles as Connie Corleone in The Godfather films and Adrian Balboa in the Rocky series.-Personal life:...
). Two years later, Carmine became the first flutist for the NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
and the family moved to New York City, finding a home in Woodside, Queens
Woodside, Queens
Woodside is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered on the south by Maspeth, on the north by Astoria, on the west by Sunnyside and on the east by Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. Some areas are widely residential and very quiet, while others are...
, where Francis spent the remainder of his childhood.
Coppola had polio as a boy, leaving him bedridden for large periods of his childhood, and allowing him to indulge his imagination with homemade puppet theater productions. Reading A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
at age 15 was instrumental in developing his interest in theater. Eager to be involved in film-craft, he turned out 8mm features edited from home movies with such titles as The Rich Millionaire and The Lost Wallet. As a child he was a mediocre student but was very much interested in technology and engineering; so much, in fact, that his friends nicknamed him “Science”. Initially he trained for a career in music and became so proficient on the tuba that he won a musical scholarship to the New York Military Academy
New York Military Academy
New York Military Academy, or NYMA, is an American private boarding school located in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York. It was founded in 1889 by Charles Jefferson Wright, a Civil War veteran and former school teacher from New Hampshire who believed that a military structure provided the best...
. After graduating from the Great Neck North High School
Great Neck North High School
John L. Miller Great Neck North High School or simply "North High," or "North," is a public high school, including grades 9 through 12, in the village of Great Neck, New York, operated by the Great Neck School District...
, he entered Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
in 1955 majoring in theater arts. There he won a play-writing scholarship, which furthered his interest in directing theater, though this wasn't approved by his father, who wanted him to study engineering. However, after he chanced to see Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
’s October, which impressed him profoundly, particularly the quality of editing in the movie, Coppola decided that he would not go into theater but would opt for cinema. Among his batch-mates were Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan
Lainie Kazan is an American actress and singer.-Personal life:Kazan was born Lanie Levine in Brooklyn, New York City, the daughter of a Russian Ashkenazi Jewish father who worked as a bookie and a Turkish Sephardic Jewish mother, Carole, whom Kazan has described as "neurotic, fragile and...
and James Caan
James Caan
James Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather, Thief, Misery, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song, Rollerball, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf, and El Dorado...
. He would later cast Caan in The Rain People
The Rain People
The Rain People is a 1969 film by Francis Ford Coppola. Alongside Shirley Knight, leading players are James Caan and Robert Duvall, both of whom would later work with Coppola in The Godfather. Future film director and Coppola friend George Lucas worked as an aide on this film, and made a short...
and in The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
as Sonny Corleone
Sonny Corleone
Santino "Sonny" Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather and its 1972 film adaptation. He also appears as an infant, as a young boy, and an adult in The Godfather Part II....
.
While pursuing his bachelor's degree, Coppola was elected president of The Green Wig, the university's drama group, the Kaleidoscopians, its musical comedy club, and then merged the two into The Spectrum Players. Under his leadership, they staged a new production each week. Coppola also founded the cinema workshop at Hofstra, and contributed prolifically to the campus literary magazine. He won three D. H. Lawrence Awards for theatrical production and direction, and received a Beckerman Award for his outstanding contributions to the school's theater arts division. While a graduate student, one of his teachers was Dorothy Arzner
Dorothy Arzner
Dorothy Arzner was an American film director. Her directorial career in feature films spanned from the late 1920s into the early 1940s, a time period in which there were very few—if any—other women working in the field.- Biography :Born in San Francisco, California, Arzner grew up in Los...
, whose encouragement Coppola later acknowledged as pivotal to his film career. He graduated from the University in 1959.
1960s
After obtaining his bachelor's degree from Hofstra, Coppola enrolled in the University of CaliforniaUniversity of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
at Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, where he met Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
. Coppola would later use Morrison's well-known song "The End
The End (The Doors song)
"The End" is a song by The Doors. Originally written by Jim Morrison as a song about breaking up with girlfriend Mary Werbelow, it evolved through months of performances at Los Angeles' Whisky a Go Go into a nearly 12-minute opus on their self-titled album. The band would perform the song to close...
" in Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
. Very soon he enrolled in UCLA Film School for graduate work in film. At UCLA, Coppola directed a short horror film called “The Two Christophers” inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
"William Wilson
William Wilson (short story)
"William Wilson" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839, with a setting inspired by Poe's formative years outside of London. The tale follows the theme of the doppelgänger and is written in a style based on rationality...
". He also directed “Ayamonn the Terrible”, a film about a sculptor’s nightmares coming to life. It was then he decided to experiment as a serious film director and ended up directing a softcore porn film Tonight for Sure
Tonight for Sure
-External links:...
in 1962. The film failed to attract any attention. The company that hired Coppola to edit Tonight for Sure brought him back to re-cut a German film titled Mit Eva fing die Sünde an directed by Fritz Umgelter
Fritz Umgelter
Fritz Umgelter was a German television director, television writer, and film director....
. He added some new 3-D color footage and earned a writer’s and director’s credit for The Bellboy and the Playgirls
The Bellboy and the Playgirls
The Bellboy and the Playgirls is an American-German 1962 film by Francis Ford Coppola, Fritz Umgelter, and Jack Hill....
, also a box-office failure. Coppola was hired as an assistant by Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
. His first job for Corman was to dub and re-edit a Russian science fiction film Nebo zovyot, which he turned into a sex-and-violence monster movie entitled Battle Beyond the Sun
Battle Beyond the Sun
Battle Beyond the Sun is a 1959 Soviet science fiction film directed by Mikhail Karyukov and Aleksandr Kozyr. It tells of the "space race", with the USSR forced into competing with the USA to become the first nation to colonize Mars. Roger Corman acquired the film for US distribution and hired a...
, released in 1962. Impressed by Coppola's perseverance and dedication, Corman hired him as dialogue director on Tower of London
Tower of London (1962 film)
Tower of London is a 1962 historical drama and horror film, starring Vincent Price and Michael Pate. The film is a remake of the 1939 film of the same name, starring Price, Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff. Directed by Roger Corman, the film was produced by Edward Small Productions...
(1962), sound man for The Young Racers
The Young Racers
-DVD:The Young Racers was released in a Region 1 DVD on Sep 11 2007, as part of the box set The Roger Corman Collection....
(1963) and associate producer of The Terror
The Terror (1963 film)
The Terror is an American horror film produced by Roger Corman, and famous for being filmed on leftover film sets from other AIP productions, including The Haunted Palace...
(1963).
While on location in Ireland for The Young Racers in 1963, Corman, ever alert for an opportunity to produce a decent movie on a shoestring budget, persuaded Coppola to make a low-budget horror movie with funds left over from that movie. Coppola wrote a brief draft story idea in one night. It incorporated elements from Hitchcock's
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
Psycho, and it impressed Corman enough to give him the go-ahead. On a budget of $40,000 ($20,000 from Corman and $20,000 from another producer who wanted to buy the movie's English rights), Coppola directed in a period of just nine days, Dementia 13
Dementia 13
Dementia 13 is a 1963 horror thriller released by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman...
, his first feature from his own original screenplay. Somewhat superior to the run-of-the-mill exploitation films being turned out at that time, the film recouped its shoestring expenses and went on to become a minor cult film among horror buffs. It was on the sets of Dementia 13 that he met his future wife Eleanor Jessie Neil
Eleanor Coppola
Eleanor Coppola is the wife of the famed director Francis Ford Coppola.Coppola was born Eleanor Jessie Neil to an Irish-American family in Los Angeles. She met Francis Ford Coppola on the set of his directorial debut, Dementia 13 in 1962, where she was Assistant Art Director. They married a year...
.
In 1965, Coppola won the annual Samuel Goldwyn Award for the best screenplay (Pilma, Pilma) written by a UCLA student. This secured him a job as a scriptwriter with Seven Arts
Seven Arts Productions
Seven Arts Productions was founded in 1957 by Ray Stark and Eliot Hyman. The company was a frequent producer of movies for other studios, including The Misfits for United Artists, Gigot for Twentieth Century-Fox, Lolita for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Is Paris Burning? for Paramount Pictures.Over...
. In between, he co-wrote the scripts for This Property Is Condemned
This Property is Condemned
This Property Is Condemned is a 1966 American drama film starring Natalie Wood, Robert Redford, Kate Reid, Charles Bronson and Mary Badham and directed by Sydney Pollack. The screenplay was written by Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Coe and Edith Sommer. The story was adapted from the 1946 one-act...
(1966) and Is Paris Burning?
Is Paris Burning?
Is Paris Burning? is a 1966 film dealing with the 1944 liberation of Paris by rival branches of the French Resistance and the Free French Forces.-Plot:...
(1966). However fame was still eluding him, and partly out of desperation, Coppola bought the rights to the David Benedictus
David Benedictus
David Benedictus is an English-Jewish writer and theatre director, best known for his novels. His most recent work is the Winnie-the-Pooh novel Return to the Hundred Acre Wood . It was the first such book in 81 years...
novel You're a Big Boy Now and fused it with a story idea of his own, resulting in You're a Big Boy Now
You're a Big Boy Now
You're a Big Boy Now is a 1966 film with Peter Kastner, Elizabeth Hartman, Geraldine Page, Julie Harris and Karen Black, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on a 1963 novel, also titled You're a Big Boy Now, by David Benedictus....
(1966). This was his UCLA thesis project that also received a theatrical release via Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
. This movie brought him some critical acclaim and eventually the Master of Fine Arts Degree.
Following the success of You're a Big Boy Now, Coppola was offered the reins of the movie version of the Broadway musical Finian's Rainbow
Finian's Rainbow (film)
Finian's Rainbow is a 1968 American musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola that stars Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. The screenplay by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy is based on their 1947 stage musical of the same name.-Plot:...
, starring Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
, in her first American film, and veteran Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
. Producer Jack Warner
Jack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
was nonplussed by Coppola's shaggy-haired, bearded, "hippie" appearance and generally left him to his own devices. He took his cast to the Napa Valley
Napa County, California
Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....
for much of the outdoor shooting, but these scenes were in sharp contrast to those obviously filmed on a Hollywood soundstage, resulting in a disjointed look to the film. Dealing with outdated material at a time when the popularity of film musicals was already on the downslide, Coppola's result was only semi-successful, but his work with Clark no doubt contributed to her Golden Globe Best Actress nomination. The film introduced George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
to him, who became his life-long friend as well as production assistant in his next film The Rain People
The Rain People
The Rain People is a 1969 film by Francis Ford Coppola. Alongside Shirley Knight, leading players are James Caan and Robert Duvall, both of whom would later work with Coppola in The Godfather. Future film director and Coppola friend George Lucas worked as an aide on this film, and made a short...
in 1969. It was written, directed and initially produced by Coppola himself, though as the movie advanced, he fell short of his budget and the studio had to underwrite the remainder of the movie. The film won the Golden Shell
Golden Shell
The Golden Shell is the highest prize given to a competing film at the San Sebastián Film Festival. It was introduced in 1957. In 1953 and 1954, the highest prize had been called the Gran Premio. In 1955 and 1956 it was replaced by the Silver Shell...
at the 1969 San Sebastian Film Festival
San Sebastián International Film Festival
The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
.
In 1969, Coppola took it upon himself to subvert the studio system which he felt had stifled his visions, intending to produce mainstream pictures to finance off-beat projects and give first-time directors their chance to direct. He decided he would name his future studio "Zoetrope" after receiving a gift of zoetrope
Zoetrope
A zoetrope is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures. The term zoetrope is from the Greek words "ζωή – zoe", "life" and τρόπος – tropos, "turn". It may be taken to mean "wheel of life"....
s from Mogens Scot-Hansen, founder of a studio called Lanterna Film and owner of a famous collection of early motion picture making equipment. While touring Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Coppola was introduced to alternative filmmaking equipment and inspired by the bohemian spirit of Lanterna Film. He decided he would build a deviant studio that would conceive and implement creative, unconventional approaches to filmmaking. Upon his return home, Coppola and George Lucas searched for a mansion in Marin to house the studio. However, with equipment flowing in and no mansion found yet, the first home for Zoetrope Studio
American Zoetrope
American Zoetrope is a studio founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Founded on December 12, 1969, American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV...
became a warehouse in San Francisco on Folsom Street in 1969. The studio went on to become an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV.
Patton (1970)
Coppola co-wrote the script for PattonPatton (film)
Patton is a 1970 American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H...
in 1970 along with Edmund H. North
Edmund H. North
Edmund Hall North , was an American screenwriter who shared an Academy Award for "Best Original Screenplay" with Francis Ford Coppola in 1970 for their script for Patton....
. This earned him his first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...
. However, it was not easy for Coppola to convince Franklin J. Schaffner that the opening scene would work. Coppola later revealed in an interview:
Even after the director was persuaded to keep the scene intact, George C. Scott
George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr...
refused to do it, as he believed it would overshadow the rest of his performance. The director lied and assured him that it would be shown at the end. The movie opens with Scott's rendering of Patton's famous military "Pep Talk" to members of the Third Army, set against a huge American flag
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
. Coppola and North had to tone down Patton's actual language to avoid an R rating; in the opening monologue, the word "fornicating" replaced "fucking" when criticizing the The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post
The Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
. Over the years, this opening monologue has become an iconic scene, and has spawned parodies in numerous films, political cartoons and television shows.
The Godfather (1972)
The release of The GodfatherThe Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
in 1972 was a milestone in cinema. The near 3-hour-long epic, which chronicled the saga of the Corleone family
Corleone family
The Corleone family is a fictional Sicilian Mafia family settled in New York City. The family was created by Mario Puzo and appears in his 1969 novel The Godfather, as well as the acclaimed film trilogy of the same name directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The family was founded by Vito Corleone , who...
, received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, and fetched Coppola the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, which he shared with Mario Puzo
Mario Puzo
Mario Gianluigi Puzo was an American author and screenwriter, known for his novels about the Mafia, including The Godfather , which he later co-adapted into a film by Francis Ford Coppola...
, and two Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
s- for Best Director and Best Screenplay
Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
The Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award...
. However, Coppola had to face a lot of difficulties while filming The Godfather. He was not Paramount's
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
first choice to direct the movie; Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
director Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
was initially offered the job, but declined in order to direct his own gangster opus, Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime...
. Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
was then approached but he also declined the offer and made What's Up, Doc?
What's Up, Doc? (1972 film)
What's Up, Doc? is a 1972 screwball comedy film released by Warner Bros., directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn...
instead; Bogdanovich has often said that he would have cast Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
in the lead had he accepted the film. According to Robert Evans
Robert Evans (film producer)
Robert Evans is an American film producer, best known for his work on Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, and Chinatown.-Early life and acting career:...
, head of Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
at the time, Coppola also did not initially want to direct the film because he feared it would glorify the Mafia and violence, and thus reflect poorly on his Sicilian
Sicilian-American
Sicilian Americans are American people from Sicily or of Sicilian heritage. They are considered Italian Americans but are sometimes treated as a separate group due to cultural and historical differences between Sicily and the mainland....
and Italian heritage; on the other hand, Evans specifically wanted an Italian-American to direct the film because his research had shown that previous films about the Mafia that were directed by non-Italians had fared dismally at the box office, and he wanted to, in his own words, "smell the spaghetti". When Coppola hit upon the idea of making it a metaphor for American capitalism, however, he eagerly agreed to take the helm.
There was disagreement between Paramount and Coppola on the issue of casting; Coppola stuck to his plan of casting Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
as Vito Corleone
Vito Corleone
Vito Andolini Corleone is a fictional character and the main character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather, as well as Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather trilogy, where he was portrayed by Marlon Brando in The Godfather and by Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II. Premiere Magazine listed Vito...
, though Paramount wanted either Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
or Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas
Danny Thomas was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy . He was also the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
. At one point, Coppola was told by the then-president of Paramount that "Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture". After pleading with the executives, Coppola was allowed to cast Brando only if he appeared in the film for much less salary than his previous films, perform a screen-test, and put up a bond saying that he would not cause a delay in the production (as he had done on previous film sets). Coppola chose Brando over Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...
on the basis of Brando's screen test, which also won over the Paramount leadership. Brando later won an Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for his portrayal, which he refused to accept. Coppola would later recollect:
After it was released, the film received widespread praise. It went on to win multiple awards, including Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola. The film routinely features at the top in various polls for the greatest movies ever. It has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
. In addition, it is ranked third, behind Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
, and Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
on the AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies list by the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
. It was moved up to second when the list was published again, in 2008. Director Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
believed that The Godfather was possibly the greatest movie ever made, and had without question the best cast.
The Conversation (1974)
Coppola's next film, The ConversationThe Conversation
The Conversation is a 1974 American psychological thriller film written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman...
, further cemented his position as one of the most talented auteurs
Auteur theory
In film criticism, auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur"...
of Hollywood. The movie was partly influenced by Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni
Michelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director, screenwriter, editor and short story writer.- Personal life :...
’s Blowup
Blowup
Blowup is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, his first English-language film.It tells of a British photographer's accidental involvement with a murder, inspired by Julio Cortázar's short story, "Las babas del diablo" or "The Devil's Drool" , translated also as Blow-Up, and by the life...
(1966). The film generated a lot of speculation and interest when news leaked that the film utilized the very same surveillance and wire-tapping equipment that members of the Nixon administration used to spy on political opponents prior to Watergate. Although Coppola insisted that this was purely coincidental, for not only was the script for The Conversation completed in the mid-1960s (before the election of Richard Nixon
United States presidential election, 1968
The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...
) but the spying equipment used in the film was discovered through research and the use of technical advisers and not, as many believed, by revelatory newspaper stories about the Watergate break-in. However, the audience interpreted the film to be a reaction to both the Watergate scandal and its fall-out. The movie was a critical success, and won Coppola his first Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival
1974 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*René Clair *Jean-Loup Dabadie *Kenne Fant *Félix Labisse *Irwin Shaw *Michel Soutter *Monica Vitti *Alexander Walker *Rostislav Yurenev -Feature film competition:...
.
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Coppola shot The Godfather Part IIThe Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
parallel to The Conversation. It was the last major American motion picture to be filmed in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
. George Lucas commented on the film after its five-hour-long preview, telling Coppola: "You have two films. Take one away, it doesn't work", referring to the movie's portrayal of two parallel storylines; one of a young Vito Corleone
Vito Corleone
Vito Andolini Corleone is a fictional character and the main character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather, as well as Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather trilogy, where he was portrayed by Marlon Brando in The Godfather and by Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II. Premiere Magazine listed Vito...
and the other of his son Michael
Michael Corleone
Michael Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novels, The Godfather and The Sicilian. He is also the main character of the Godfather film trilogy that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, in which he was portrayed by Al Pacino, who was twice nominated for an Academy Award for his...
. In the director's commentary on the DVD edition of the film (released in 2002), Coppola states that this film was the first major motion picture to use "Part II" in its title. Paramount was initially opposed to his decision to name the movie The Godfather Part II. According to Coppola, the studio's objection stemmed from the belief that audiences would be reluctant to see a film with such a title, as the audience would supposedly believe that, having already seen The Godfather, there was little reason to see an addition to the original story. The success of The Godfather Part II began the Hollywood tradition of numbered sequels. The movie was released in 1974, and went on to receive tremendous critical acclaim, with many deeming it superior to its predecessor. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and received 6 Oscars, including 3 for Coppola: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.
The Godfather Part II is ranked as the #1 greatest movie of all time in TV Guide's "50 Best Movies of All Time", and is ranked at #7 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "100 Greatest Movies of All Time". The film is also featured on movie critic Leonard Maltin's
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
list of the "100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century", as well as Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. It was also featured on Sight and Sound's list of the ten greatest films of all time in 2002, ranking at #4.
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Following the success of The Godfather, The Conversation and The Godfather Part II, Coppola began filming Apocalypse NowApocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
, an adaptation of Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
’s Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. Before its 1903 publication, it appeared as a three-part series in Blackwood's Magazine. It was classified by the Modern Library website editors as one of the "100 best novels" and part of the Western canon.The story centres on Charles...
set in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
(Coppola himself briefly appears as a TV news director). Before production of the film began, Coppola went to his mentor Roger Corman for advice about shooting in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, since Corman had filmed several pictures there. Coppola said that all the advice Corman offered was "Don't go". The production of the film was plagued by numerous problems, including typhoons, nervous breakdowns, the firing of Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
, Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
's heart attack, extras from the Philippine military leaving in the middle of scenes to go fight rebels, and an unprepared Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
with a bloated appearance (which Coppola attempted to hide by shooting him in the shadows). It was delayed so often it was nicknamed Apocalypse When?. The 1991 documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse is a 1991 documentary film about the production of Apocalypse Now.-Synopsis:The title is derived from the source material for Apocalypse Now, the Joseph Conrad novella Heart of Darkness...
, directed by Eleanor Coppola
Eleanor Coppola
Eleanor Coppola is the wife of the famed director Francis Ford Coppola.Coppola was born Eleanor Jessie Neil to an Irish-American family in Los Angeles. She met Francis Ford Coppola on the set of his directorial debut, Dementia 13 in 1962, where she was Assistant Art Director. They married a year...
(Francis's wife), Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper, chronicles the difficulties the crew went through making Apocalypse Now, and features behind-the-scenes footage filmed by Eleanor. After filming Apocalypse Now, Coppola famously stated: "We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little, we went insane."
The film was overwhelmingly lauded by critics when it finally appeared in 1979, and was selected at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
and won the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
, along with The Tin Drum
The Tin Drum (film)
The Tin Drum is a 1979 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Günter Grass. It was directed and co-written by Volker Schlöndorff...
, directed by Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff is a Berlin-based German filmmaker who has worked in Germany, France and the United States...
. When the film screened at Cannes, he quipped: "My film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam." Apocalypse Nows reputation has grown in time and it is now regarded by many as a masterpiece of the New Hollywood
New Hollywood
New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood, sometimes referred to as the "American New Wave", refers to the time from roughly the late-1960s to the early 1980s when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence in America, influencing the types of films produced, their production and...
era, and is frequently cited as one of the greatest movies ever made. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
considers it to be the finest film on the Vietnam war and included it on his list for the 2002 Sight and Sound poll for the greatest movie of all time.
In 2001, Coppola re-released Apocalypse Now as Apocalypse Now Redux
Apocalypse Now Redux
Apocalypse Now Redux is a 2001 extended version of the epic war film Apocalypse Now, which was originally released in 1979. Unlike other new cuts of the film, Redux is usually considered by fans and critics, as well as director Francis Ford Coppola a completely new movie altogether...
, restoring several sequences lost from the original 1979 cut of the film, thereby expanding its length to 200 minutes.
One from the Heart (1982) Apocalypse Now marked the end of the golden phase of Coppola's career. His musical fantasy One from the Heart
One from the Heart
One from the Heart is a 1982 musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The characters themselves do not actually sing but the powerful score dominates the movie. It is set entirely in Las Vegas, on the Las Vegas Strip and the desert surrounding the city...
, although it pioneered the use of video-editing techniques which are standard practice in the film industry today, ended with a disastrous box-office gross of $636,796 against a US$26 million budget, far from enough to recoup the costs incurred in the production of the movie, and he was forced to sell his 23-acre Zoetrope Studio in 1983. He would spend the rest of the decade working to pay his debts. (Zoetrope Studios finally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990, after which its name was changed to American Zoetrope
American Zoetrope
American Zoetrope is a studio founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Founded on December 12, 1969, American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV...
). In addition he was forced into US bankruptcy court three times in the next 8 years.
Hammett (1982)
Following the disastrous One from the Heart, Coppola co-directed Hammett along with Wim WendersWim Wenders
Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and producer.-Early life:Wenders was born in Düsseldorf. He graduated from high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr area. He then studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf...
in the same year. Although Coppola was not credited for his effort, according to one source, "by the time the final version was released in 1982, only 30 percent of Wenders' footage remained, and the rest was completely reshot by Coppola, whose mere 'executive producer' credit is just a technicality."
The Outsiders (1983) In 1983, he directed The Outsiders
The Outsiders (film)
The Outsiders is a 1983 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, an adaptation of the novel The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. The film was released in March 1983...
, a film adaptation of the novel of the same name
The Outsiders (novel)
The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel based in 1965 by S. E. Hinton, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Hinton was 15 when she started writing the novel, but did most of the work when she was sixteen and a junior in high school. Hinton was 18 when the book was published...
by S. E. Hinton
S. E. Hinton
Susan Eloise Hinton is an American author best known for her young adult novel The Outsiders.While still in her teens, Hinton became a household name as the author of The Outsiders, her first and most popular novel, set in Oklahoma in the 1960s. She began writing it in 1965...
. Coppola credited his inspiration for making the film to a suggestion from middle school students who had read the novel. The Outsiders is notable for being the breakout film for a number of young actors who would go on to become major stars. These included major roles for Matt Dillon
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...
, Ralph Macchio
Ralph Macchio
Ralph George Macchio is an American actor, best known for his roles as Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid series, Bill Gambini in My Cousin Vinny, and Johnny Cade in The Outsiders. He is also known to American television audiences for his season five recurring role as Jeremy Andretti on the...
, and C. Thomas Howell
C. Thomas Howell
Christopher Thomas "Tommy" Howell , known by his stage name C. Thomas Howell, is an American actor and film director. He starred in the films The Outsiders as Ponyboy Curtis and in The Hitcher as Jim Halsey. He has appeared in The Da Vinci Treasure,Soul Man, Red Dawn, Secret Admirer, Gettysburg, H. G...
. Also in the cast were Patrick Swayze
Patrick Swayze
Patrick Wayne Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best known for his tough-guy roles, as romantic leading men in the hit films Dirty Dancing and Ghost, and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was named by People magazine as its "Sexiest...
, Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe
Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...
, Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez
Emilio Estevez is an American actor, film director, and writer. He started his career as an actor and is well-known for being a member of the acting Brat Pack of the 1980s, starring in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire...
, Diane Lane
Diane Lane
Diane Lane is an American film actress.Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at the age of 13 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Soon after, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine...
, and Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
. Matt Dillon and several others also starred in Coppola's related film, Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish is a 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the novel Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay....
, which was also based on a S. E. Hinton novel and filmed at the same time as The Outsiders on-location in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
. Carmine Coppola wrote and edited the musical score, including the title song "Stay Gold", which was based upon a famous Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
poem and performed for the movie by Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
. The film was a moderate box-office success, drawing a revenue of $25 million against a budget of $10 million.
Rumble Fish (1983) Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish is a 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the novel Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay....
was based on the novel of the same name
Rumble Fish (novel)
Rumble Fish is a 1975 novel for young adults by S. E. Hinton, author of The Outsiders. It was adapted to film and directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983.-Plot:...
by S. E. Hinton
S. E. Hinton
Susan Eloise Hinton is an American author best known for her young adult novel The Outsiders.While still in her teens, Hinton became a household name as the author of The Outsiders, her first and most popular novel, set in Oklahoma in the 1960s. She began writing it in 1965...
, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Shot in black-and-white as an homage to German expressionist films, Rumble Fish centers on the relationship between a revered former gang leader (Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
), and his younger brother, Rusty James (Matt Dillon
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...
). The film bombed at the box office, earning a meagre $2.5 million against a budget of $10 million, and once again aggravated Coppola's financial troubles.
The Cotton Club (1984) In 1984 Coppola directed Robert Evans
Robert Evans (film producer)
Robert Evans is an American film producer, best known for his work on Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, and Chinatown.-Early life and acting career:...
-produced The Cotton Club
The Cotton Club (film)
The Cotton Club is a 1984 crime-drama, centered on a famed Harlem jazz club of the 1930s, the Cotton Club.The movie was co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, choreographed by Henry LeTang, and starred Richard Gere, Diane Lane, and Gregory Hines...
. The film was nominated for several awards, including Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Picture (Drama) and the Oscar for Best Film Editing. However the film failed miserably at the box-office, recouping only $25.9 million of the $47.9 million privately invested by brothers Fred and Ed Doumani. The same year he directed an episode of Rip Van Winkle, where Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton
Harry Dean Stanton is an American actor, musician, and singer. Stanton's career has spanned over fifty years, which has seen him star in such films as Paris, Texas, Kelly's Heroes, Dillinger, Alien, Repo Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Wild at Heart, The Green Mile and The Pledge...
played the lead role. The next year, along with producer George Lucas, he was able to indulge himself by making Captain EO
Captain EO
Captain EO is a 3-D science fiction film starring Michael Jackson and directed by Francis Ford Coppola that was shown at Disney theme parks from 1986 through the 1990s...
(1985), a 12-minute space fantasy for Disney theme parks starring pop superstar Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
. At a cost of about one million dollars per minute of film, it was, minute-for-minute, the most expensive motion picture of all time.
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) In 1986
1986 in film
-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
Coppola released the comedy Peggy Sue Got Married
Peggy Sue Got Married
Peggy Sue Got Married is a 1986 American comedy-drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Kathleen Turner as a woman on the verge of a divorce, who finds herself transported back to the days of her senior year in high school...
starring Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...
, Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
and Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
. Much like The Outsiders
The Outsiders (film)
The Outsiders is a 1983 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, an adaptation of the novel The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. The film was released in March 1983...
and Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish is a 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the novel Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay....
, Peggy Sue Got Married centered around teenage youth. The film earned Coppola positive feedback and provided Kathleen Turner her first and only Oscar nomination. It was the first box-office success for Coppola since Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
. The film later ranked number 17 on Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
's list of "50 Best High School Movies."
Gardens of Stone (1987) The following year, Coppola re-teamed with James Caan for Gardens of Stone
Gardens of Stone
Gardens of Stone is a 1987 film by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Proffitt.A drama, it stars James Caan, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones and D. B. Sweeney.-Plot:...
. The film was overshadowed by the death of Coppola's eldest son Gian-Carlo Coppola
Gian-Carlo Coppola
-Early life:Coppola was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of set decorator/artist Eleanor Coppola and famed film director Francis Ford Coppola...
during the film's production. The movie was not a critical success and performed poorly at the box office, earning only $5.2 million.
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) Coppola directed Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Tucker: The Man and His Dream is a 1988 biographical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Jeff Bridges. The film recounts the story of Preston Tucker and his attempt to produce and market the 1948 Tucker Sedan, which was met with scandal between the "Big Three automobile...
the following year. A biopic based on the life of Preston Tucker
Preston Tucker
Preston Thomas Tucker was an American automobile designer and entrepreneur.He is most remembered for his 1948 Tucker Sedan , an automobile which introduced many features that have since become widely used in modern cars...
and his attempt to produce and market the Tucker '48, Coppola had originally conceived the project as a musical with Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
after the release of The Godfather Part II. Ultimately it was Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
who played the role of Preston Tucker. The film received positive reviews, earning three nominations at the 62nd Academy Awards
62nd Academy Awards
The 62nd Academy Awards were presented March 26, 1990 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. The venue, half the size of the one used the previous year, prompted Gil Cates and Karl Malden to put a memo to "our friends in the industry" in the March 13th edition of the Daily...
. In addition, Martin Landau
Martin Landau
Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, while Dean Tavoularis
Dean Tavoularis
Dean Tavoularis is an American motion picture production designer whose work appeared in numerous box office hits such as The Godfather films, Apocalypse Now, The Brink's Job, One from the Heart and Bonnie and Clyde.-Biography:...
won the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design
BAFTA Award for Best Production Design
List of winners of the BAFTA Awards from 1964 to the present in the category "Best Production Design".-1960s:Best British Production Design - Black and White1964: Dr...
.
New York Stories (1989)
In 1989 Coppola teamed up with fellow Oscar-winning directors Martin ScorseseMartin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
and Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
for an anthology film
Anthology film
An anthology film is a feature film consisting of several different short films, often tied together by only a single theme, premise, or brief interlocking event . Sometimes each one is directed by a different director...
called New York Stories
New York Stories
New York Stories is a 1989 anthology film; it consists of three shorts with the central theme being New York City.The first is Life Lessons, directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Richard Price and starring Nick Nolte. The second is Life Without Zoë, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by...
. Coppola directed
the Life Without Zoe segment starring his sister Talia Shire
Talia Shire
Talia Shire is an American actress most known for her roles as Connie Corleone in The Godfather films and Adrian Balboa in the Rocky series.-Personal life:...
, and also co-wrote the film with his daughter Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
. Life Without Zoe was mostly panned by critics and was generally considered the segment that brought the film's overall quality down. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
wrote a particularly scathing review, stating that "It's impossible to know what Francis Coppola's Life Without Zoe is. Co-written with his daughter Sofia, the film is a mystifying embarrassment; it's by far the director's worst work yet."
The Godfather Part III (1990) In 1990, he released the third and final chapter of The Godfather series: The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III
The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American gangster film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. It completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who tries to legitimize his criminal empire...
. Coppola successfully managed to get Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
, Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton
Diane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
, and Talia Shire
Talia Shire
Talia Shire is an American actress most known for her roles as Connie Corleone in The Godfather films and Adrian Balboa in the Rocky series.-Personal life:...
to return to the franchise, but Robert Duvall
Robert Duvall
Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....
refused to reprise his role as Tom Hagen over salary disagreements. While not as critically acclaimed as the first two films, it was still a box office success, earning a revenue of $136 million against a budget of $54 million. Some reviewers criticized the casting of Coppola's daughter Sofia
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
, who stepped into a role abandoned by Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
just as filming began. Despite this, The Godfather Part III went on to gather 7 Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
. The film failed to win any of these awards, the only film in the trilogy to do so.
Dracula (1992) In 1992, Coppola directed, co-produced and co-wrote Dracula. Adapted from Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
's novel
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, it was intended to be more faithful to the book than previous film adaptations. Coppola cast Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
in the film's title role, with Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
, Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
and Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
in supporting roles. The movie became a box-office hit, grossing $82,522,790 domestically, making it the 15th highest-grossing film of the year. It fared much better overseas grossing $133,339,902 for a total worldwide gross of $215,862,692, making it the 9th highest grossing film of the year worldwide. The film won Academy Awards for Costume Design
Academy Award for Costume Design
The Academy Award for Best Costume Design is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for achievement in film costume design....
, Makeup
Academy Award for Makeup
The Academy Award for Best Makeup is the Oscar given to the best achievement in makeup for film. Usually, only three films are nominated each year rather than five as in most categories...
, and Sound Editing
Academy Award for Sound Editing
The Academy Award of Merit for Best Sound Editing is an Academy Award granted yearly to a film exhibiting the finest or most aesthetic sound editing or sound design...
.
Jack (1996)
Coppola's next project was Jack, which was released in August, 1996. It stars Robin WilliamsRobin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
as Jack Powell, a ten-year-old boy whose cells are growing at four times the normal rate, so at the age of ten he looks like a 40-year-old man. Jack persuades his parents (Diane Lane
Diane Lane
Diane Lane is an American film actress.Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at the age of 13 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Soon after, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine...
and Brian Kerwin
Brian Kerwin
Brian Kerwin is an American actor.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Kerwin won the Theatre World Award in 1988 for the off-Broadway play Emily. His Broadway theatre credits include the 1997 revival of The Little Foxes and the Elaine May comedy After the Night and the Music in 2005...
) to let him attend regular school, based upon a recommendation from his tutor, Mr. Woodruff (Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
). The rest of the film deals with Jack's failures and successes as a student in a regular elementary school in the fifth grade, through the end of his life in high school. Jack also featured Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
, Fran Drescher
Fran Drescher
Francine Joy "Fran" Drescher is an American film and television actress, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer, author, singer, talk show host, political lobbyist and health activist...
and Michael McKean
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean is an American actor, comedian, writer, composer and musician, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Squiggy's friend, Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski, on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; and for his work in the Christopher Guest ensemble films, particularly as David St...
in supporting roles. Although a moderate box-office success, grossing $58 million domestically on an estimated $45 million budget, it was panned by critics, many of whom disliked the film's abrupt contrast between actual comedy and tragic melodrama. It was also unfavorably compared to the 1988 film Big, in which Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
also played a child in a grown man's body. Most critics felt that the screenplay was poorly written, not funny, and the dramatic material was unconvincing and unbelievable. Other critics felt that Coppola was too talented to be making this type of film. Although ridiculed for making the film, Coppola has defended it, saying he is not ashamed of the final cut of the movie. He had been friends with Robin Williams for many years and had always wanted to work with him as an actor. When Williams was offered the screenplay for Jack he said he would only agree to do it if Coppola agreed to sign on as director.
The Rainmaker (1997)
The last film Coppola directed in the 90s, The RainmakerThe Rainmaker (1997 film)
The Rainmaker is a 1997 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Matt Damon. Coppola wrote the script, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by John Grisham....
was based on the 1995
1995 in literature
The year 1995 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea is opened by Jimmy Carter....
novel of the same name
The Rainmaker (John Grisham)
The Rainmaker is a 1995 novel by John Grisham. It differs from most of his other novels in that it is written almost completely in the simple present tense.-Plot summary:...
by John Grisham
John Grisham
John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...
. An ensemble courtroom drama, the film was well-received by critics, earning an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave The Rainmaker three stars out of four, remarking: "I have enjoyed several of the movies based on Grisham novels ... but I've usually seen the storyteller's craft rather than the novelist's art being reflected. ... By keeping all of the little people in focus, Coppola shows the variety of a young lawyer's life, where every client is necessary and most of them need a lot more than a lawyer." James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
also gave the film three stars out of four, saying that "the intelligence and subtlety of The Rainmaker took me by surprise" and that the film "stands above any other filmed Grisham adaptation". Grisham said of the film, "To me it's the best adaptation of any of [my books]. ... I love the movie. It's so well done." The film grossed about $45 million domestically. This would be more than the estimated production budget of $40 million but a disappointment compared to previous films adapted from a Grisham novel.
Zoetrope: All-Story
In 1997, Coppola founded Zoetrope: All-StoryZoetrope: All-Story
Zoetrope: All-Story is an American literary magazine that was launched in 1997 by Francis Ford Coppola. Blooming from Francis Coppola's "Crazy Idea Department," All-Story is devoted to showcasing the most promising voices in short-fiction...
, a literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
devoted to short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
and design. The magazine publishes fiction by emerging writers alongside more recognizable names, such as Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
, Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
, Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami
is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...
, Alice Munro
Alice Munro
Alice Ann Munro is a Canadian short-story writer, the winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime body of work, a three-time winner of Canada's Governor General's Award for fiction, and a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize...
, Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo is an American author, playwright, and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries...
, Mary Gaitskill
Mary Gaitskill
Mary Gaitskill is an American author of essays, short stories and novels. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, Esquire, The Best American Short Stories , and The O. Henry Prize Stories .-Life:Gaitskill was born in Lexington, Kentucky...
, and Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
; as well as essays, including ones from Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
, David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, and Salman Rushdie. Each issue is designed, in its entirety, by a prominent artist, one usually working outside his / her expected field. Previous guest designers include Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson
Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is an American experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance-art piece in the late 1960s...
, Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi
Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...
, Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, David Byrne
David Byrne
David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...
, and Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
. Coppola serves as founding editor and publisher of All-Story.
Dispute with Warner Bros.
In the late 1980s, Coppola started considering concepts for a motion picture based upon the 19th century novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio. In 1991, Coppola and Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
began discussing the project and two others involving the life of J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
and the children's novel The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was initially published in serial format starting in the autumn of 1910, and was first published in its entirety in 1911. It is now one of Burnett's most popular novels, and is considered to be a classic of English children's...
. These discussions led to negotiations for Coppola to both produce and direct the Pinocchio project for Warner, as well as Secret Garden and Hoover. However, in mid-1991 Coppola and Warner came to disagreement over the compensation to be paid to Coppola for his directing services on Pinocchio. The parties deferred this issue, and finally a settlement was reached in 1998, when the jurors awarded Coppola $20 million as compensation for losing the film project, Pinocchio. This was the largest civil verdict ever against a Hollywood studio. The Los Angeles jury awarded him $60 million in punitive damages on top of the $20 million, stemming from his charges that Warner Bros. sabotaged his intended version.
Youth Without Youth (2007)
After a 10-year hiatus, Coppola returned to film direction with Youth Without Youth in 2007. It was based on the novella of the same name by Romanian author Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...
. The film was poorly reviewed, currently holding a 30% 'rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. It was made for about $19 million, and was given a limited release. As a result, Coppola announced his plans to produce his own films in order to avoid the marketing input that goes into most films (trying to make them appeal to too wide an audience). The film managed a meager $244,397 at the box-office.
Tetro (2009)
In 2009, Coppola released TetroTetro
Tetro is a 2009 drama film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Vincent Gallo, Alden Ehrenreich and Maribel Verdú. Filming took place in 2008 in Buenos Aires, Patagonia, and Spain...
. It was "set in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, with the reunion of two brothers, the story follows the rivalries born out of creative differences passed down through generations of an artistic Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
immigrant family." The film received generally positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the film has an average metascore of 63% based on 19 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 68% of critics gave positive reviews based on 71 reviews with an average score of 5.6/10. Among Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 71% based on 24 reviews. Overall, the Rotten Tomatoes consensus was: "A complex meditation on family dynamics, Tetros arresting visuals and emotional core compensate for its uneven narrative."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
gave the film 3 stars, praising the film for being "boldly operatic, involving family drama, secrets, generations at war, melodrama, romance and violence". Ebert also praised Vincent Gallo
Vincent Gallo
Vincent Gallo is an Italian-American film director and actor. Though he has had minor roles in mainstream films such as Goodfellas, he is most associated with independent movies, including Buffalo '66, which he wrote, directed, did the music for and starred in; The Brown Bunny, which he also...
's performance, but claimed Alden Ehrenreich
Alden Ehrenreich
-Life and career:Ehrenreich was born in Los Angeles, California. His mother, Sari, is an interior designer, and his stepfather is an orthodontist. He was raised in Reconstructionist Judaism...
is "the new Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
". Todd McCarthy of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
gave the film a B+ judging that "Coppola finds creative nirvana, he frequently has trouble delivering the full goods." Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
of TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
gave the film a mixed review, praising Ehrenreich's performance, but claiming Coppola "has made a movie in which plenty happens but nothing rings true."
Other ventures
Coppola co-produced George LucasGeorge Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
’s first film, THX 1138
THX 1138
THX 1138 is a 1971 science fiction film directed by George Lucas in his directorial debut. The film is based on a screenplay by Lucas and Walter Murch...
, in 1971. Shortly after completion of production Lucas and Coppola brought the finished film to Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, along with several other scripts for potential projects at American Zoetrope
American Zoetrope
American Zoetrope is a studio founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Founded on December 12, 1969, American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV...
. However, studio executives strongly disliked all the scripts including THX. Warner demanded that Coppola repay the $300,000 they had loaned him for the Zoetrope studio, and insisted on cutting five minutes from the film. The debt nearly closed Zoetrope, and forced Coppola to (reluctantly) focus on The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
. In 1974, he wrote the screenplay for The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby (1974 film)
The Great Gatsby is a 1974 romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on F...
, and in 1979, he was executive producer for The Black Stallion
The Black Stallion (film)
The Black Stallion is a 1979 American film based on the 1941 classic children's novel The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. It tells the story of Alec Ramsey, who is shipwrecked on a desert island, together with a wild Arabian stallion whom he befriends...
.
Coppola, with his family, expanded his business ventures to include winemaking in California's Napa Valley
Napa Valley AVA
Napa Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in Napa County, California, United States. Napa Valley is considered one of the top wine regions in the United States...
, where he purchased the former home and adjoining vineyard of Gustave Niebaum
Gustave Niebaum
Gustave Ferdinand Niebaum acquired his maritime schooling in Helsinki, Finland. By the end of 1850s - now a Sea Captain - Gustave Niebaum had become the world's leading fur trader. Among his many known accomplishments Captain Niebaum founded the Alaskan Commercial Company in San Francisco,...
in Rutherford, California. He bought the property in 1975 using proceeds from the first movie in the Godfather
Godfather Trilogy
The Godfather is a crime drama film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the novel by Mario Puzo about the fictional Corleone Mafia family.-Films:* The Godfather * The Godfather Part II...
trilogy. His winery produced its first vintage in 1977 with the help of his father, wife and children stomping the grapes barefoot. Every year, the family has a harvest party to continue the tradition. After purchasing the property, he produced wine under the Niebaum-Coppola label. He purchased the former Inglenook Winery
Inglenook Winery
The Inglenook Winery produced estate bottled wines in Rutherford, California in the Napa Valley. The winery was founded in 1879 by a Finnish Sea Captain Gustave Niebaum. Niebaum died in 1908 and the winery was shut down during Prohibition...
chateau in 1995 and renamed the winery Rubicon Estate Winery
Rubicon Estate Winery
The Rubicon Estate Winery is located in Rutherford, California, USA. The winery sits on a portion of the historic Napa Valley property first acquired in 1879 by a Finnish Sea Captain Gustave Niebaum, founder of the Inglenook Winery.-History:In 1975, Francis Ford Coppola and his wife Eleanor,...
in 2006. The company also produces a line of pastas and pasta sauces. He owns the Turtle Inn in Placencia
Placencia
Placencia is a small town located in the Stann Creek District of Belize. It is the most southern town on the largest peninsula of the Gulf of Mexico.-History:...
, Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
. For 14 years he co-owned the "Rubicon" restaurant in San Francisco along with Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
and Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
. The restaurant closed in August 2008. Coppola also owns Francis Ford Coppola Winery near Geyserville, California
Geyserville, California
Geyserville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Sonoma County, California, USA. Located in the Wine Country, it is noted by tourists for its restaurants, bed and breakfast inns, and wineries...
where he has opened a family-friendly facility with swimming pools, bocce
Bocce
Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...
courts and a restaurant. The winery displays several of Coppola's Oscars along with memorabilia from his movies including a desk from The Godfather and a restored 1948 Tucker Sedan
1948 Tucker Sedan
The 1948 Tucker Sedan or Tucker '48 Sedan was an advanced automobile conceived by Preston Tucker and briefly produced in Chicago in 1948...
. This winery is located on the former Chateau Souverain Winery. Coppola is also the owner of Francis Ford Coppola Presents
Francis Ford Coppola Presents
Francis Ford Coppola Presents is a lifestyle brand created by Francis Ford Coppola, under which he markets goods from companies he owns or controls...
, a lifestyle brand
Lifestyle brand
A lifestyle brand is a brand that attempts to embody the values and aspirations of a group or culture for purposes of marketing.Each individual has an identity based on their choices, experiences, and background...
under which he markets goods from companies he owns or controls. It includes films and videos, resorts, cafes, a literary magazine and a winery. He brought out the San Francisco-based City Magazine in the '70s. He lost 1.5 million dollars in this venture. Coppola serves as the "Honorary Consul H. E. Francis Ford Coppola" for the Central American nation of Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
in San Francisco. He was the jury president at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival
1996 Cannes Film Festival
-Jury:*Francis Ford Coppola *Nathalie Baye *Greta Scacchi, actrice *Michael Ballhaus *Henry Chapier *Atom Egoyan *Eiko Ishioka *Krzysztof Piesiewicz *Antonio Tabucchi...
. He also took part as a special guest at the 46th International Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece.
Coppola stated that The Godfather Part IV was never made as Mario Puzo died before they had a chance to write the film. Andy Garcia has since claimed the film's script was nearly produced.
Coppola is currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. He also spends considerable time in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina, where he is establishing a subsidiary of his production company. In San Francisco, Coppola owns a restaurant named Cafe Zoetrope, located in the Sentinel Building. It serves traditional Italian cuisine and wine from his personal vineyard and bottling company.
Over the years, Francis Coppola has given political contributions to several candidates of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, including Mike Thompson
Mike Thompson
Michael C. Thompson , is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1999. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties as well as parts of Yolo and Sonoma Counties....
, Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
for the U.S. House of Representatives and Barbara Boxer
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Levy Boxer is the junior United States Senator from California . A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives ....
and Alan Cranston
Alan Cranston
Alan MacGregor Cranston was an American journalist and Democratic Senator from California.-Education:Cranston earned his high school diploma from the old Mountain View High School, where among other things, he was a track star...
for the U.S. Senate.
For quite some time, he had been planning to direct an epic movie named Megalopolis, but for some reason or the other, the project hasn't come to fruition. In 2007 he stated that "I have abandoned that as of now. I'm now going to...I plan to begin a process of making one personal movie after another and if something leads me back to look at that, which I'm sure it might, I'll see what makes sense to me."
Personal life
In February 1963, Coppola married Eleanor NeilEleanor Coppola
Eleanor Coppola is the wife of the famed director Francis Ford Coppola.Coppola was born Eleanor Jessie Neil to an Irish-American family in Los Angeles. She met Francis Ford Coppola on the set of his directorial debut, Dementia 13 in 1962, where she was Assistant Art Director. They married a year...
, who he met on the set of Dementia 13
Dementia 13
Dementia 13 is a 1963 horror thriller released by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman...
. They had three children: Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
, Roman Coppola
Roman Coppola
Roman Coppola is an American film director and music video director.-Early life:Coppola was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, the son of set decorator/artist Eleanor Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was born in the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine while his father was in Paris...
and Gian-Carlo Coppola
Gian-Carlo Coppola
-Early life:Coppola was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of set decorator/artist Eleanor Coppola and famed film director Francis Ford Coppola...
. Sofia Coppola is an Academy Award-winning writer and nominated director. Her films include the critically acclaimed The Virgin Suicides
The Virgin Suicides (film)
The Virgin Suicides is a 1999 American drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, produced by her father Francis Ford Coppola, starring James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, and A.J...
and Lost in Translation
Lost in Translation (film)
Lost in Translation is a 2003 American film written and directed by Sofia Coppola; her second feature film after The Virgin Suicides and it stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson...
. In 2004, she became the first American woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, for Lost in Translation. Coppola's eldest son, Gian-Carlo, was in the early stages of a film production career when he was killed on May 26, 1986 in a speedboat accident. Coppola's surviving son, Roman, is a filmmaker and music video director whose filmography includes the feature film CQ
CQ (film)
CQ is a 2001 film written and directed by Roman Coppola. It was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.It is a homage to 1960s European spy/sci-fi spoofs like Barbarella and Danger: Diabolik and the documentary spoof David Holzman's Diary. The cinematography is done by Robert...
and music videos for The Strokes
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American indie rock band formed in 1999 in New York City. Consisting of Julian Casablancas , Nick Valensi , Albert Hammond, Jr. , Nikolai Fraiture and Fabrizio Moretti ....
, as well as co-writing the Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....
film The Darjeeling Limited
The Darjeeling Limited
The Darjeeling Limited is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson, and starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman. It was written by Anderson, Schwartzman, and Roman Coppola...
.
Coppola often works with family members in his films. His sister, Talia Shire
Talia Shire
Talia Shire is an American actress most known for her roles as Connie Corleone in The Godfather films and Adrian Balboa in the Rocky series.-Personal life:...
, played Connie Corleone
Connie Corleone
Constanzia "Connie" Corleone , is a fictional character from The Godfather by Mario Puzo. In the films, Connie is portrayed by Talia Shire, the sister of director Francis Ford Coppola....
in all three Godfather films
Godfather Trilogy
The Godfather is a crime drama film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the novel by Mario Puzo about the fictional Corleone Mafia family.-Films:* The Godfather * The Godfather Part II...
. His daughter Sofia also appeared in all three (the first two movies uncredited): as the infant being baptized at the end of the first movie, as a young child on board ship in the second, and in a supporting role as Michael Corleone's daughter Mary in the third. He cast his two sons in The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
as extras during the street fight scene and Vito Corleone
Vito Corleone
Vito Andolini Corleone is a fictional character and the main character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather, as well as Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather trilogy, where he was portrayed by Marlon Brando in The Godfather and by Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II. Premiere Magazine listed Vito...
’s funeral. His father Carmine, a composer and professional musician, co-wrote much of the music in The Godfather, The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
, and Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
.
Coppola's nephew, Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
, starred in Coppola's film Peggy Sue Got Married
Peggy Sue Got Married
Peggy Sue Got Married is a 1986 American comedy-drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Kathleen Turner as a woman on the verge of a divorce, who finds herself transported back to the days of her senior year in high school...
and was featured in Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish is a 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the novel Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay....
and The Cotton Club
The Cotton Club (film)
The Cotton Club is a 1984 crime-drama, centered on a famed Harlem jazz club of the 1930s, the Cotton Club.The movie was co-written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, choreographed by Henry LeTang, and starred Richard Gere, Diane Lane, and Gregory Hines...
. Other famous members of Coppola's family include nephews Jason Schwartzman
Jason Schwartzman
Jason Francesco Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Rushmore, Spun, I Heart Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...
and Robert Schwartzman, sons of Talia Shire. Jason Schwartzman has starred in several films, including Rushmore
Rushmore (film)
Rushmore is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson about an eccentric teenager named Max Fischer , his friendship with rich industrialist Herman Blume , and their mutual love for elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross . The film was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson...
and Slackers. He also co-wrote (along with director Wes Anderson and cousin Roman Coppola) and starred in the 2007 film The Darjeeling Limited. Robert Schwartzman is the lead singer in the band Rooney
Rooney (band)
Rooney is an American rock band from Los Angeles, currently self-produced and formerly signed to Geffen Records. The band is now composed of Robert Schwartzman , Louie Stephens , Taylor Locke , Ned Brower , and Brandon Schwartzel...
and appeared in The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries is a series of epistolary novels by Meg Cabot in the chick-lit and young-adult fiction genre, and the title of the first volume, published in 2000....
as well as having small appearances in several films, including his cousin Sofia's The Virgin Suicides.
Honors
In the 2002 poll of the Sight and Sound publication, Coppola ranked #4 in the directors' top ten directors of all time and #10 in the critics' top ten directors of all time. He featured at #17 in MovieMaker Magazine's 25 most influential directors of all-time. He also ranked #9 in toptenreviews' list of top directors of all time, and at #21 in Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
's top fifty directors of all time. Four of Coppola's films- The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
, The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather, chronicling the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the...
, Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
and Patton
Patton (film)
Patton is a 1970 American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H...
featured in WGAW
Writers Guild of America, west
Writers Guild of America, West is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. The Guild was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, which include the Screen Writers Guild...
's list of 101 greatest screenplays ever. Three of his films feature in AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies: The Godfather (#2), Apocalypse Now (#28) and The Godfather Part II (#32). The Godfather also ranks at number #11 in AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills.
The following Coppola films were also nominated for the list:
- American GraffitiAmerican GraffitiAmerican Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...
(1973) - Producer - The ConversationThe ConversationThe Conversation is a 1974 American psychological thriller film written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman...
(1974) - Director/Producer/Screenwriter - PattonPatton (film)Patton is a 1970 American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H...
(1970) - Screenwriter
1991, he was honored with the Berlinale Camera at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
. In 1992, he was awarded a Golden Lion – Honorary Award at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
. In 1998, the Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He was honored with a special 50th anniversary award for his impressive career at the 2002 San Sebastián International Film Festival
San Sebastián International Film Festival
The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
. The same year he received a gala tribute from Film Society of Lincoln Center
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The Film Society of Lincoln Center based in New York City, United States, is one of the world's most prominent film presentation organizations. Founded in 1969 by three Lincoln Center executives - William F. May, Martin E. Segal and Schuyler G...
. In 2003, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Denver Film Festival
Denver Film Festival
The Denver Film Festival is held in November, primarily in the Tivoli Union on the Auraria Campus and the new Denver Film Center/Colfax, in Denver Colorado...
. He was given an honorary award at the 2007
2007 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival
The 44th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival was held from October 19 to 28 2007 in Antalya, Turkey. Awards were presented in the 44th Antalya Golden Orange Festival in 20 categories of three competition divisions and in the 3rd Eurasia Film Festival in 4 categories...
Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival
Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival
The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival is a film festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, is the most important national film festival in Turkey...
. In 2010, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
decided to honor him with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the 2nd Governor's Awards in November. The honor was bestowed on him on November 13, along with Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
, Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow is a filmmaker, film historian, television documentary-maker, author, and Academy Award recipient. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent...
and Eli Wallach
Eli Wallach
Eli Herschel Wallach is an American film, television and stage actor, who gained fame in the late 1950s. For his performance in Baby Doll he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe nomination. One of his most famous roles is that of Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly...
. George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
said that he based the Han Solo
Han Solo
Han Solo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise played by Harrison Ford. Introduced in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca , become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire...
character in Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
on Coppola.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Contribution | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Tonight for Sure Tonight for Sure -External links:... |
Director/Writer | First film |
| 1962 | Director/Writer | ||
| 1963 | Dementia 13 Dementia 13 Dementia 13 is a 1963 horror thriller released by American International Pictures, starring William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. The film was written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman... |
Director/Writer | First feature film |
| 1963 | Director/Producer | ||
| 1966 | You're a Big Boy Now You're a Big Boy Now You're a Big Boy Now is a 1966 film with Peter Kastner, Elizabeth Hartman, Geraldine Page, Julie Harris and Karen Black, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on a 1963 novel, also titled You're a Big Boy Now, by David Benedictus.... |
Director/Writer | Nominated — Palme d'Or Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du... Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Nominated — Writers Guild of America Award Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949... for Best American Screenplay - Comedy |
| 1968 | Finian's Rainbow Finian's Rainbow (film) Finian's Rainbow is a 1968 American musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola that stars Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. The screenplay by E. Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy is based on their 1947 stage musical of the same name.-Plot:... |
Director | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy |
| 1969 | Director/Writer | Golden Shell Golden Shell The Golden Shell is the highest prize given to a competing film at the San Sebastián Film Festival. It was introduced in 1957. In 1953 and 1954, the highest prize had been called the Gran Premio. In 1955 and 1956 it was replaced by the Silver Shell... at San Sebastián International Film Festival San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953... |
|
| 1970 | Patton Patton (film) Patton is a 1970 American biographical war film about U.S. General George S. Patton during World War II. It stars George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates, and Karl Michael Vogler. It was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner from a script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H... |
Writer | Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the... |
| 1971 | THX 1138 THX 1138 THX 1138 is a 1971 science fiction film directed by George Lucas in his directorial debut. The film is based on a screenplay by Lucas and Walter Murch... |
Executive Producer | |
| 1972 | Director/Writer | Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film -1950s-1960s:**Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George**Ray, directed by Taylor Hackford*2006 Crash, directed by Paul Haggis**A History of Violence, directed by David Cronenberg**Good Night, and Good Luck., directed by George Clooney... Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama Golden Globe Award for Best Director Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay The Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award... Golden Screen at Golden Screen Awards, Germany Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director Steven Spielberg holds the record for most wins: 6 . Peter Jackson won an award for each and every film of The Lord of the Rings-trilogy.-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:*... Writers Guild of America Award Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949... for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium Nominated — Academy Award for Best Director Nominated — Best Audio Commentary at DVD Exclusive Awards DVD Exclusive Awards The DVD Exclusive Awards is an award that honors direct to video productions. The awards were first held in 2001. They are awarded by online periodical Video Business and The Digital Entertainment Group.... |
|
| 1973 | American Graffiti American Graffiti American Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford... |
Producer | Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film Nominated — Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy |
| 1974 | Director/Producer/Writer | Palme d'Or Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du... Prize of the Ecumenical Jury Prize of the Ecumenical Jury The Prize of the Ecumenical Jury is an independent film award for feature films at the Cannes Film Festival since 1974. The Ecumenical Jury is one of three juries at the Cannes Film Festival, along with the official jury and the FIPRESCI jury. The award was created by Christian film makers, film... - Special Mention Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director Steven Spielberg holds the record for most wins: 6 . Peter Jackson won an award for each and every film of The Lord of the Rings-trilogy.-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:*... National Board of Review Award for Best Director National Board of Review Award for Best Director An incomplete list of the winners of the National Board of Review Award for Best Director made by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures:-1940s:-1950s:-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:... Nominated — Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the... Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Direction BAFTA Award for Best Direction Winners of the BAFTA Award for Best Direction presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.-2010s:* 2010 - David Fincher – The Social Network** Tom Hooper – The King's Speech** Danny Boyle – 127 Hours... Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay * 1982 - Missing - Costa-Gavras and Donald E. Stewart** E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - Melissa Mathison** Gandhi - John Briley** On Golden Pond - Ernest Thompson* 1981 - Gregory's Girl - Bill Forsyth... Nominated — Video Premiere Award at DVD Exclusive Awards DVD Exclusive Awards The DVD Exclusive Awards is an award that honors direct to video productions. The awards were first held in 2001. They are awarded by online periodical Video Business and The Digital Entertainment Group.... Nominated — Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film Nominated — Best Motion Picture Screenplay Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Director Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay The Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award... Nominated — Writers Guild of America Award Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949... for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen Nominated — Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... |
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| 1974 | Director/Producer/Writer | Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... Academy Award for Best Director Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director Steven Spielberg holds the record for most wins: 6 . Peter Jackson won an award for each and every film of The Lord of the Rings-trilogy.-1960s:-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:*... National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director The National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director is an annual award given by National Society of Film Critics to honor the best film director of the year.... Writers Guild of America Award Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949... for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Director Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay The Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award... |
|
| 1979 | Apocalypse Now Apocalypse Now Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces... |
Director/Producer/Writer/Music | Palme d'Or Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du... FIPRESCI Prize Golden Globe Award for Best Director BAFTA Award for Best Direction BAFTA Award for Best Direction Winners of the BAFTA Award for Best Direction presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.-2010s:* 2010 - David Fincher – The Social Network** Tom Hooper – The King's Speech** Danny Boyle – 127 Hours... David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film David di Donatello for Best Foreign Film -1950s-1960s:**Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George**Ray, directed by Taylor Hackford*2006 Crash, directed by Paul Haggis**A History of Violence, directed by David Cronenberg**Good Night, and Good Luck., directed by George Clooney... Golden Screen at Golden Screen Awards, Germany London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film Nominated — Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... Nominated — Academy Award for Best Director Nominated — Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Film BAFTA Award for Best Film This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards... Nominated — Best Foreign Language Film at Cinema Brazil Grand Prize (2002) Nominated — César Award for Best Foreign Film César Award for Best Foreign Film This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Foreign Film .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:... Nominated — Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Nominated — Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media has been awarded since 1960. Until 2001 the award was presented to the composer of the music alone. From 2001 to 2006, the producer and engineers shared in this award... Nominated — Writers Guild of America Award Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949... for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen |
| 1979 | The Black Stallion The Black Stallion (film) The Black Stallion is a 1979 American film based on the 1941 classic children's novel The Black Stallion by Walter Farley. It tells the story of Alec Ramsey, who is shipwrecked on a desert island, together with a wild Arabian stallion whom he befriends... |
Executive Producer | |
| 1980 | Kagemusha Kagemusha is a 1980 film by Akira Kurosawa. The title is a term used for an impersonator. It is set in the Warring States era of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate a dying warlord in order to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable... |
Executive Producer | David di Donatello David di Donatello David di Donatello, named after Donatello's David, is a movie award assigned each year for cinematic performances and production by Ente David di Donatello, part of Accademia del Cinema Italiano. It is the Italian equivalent to the Academy Award. There are 24 categories as of 2006.- History :The... for Best Producer |
| 1982 | One from the Heart One from the Heart One from the Heart is a 1982 musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The characters themselves do not actually sing but the powerful score dominates the movie. It is set entirely in Las Vegas, on the Las Vegas Strip and the desert surrounding the city... |
Director/Writer | |
| 1983 | Director | Nominated — Golden Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival Nominated — Best Family Feature Motion Picture at the Young Artist Award Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist... s |
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| 1983 | Rumble Fish Rumble Fish Rumble Fish is a 1983 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It is based on the novel Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay.... |
Director/Producer/Writer | FIPRESCI Prize at San Sebastián International Film Festival San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953... OCIC Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953... |
| 1984 | Director/Writer | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Director Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Nominated — Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film Every year since its inception, the Japanese Academy has recognized an outstanding foreign film. The year that any given film is nominated is not based on the film's domestic release date but rather on the date it is released in Japan. As delays of over four months are not uncommon, many films are... |
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| 1986 | Peggy Sue Got Married Peggy Sue Got Married Peggy Sue Got Married is a 1986 American comedy-drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Kathleen Turner as a woman on the verge of a divorce, who finds herself transported back to the days of her senior year in high school... |
Director | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film The Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film is a Saturn Award given to the best film in the science fiction genre by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.-Winners:-External links:*... |
| 1987 | Gardens of Stone Gardens of Stone Gardens of Stone is a 1987 film by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Proffitt.A drama, it stars James Caan, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones and D. B. Sweeney.-Plot:... |
Director/Producer | Nominated — Golden Prize at the Moscow International Film Festival Nominated — Political Film Society Award for Peace Political Film Society Award for Peace The Political Film Society Award for peace is given out each year to a film that deals with the struggle for peace in both fictional and non-fictional stories. This award has been handed out by the Society since 1987... |
| 1988 | Tucker: The Man and His Dream Tucker: The Man and His Dream Tucker: The Man and His Dream is a 1988 biographical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Jeff Bridges. The film recounts the story of Preston Tucker and his attempt to produce and market the 1948 Tucker Sedan, which was met with scandal between the "Big Three automobile... |
Director | |
| 1989 | New York Stories New York Stories New York Stories is a 1989 anthology film; it consists of three shorts with the central theme being New York City.The first is Life Lessons, directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Richard Price and starring Nick Nolte. The second is Life Without Zoë, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and written by... |
Co-director/Co-writer | |
| 1990 | Director/Producer/Writer | Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera) at Fotogramas de Plata Nominated — Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only... Nominated — Academy Award for Best Director Nominated — Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Director Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay The Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture is one of the annual awards given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association."†" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "‡" indicates the winner of the Academy Award for Best Writing "§" indicates a Golden Globe Award... |
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| 1992 | Dracula | Director/Producer/Writer | Saturn Award for Best Direction Saturn Award for Best Direction The following is a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Direction:-Multiple Winners:*James Cameron - 5 awards*Steven Spielberg - 4 awards*Peter Jackson - 3 awards*Bryan Singer - 2 awards... Saturn Award for Best Horror Film Saturn Award for Best Horror Film The following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Horror Film:-References:... Best Foreign Film (Mejor Película Extranjera) at Fotogramas de Plata Nominated — Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially... |
| 1993 | Producer | ||
| 1994 | Frankenstein | Producer | Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Horror Film Saturn Award for Best Horror Film The following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Horror Film:-References:... |
| 1995 | Kidnapped Kidnapped (1995 film) Kidnapped is a 1995 TV adventure film directed by Ivan Passer and starring Armand Assante as Highlander Alan Breck and Brian McCardie as Lowlander David Balfour. Among the supporting actors are Michael Kitchen and Brian Blessed... |
Executive Producer | |
| 1996 | Jack | Director/Producer | Nominated — Best Family Feature - Musical or Comedy at Young Artist Award Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist... s |
| 1997 | Director/Writer | Nominated — USC Scripter Award USC Scripter Award USC Scripter Award is the name given to an award presented annually by the University of Southern California to honor screenwriters.-1987:*84 Charing Cross Road**Hugh Whitemore and Helene Hanff -1988:... Nominated — Political Film Society Award for Democracy Political Film Society Award for Democracy The Political Film Society Award for democracy is given out each year to a film that promotes, educates, and raises the awareness level of the public in the specific areas of democracy and freedom. This award has been handed out by the Society since 1988... |
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| 1999 | Producer | ||
| 1999 | Sleepy Hollow Sleepy Hollow (film) Sleepy Hollow is a 1999 American period horror film directed by Tim Burton. It is a film adaptation loosely inspired by the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving and stars Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Marc Pickering, Michael Gambon, Jeffrey Jones,... |
Producer | |
| 2001 | CQ CQ (film) CQ is a 2001 film written and directed by Roman Coppola. It was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.It is a homage to 1960s European spy/sci-fi spoofs like Barbarella and Danger: Diabolik and the documentary spoof David Holzman's Diary. The cinematography is done by Robert... |
Producer | |
| Jeepers Creepers Jeepers Creepers (2001 film) Jeepers Creepers is a 2001 horror film written and directed by Victor Salva. The movie takes its name from the 1938 song "Jeepers Creepers" which is featured in the film.- Plot :... |
Producer | ||
| 2003 | Jeepers Creepers 2 | Producer | |
| 2006 | Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (2006 film) Marie Antoinette is a 2006 biographical film, written and directed by Sofia Coppola. It is very loosely based on the life of the Queen consort in the years leading up to the French Revolution. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design... |
Producer | |
| 2007 | Youth Without Youth | Director/Producer/Writer | |
| 2009 | Tetro Tetro Tetro is a 2009 drama film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Vincent Gallo, Alden Ehrenreich and Maribel Verdú. Filming took place in 2008 in Buenos Aires, Patagonia, and Spain... |
Director/Producer/Writer | |
| 2010 | Somewhere Somewhere (film) Somewhere is a 2010 American drama film that was written and directed by Sofia Coppola. The film follows Johnny Marco, a newly famous actor, as he recuperates from a minor injury at the Chateau Marmont, a well-known Hollywood retreat. Despite money, fame and professional success, Marco is trapped... |
Producer | |
| 2011 | On the Road On the Road (film) On the Road is a 2012 film adaptation of the Jack Kerouac novel of the same name directed by Walter Salles and starring Sam Riley as Sal Paradise and Garrett Hedlund as Dean Moriarty. It is being executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola. Filming began on August 4, 2010, in Montreal, Canada, with... |
Executive Producer | |
| 2011 | Twixt | Director/Producer/Writer |
See also
- Coppola family treeCoppola family tree- Academy Awards :Amongst Carmine Coppola's lineal descendants, there have been 23 total Academy Award nominations and 9 wins in categories including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score....
- List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
- List of wine personalities
Further reading
- Jeffrey Chown. Hollywood Auteur: Francis Coppola. New York: Praeger Publishers, Greenwood Publishing GroupGreenwood Publishing GroupGreenwood Publishing Group is an educational publisher and is part of ABC-CLIO. It publishes reference works under its Greenwood Press imprint, and scholarly, professional, and general interest books under Praeger Publishers...
, 1988. ISBN 0-275-92910-8.
External links
- Francis Ford Coppola: Texas Monthly Talks, YouTube video posted on November 24, 2008
- 2007 Francis Ford Coppola Video Interview with InterviewingHollywood.com
- Bibliography at the University of California Berkeley Library
- Francis Ford Coppola Presents
- Perfecting the Rubicon: An interview with Francis Ford Coppola
- June 10, 2009 Francis Ford Coppola discusses new film Tetro on Adam Carolla podcast Link