Born on April 7, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, Francis Ford Coppola is one one of the most recognisable names in Hollywood. By the early 70s, he had already proven himself as one of the most unique filmmakers in cinema. In 1972, he solidified that status when he released The Godfather.
As of 2024, Coppola has demonstrated that he doesn’t intend on stopping just yet. In September 2024, he released his long-time passion project, Megalopolis. So, in conjunction with his new picture, let’s delve into the life and career of this cinematic legend. Here are 6 things you didn’t know about Francis Ford Coppola.
Francis Ford Coppola is Part of the “New Hollywood” Movement
Francis Ford Coppola emerged in Hollywood around the same time as another group of young filmmakers who were all on their own path to cinematic greatness. Whether they knew it or not at the time, this group of artists would all go on to become icons in cinema. This quintet unofficially became known as members of the New Hollywood Movement.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, Francis Ford Coppola and fellow filmmakers George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, and Martin Scorsese emerged as key figures of the New Hollywood Movement, marking a transformative shift in American cinema. This era followed a period of bleakness and caution during the 1950s and 60s, when the Hollywood blacklist stifled creativity and innovation. These visionary directors revived the industry by pushing the boundaries of storytelling, experimenting with narrative structures, and incorporating a more personal, often gritty approach to filmmaking. As the years went by, they stuck together and remained friends and sometimes even collaborators. Their admiration for each other spoke volumes when Coppola, Lucas and Spielberg presented Scorsese with his first ever Oscar for Best Director for The Departed in 2007.
He Is From an Extremely Creative Family
With Francis Ford Coppola at the helm, his family have also carved their own legacies in cinema over the years. Firstly, Oscar-winning actor Nicolas Cage is the nephew of Coppola, and Coppola gave him one of his first major movie roles when he cast him in Rumble Fish in 1983. Prior to this, he cast his sister Talia Shire in The Godfather, a role she reprised in 1974 for The Godfather Part II and earned herself an Oscar nomination. This paved the way for an illustrious career, later going on to star alongside Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, which earned her another Oscar nod.
Coppola’s creative spark was also passed down to his children Sofia Coppola and Roman Coppola. Sofia became known to the world when she starred as Michael Corleone’s daughter Mary in The Godfather Part III. However, she faced harsh scrutiny for her acting talents and Francis was accused of being nepotistic. Yet, she shined in another medium when she won an Oscar for Best Writing in 2004 for Lost in Translation. Francis’ son Roman also acted in small parts in The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and Apocalypse Now, before he too ventured into writing and directing. In 2013, he was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars for Moonrise Kingdom. So, it’s safe to assume that Francis Ford Coppola is a very proud father.
Coppola Abandoned a Fourth Godfather Movie
The Godfather Part III is widely seen as the weakest movie in the trilogy and has faced harsh criticism over the years. It is also the only movie out of the three to walk away from the Oscars without a single win despite being nominated for 7 awards. To that, many believed that Francis Ford Coppola was done with The Godfather. However, he actually planned on making a fourth movie.
In 1999, The Guardian reported that The Godfather Part IV was in early pre-production stages. Coppola and Mario Puzo (who wrote the original book and all three movies with Coppola) had fleshed out an outline and the movie was set to follow the same formula as Part II. Part IV was set to focus on Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia) as he takes over the Corleone family and also shift back in time to see a young Sonny Corleone rise up the ranks. Leonardo DiCaprio was set to star as Sonny. However, Coppola scrapped the movie altogether when Mario Puzo passed away on July 2, 1999.
He Has a Side Hustle Business
Francis Ford Coppola was a busy many in cinema right up until the 1990s when things slowed down a little bit. However, he has been building something outside of filmmaking. Coppola’s side hustle began in 1975 when he purchased a portion of the historic Inglenook Estate in Napa Valley with profits from The Godfather. Then in 2006, as reported by Bottle Barn, the Coppola family acquired the historic Château Souverain in Sonoma County, which became home to the wines of Francis’ then-famous Diamond Collection. Today, his company is still going strong and some of his famous bottles include Zinfandel – Director’s Cut 2019, Chardonnay Diamond Collection 2021, and 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon.
He Has a Connection to the Star Wars Movies
Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas were close friends when they were both coming up in Hollywood. Interestingly, Coppola actually had a small part to play in the making of one of Lucas’s most iconic characters. Before Lucas became famous, he worked as a production assistant on Coppola’s film, The Rain People. This is where their friendship would begin. When Lucas began writing Star Wars, he was inspired by Coppola’s fearlessness and refusal to back down when the odds were stacked against him while making The Godfather, so he came up with the character of Han Solo, a cocky and fearless character just like Coppola.
His Journey to Megalopolis Was Three Decades Long
As one of the most legendary filmmakers of all time, one would think that studios would have been lining up to take on a Francis Ford Coppola picture. However, when he began shopping the idea for Megalopolis around tinsel town, nobody was interested. He first came up with the concept in the 90s and continued building upon it over the years. When he still couldn’t attract any studio interest, he decided to finance the movie himself. With no bigwigs to interfere with the story, Coppola was able to be completely free creatively, however, this possibly proved to be a bad thing for the director. Upon release in September 2024, this passion project was met with intense negative feedback with critics calling the movie an “epic fail”, “confusing” and “bloated”.
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