Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola’s application to UCLA film school opened the doors to another school, that of B-movies produced by Roger Corman . Stroke of luck: he signed his first full length, Dementia 13 ; and he met the decorator Eleanor, an immediate crush, whom he married immediately. Those were youthful times: he was 23 years old and he really wanted to tell his own stories, that said something about the human condition; like You’re a Big Boy Now (1966) and It Rains on My Heart (1969). Though Francis wasn’t averse to commissions. Like Patton ‘s script , his first Oscar. The drawing of the charismatic general anticipated his reflections on power in The Godfather andApocalypse Now .

Early in his career, Coppola promised to “write original material for the screen – write the script, and then execute it as producer and director. Many wrote, and many directed, but only a few did both. The director wanted to control the films, to make them personal; which did not prevent him from being practical and accepting projects that would give him a name and means for the future. It happened with the Godfather trilogy (1972, 1974 and 1990), his most popular work, whose first two installments reach perfection. His own projects would produce a gem, La conversación (1974); and the best film about the Vietnam War, Apocalypse Now (1979), a very personal adaptation of the novel “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad. But in the eventful filming, in which he threw all the meat of his artistic endeavor on the spit, he left shreds of his soul. Eleanor reflected in her diary how close they came to separating.

Coppola, like Don Vito Corleone, thinks that family comes first. The danger of collapse was reflected in Michael, the son who must take care of family affairs. The director insisted on taking care of the home. His sister Talia, his children Roman, Gian Carlo, Sophia, his nephew Nicolas Cage , would take their first steps in the cinema thanks to him. He also tried to surround himself with a team of people with whom he worked at ease, like a second family. And his dream of making personal films led him to create Zoetrope, a studio that would support talented people, in an environment that he wished was familiar again.

But Coppola collided with the real world. If he withstood the onslaught of Apocalypse Now , he couldn’t handle the financial disaster of Hunch . He would have to take commissions and customize them ( Rebels , Rumble Law , Cotton Club , Peggy Sue Got Married , Gardens of Stone ), while he paid off debts and remade himself. His friend George Lucas , whom he had supported in American Graffiti , returned the favor with Tucker, a man and his dream of him, a parable about a car manufacturer that was, in truth, his other self. the. Coppola has continued to accept food products – Jack ,Legitimate defense and, superior to them, Dracula, by Bram Stoker – to which he has given his personal touch as much as possible. But he hasn’t directed for many years. There are no excuses of an economic nature anymore: his extra-film investments earn good dollars. He assures the director that he is working on a long-cherished project, “Megalopolis”, a reflection on contemporary civilization. Fingers crossed, he doesn’t rest on his well-earned laurels.