Francis Ford Coppola has been in the news lately, and everyone is full of curiosity and anticipation for his long-awaited sci-fi epic film "Metropolis", but unfortunately, his appearance in the news today is due to an unfortunate news. His wife, Eleanor Coppola, who had been married for 61 years, died on April 12 at the age of 87 at his home in Rutherford, California.
Born in 1936 as Eleanor Jesse Neal, Eleanor met Francis on the set of Francis' directorial debut, Roger Coman's horror film Dementia 13. She was an assistant art director at the time, and he was a fledgling film director, she was 26 and he was 23.
They went on to build a film empire that nurtured Roman Coppola ("Perfect Woman," "A Glimpse of Charles Swan III") and Sofia Coppola ("Lost in Translation," "Priscilla"). Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman are their nephews, and director and actress Gia Coppola (Palo Alto, Mainstream) is their granddaughter.
"When we got married, I never thought Francis would become a celebrity. He's making a black-and-white film for a low cost. I thought we would live in the San Fernando Valley," Eleanor Coppola said in a 2008 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "I was equally shocked and caught off guard by the evolution of our lives. ”
Eleanor chronicles the madness of Apocalypse Now in Heart of Darkness
Eleanor Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola went through the biggest test of their marriage and career during the production of the Oscar-winning film Apocalypse Now. The Vietnam War film, starring Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando, was originally planned to be filmed for five months, but turned into a 14-month-long nightmare where everything that could have gone wrong.
Eleanor directed a documentary film (like several other films she directed), Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, which unexpectedly became an important source for studying film history, Murphy's Law, and extreme madness. The documentary became one of the best documentaries ever made and won her an Emmy.
Even in her 80s, she directed two romance films, both of which were scripts written by her. The first is "Hello Annie" starring Diane Lane, in which the heroine's vacation is interrupted by the departure of her filmmaker husband (Alec Baldwin), so she embarks on a road trip with her husband's charming producer partner (Arnold Viard). After that, she directed "Love is Love", a triptych romance with a huge cast.