Estimated reading time: 40 minutes
Francis Ford Coppola was teasing me, saying I looked a lot like him. When my bearded face appeared in our first Zoom video conversation, he said, "You guy looks like I was 30 years ago." Of course, Coppola, 81, may have a grayer beard now. Technically, he hasn't made a new film in nearly a decade, but that hasn't stopped him from continuing to release new footage. Last year (2019), he re-released the latest cut of 1979's Apocalypse Now (although the film has long since become a modern classic, but has previously released several different cuts) and 1984's The Cotton Club (frankly, its longer edit is a brand new version), and this month (December 2020) he launched one of the largest re-edits: 1990's The Godfather 3 A new version of Godfather Part III is now called Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. It's shorter, more concise, and certainly clearer, and there's a new ending, ironically, keeping Al Pacino's Michael Corleone alive and continuing to suffer indefinitely for his sins. More recently, Coppola discussed the power of editing, the impact of the Godfather saga, his own family legacy, and many dramatic arcs in his career — including absolute triumphs and losses of far-reaching influences.
How was your Thanksgiving?
Not bad. We were outside, starting at about two o'clock. It was our own family members, and all the participants were at their own tables. It's a bit like an outdoor restaurant. It's very safe because we want to meet up this year in a very safe way so that we can guarantee a real Thanksgiving in 2021. We each made a different dish. I cut the turkey and hollowed it out and made a dish. Everyone brings their favorite dish.
What is your favorite dish?
Usually the filling inside. That's everyone's favorite. But each person's recipe is very different, so it depends on what they did when they were young and what they put in it. [Mine] had breadcrumbs, some spices, chestnuts, pecans, mushrooms and some garlic. Basically it's the pecans and chestnuts that make it so delicious.
Let's get started... Well, I still can't resist calling it Godfather 3. What prompted you to re-edit it?
I didn't feel the need for a third Part, The Godfather. But I had a very pleasant collaboration with Mario Puzo (the original author of the best-selling Mario Puzo [1] The Godfather and co-writer of the film series of the same name). He was like an uncle to me. He came up with an idea. Interestingly, when I decided to call the second part The Godfather 2, the studio thought it was too much and they were very opposed. In the United States, sequels are always referred to as "The Return of Frankenstein" or "The Son of Monte Cristo" or "The Invisible Man's Revenge." They always had a title like this, or simply "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." They said, "Oh, if you call it The Godfather 2, people will think it's the second half of the movie they've already seen." ”
"Cinema is an illusion, and the emotions that the audience gets from the film doesn't really come from the movie, but from themselves."
Anyway, you didn't really want to shoot The Godfather 2 back then.
When they first came up with the idea, I wasn't so crazy about wanting to make The Godfather 2. But I always had an idea in my head about a father and son at the same age – first the father's story, the son's little baby running around the house; and then the story of the son at the same age (say, 30 years old), the father is already an old guy. Later I realized that I could apply this idea to the godfather's story. That's what happened to the second screenplay.
For the third part, I had already experienced a bankruptcy by then. Frankly, I have a family to feed and I'm trying to protect the property of Napa, who is already in trouble [2]... Continue reading。 So I was very interested in what Mario said, and we felt that it should be called "The Death of Michael Corleone" and that it should not be the third film, it should be the finale or the epilogue. When I made this suggestion to Paramount, like they pushed off the second part, they said, "No, it should be called Godfather 3." I realized that this could also be because it meant that there could be a fourth and fifth... But I don't have the influence of a few years ago when The Godfather first succeeded.
They want to show it on Christmas. It was a big and complicated movie. As we prepared to shoot the daughter scene, we procrastinated because Winona Ryder didn't show up. Then she finally showed up and we could have continued filming for a while, but she later quit again. Paramount strongly recommends some star actors, but they are all 32 and 33 years old. The important point for me is that there is a teenage girl who still has some baby fat. In the movie, she's just a little kid who has a crush on her cousin, that's all. Like all my children, Sofia Coppola has starred in some of my small-budget films, playing the role of sister in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). So I asked her to play the role, and she passed the test. Although she was still in school and was not particularly willing, she did so. At that time, a reporter wrote an article for Vanity Fair, and it was clear that he had a decision on what to write before he came to the set. He was well aware of the debate within Paramount at the time: Why didn't I choose my own daughter, the brilliant actress Annabella Sciorra? When the movie was released, the Vanity Fair article also came out. You know what the press does, and these early publications tend to influence later articles. Then the media chased Sophia so hard that, like this story, the bullet that killed her daughter was actually fired at her father. I think I killed her. Of course, Sophia later had a wonderful career of her own. While the fact that she didn't influence the film, being told "you ruined your father's movie" must have made her very sad – in my opinion, the whole project of Godfather 3 was painful for me anyway.
At the time, the film was quite successful both at the box office and in reviews.
At first, the response to the film was good, but later, slowly, the evaluation of the film decreased. Suffice it to say, I've always been bothered by what I'm missing. What's wrong with the film? I don't think the story is very clear. And this story is really interesting. You may not know that, but at that time, there was a man named Charles Bluhdorn, who was the head of Gulf and Western Industries, who bought Paramount, but no one knew that Paramount had ties to the Vatican. The Vatican has a huge real estate company, Immobiliare, which belongs to Archbishop Marcinkus, who himself is corrupt and associated with other powerful corrupt people (Bludown owns Paramount and also holds part of Immobiliare). ）
I guess Charles didn't particularly care when he told me this. So I thought, wouldn't it be ironic if I used what Charles told me about the Vatican? The more I learned about it, the more I felt it was corrupt. But I didn't make it clear in the clip of the first edition. I think a lot of people don't quite understand what the commercial part of the film is about, and I didn't put the beginning of the film, where Michael Corleone was involved in the deal with the Vatican, where it should have started.
A change in just a few minutes can have such a huge impact on a movie.
Cinema is an illusion, and the emotions that the audience gets from the film does not really come from the movie, but from themselves. I've seen a lot of movies change from destruction to wonderful in my life. And the audience's reaction can be immediately reflected. When we auditioned "The Godfather 2" in San Francisco, the audience reacted very badly. That night, I made 121 changes, which was unheard of, because when the film already had music and everything, it was very difficult to make a change in editing. Three days later, we went to Santiago again, and so we insisted around the clock. I mean, if you make a car and that stuff isn't quite right yet, it won't start. And then, you do a very small stupid thing, and all of a sudden it starts. This is the essence of all complexity structures.
Shortly after watching George Lucas's documentary about you, I revisited your wife's documentary About Apocalypse Now (1979), Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991). One thing that impressed me about both films is that you seem to be stressed out on set.
Indeed it is. It's like running on the tracks of a speeding train on a movie set, and the train runs faster than you. Because there are so many things that have to be put together, and you need to cut through the mess quickly. There are some directors – I don't have to guess, I even know who they are – and their attitude is basically, "If we don't finish today, we'll start over tomorrow; if it doesn't work, then we'll talk about it the day after tomorrow." Money wasn't a problem anyway. ”
Usually, I coordinate the way I manage the production of the shoot, but also to be responsible for the money. So when I found out that all the actors were gathered there and the lights were on and some things weren't going well, I didn't have the courage to say, "Look, I'm just going to relax, and if it does take three days, then take three days." "Despite the fact that its budget is only one day. I really keep in mind the budget constraints. That was the case when "The Godfather" was made. There was an entourage on set who was always there and said, "Well, you only have an hour, and that's it." You can't do this. He always stopped shooting at any moment, and the experience was horrible.
How many times have you nearly been fired during the filming of The Godfather?
Probably three times, I was really almost fired.
What saved you?
At one point, it was because "Patton" (1970) won the Oscar [Best Original Screenplay]. Another time, I had a group of about 14 opponents on my own team, and I was going to be fired that weekend, so I fired them all on Wednesday, and it was because of my preemptive strike that I wasn't fired that time. Another time, I had a mediocre relationship with the technicians, but got along well with the actors. And, of course, there's the reaction to the scene by Virgil Sollozzo [3] the Godfather, played by Alfredo Lettieri. That scene was done very early, perhaps in the first two weeks, and it was considered a very good scene. So the success of that scene helped me a lot.
What was the smoothest shot you ever shot?
The Godfather 2. It's one of the most complex films, but it's a dream-like shoot. It took a total of 103 days and it has scenes on Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, the Dominican Republic, Italy and New York. Because I was firmly in control of the production of the film, it wasn't so messy. We went to Sicily but the sun never came out. If there is no sun, why would you go to Sicily to shoot? There were many days when we just said, "Well, there's no sun, let's go home." "It's a very complicated film, a lot more complicated than the first 'The Godfather,' but no one interfered. I'm a producer and everything went smoothly.
So you went from the smoothest shoot of your life to what may be the most chaotic Apocalypse Now?
Oh, of course, The Godfather 2 was a well-made film, and Apocalypse Now style was something I had never tried. I mean, I don't know how to shoot helicopter scenes or use this massive fireworks. Then, I had a lot of natural issues to deal with – the weather, the typhoon, and Martin's heart attack[4] Martin Sheen had a heart attack while filming Apocalypse Now. During filming, he was pushed to the limit of his body and emotion by Coppola and also experienced a full-blown mental breakdown. And management. In those days, the Philippine Air Force was basically flying our helicopters, but they were also at war with Muslim separatists. We know that all the helicopters of the Philippine army are in one place, and if all of a sudden they all fly away, it is because there is news that someone is going to try to blow them up. Other emergencies in the Philippines have a higher priority than when we make films. Although I must say, in retrospect, president Marcos[5] Coppola, who was in charge at the time, worked with then-Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos throughout the filming of Apocalypse Modern, using the philippine Air Force helicopters and pilots. And Mrs. Marcos abided by their agreement, and the Filipinos involved in the filming were first-class.
You say you've never made a movie of this magnitude, you've never made a battle scene or anything like that, yet Apocalypse Now has some of the greatest war scenes to date. What makes this success?
In fact, the approach I've taken is to persevere as always. The footage inside all the helicopters was shot on location – while they were flying. It's one thing to have a helicopter stop on the ground and shake it, making it look like it's dodging a bomb. But when we were hit in the air, it was really hit, just fireworks, not bullets. But what we're doing is still extremely dangerous. I thank God countless times because no one died during the making of this movie. One person died unexpectedly while setting up the scene, but it wasn't during filming. I feel very sad about it, it's a tragedy.
"I made the Godfather movie with my family. So, yes, it naturally exudes a family atmosphere. Because it's a family, and it's a real family. ”
One thing that I find fascinating in Heart of Darkness is that throughout the process, you're saying that you're sure Apocalypse Now will fail. It was during the filming process that you kept saying that in the past you may have succeeded in overcoming terrible difficulties, but this time, you will definitely fail – no doubt.
When I got home, I was so depressed and scared that I said to my wife, "Oh, this movie can only take an F." It will definitely be a failure! ”。 I expected her to say, "Oh no, everything will be fine." But she was filming the documentary at the time, so she said, "I can put the microphone on you, can you say it again?" "I went there to want a little bit of encouragement from her, and all the encouragement I could get from her was to say something dramatic for a documentary. I think this should be considered a partial explanation. But I did think I would never get out of that mess.
In the 1970s, you were like a god to many people. Have you ever missed that influence?
I don't know if I've benefited from it, or if I really feel like I've had it. I've been trying to learn as much as I can about filmmaking. I mean, why would anyone go from making a Godfather-style movie to making a modern apocalypse-style movie to a One From the Heart (1981)-style movie? I made this decision on purpose. If you want to achieve something in your career, that's not a good thing. There was one film I shouldn't have made because it cost me everything, and that was Gardens of Stone (1987), which cost me my son,[6] Coppola's late son, Gian-Carlo Coppola, who worked as a photographer in Garden of Stone, who died in a boating accident between shots.
The Godfather 3 is a very personal film for me, in part because there is a death of a child in the movie. Anyone who knows what you've been through will understand. It ends with Pacino's silent cry – you'll really feel it makes everything come to life. Because despite the violence and emotional outbursts, I think there have been a lot of repressed emotions in the Godfather series. Eventually, in the final act, all emotions are released... I recently re-watched these three movies in a row and ended up this way, and that's an incredible power.
Oh, and worse, Michael isn't dead in the new version, because, as the subtitle at the end says, "A Sicilian will never forget". He lived in the fact that he had destroyed his own child with his own hands, and he had done everything that should be done for the sake of the child. Whether we realize this or not, you tend to make your life eventually go on with your kids, if you lose your own kids... A lot of people always need to go through it all in their own way. The death of a child is different from the death of other loved ones, because usually the first person to die in your life will be your grandparents, and when you think back to them, you say, "Oh, I wish I could have talked to them more and learned more about their childhood, but at that time I only cared about the car and the girl, so I never did that." "You'll regret it. For children, you don't just lose the child, you also lose everything the child should have, and the child they should have. The impact is profound. What Michael did in his life was terrible. When he confessed to the Archbishop, he really grieve for his sins. But he has to pay for them, and he's paying for it.
Do you have any thoughts on the fate of The Godfather?
I really have nothing to say. Paramount has it. Obviously, they were interested in what I supported them to do, but they did something I didn't like... They made a horrible video game and are also filming a TV series. It belongs to them, not to me. Even I have been trying and always thinking that it should actually belong to Mario Puzo.
I guess they're going to make a TV series about making The Godfather, which sounds interesting. Oscar Isaac will play you personally. Is this something you have nothing to say?
Well, there should be two. The Oscar Isaac is actually directed by Barry Levinson, who has nothing to do with Paramount. My opinion is that Barry Levenson has made a lot of great films, so I think it's lucky that he and not someone else directed the film. It's just that I've heard that in Barry's script my characters often swear. In fact, I rarely swear, especially in front of ladies. In fact, if I cursed for any reason, for every scolding, I would give the ladies present a dollar each.
Paramount is producing another film based on the needs of producer Albert M. A film adaptation of a book written by Albert S. Ruddy. He was more involved in negotiations with the so-called gangsters, and he didn't spend a lot of time on set. In fact, Bob Evans [7] Coppola had a long record of disagreements with producer and former head of Paramount Company Robert Evans during the filming of The Godfather. and his men, who had been entrusted with a heavy duty to harass me and keep me at peace. [Laughs]
As far as I know, you think Robert Evans later wanted to attribute some of the things that happened in The Godfather to himself, but in fact, he seems to be on the opposite side.
Honestly, he's a very talented guy. "The Godfather" is a bit weird, it's an outlier. We can forgive him for not seeing the composer Nino Rota (Nino Rota[8]) for his works in The Godfather, Romeo and Juliet (1968) and La Dolce Vita (1960). The music was more appropriate for the film than the Music he wanted from Johnny Green. I got to know him better in his old age, and I helped him walk together after his stroke to recover, and I saw his shortcomings. He was a bit at odds with me at the time. He wanted to take away the music from The Godfather and abandon it like a weasel. He also told me that if the cut was longer than two hours and fifteen minutes, he would take it away from me. So, when I cut it to two hours and forty-five minutes, I took half an hour of samples out of it and showed it to him, and then he said the great dialogue: "You made a movie, but you brought me a trailer." He said, "Put this scene and that scene back." "Just put back the half hour I cut off." So, there were a lot of things that annoyed me at the time. But I also grew some love for him. One of the actions of human beings is to recognize that even our enemies, we have to find ways to love them, not to despise them.
Over the years, I can imagine a lot of people wanting a piece of the Playfather. To my shock, we haven't seen a complete collection of reforged all parts yet.
Don't forget, Paramount has gone through many management changes since then. So there have really been a lot of attempts. As I became more influential in this combination, I always tried to discourage those attempts at mass commercialization, even to my own family. My father wrote a lot of music from The Godfather, especially in the first part. All these tarantellas (tarantella[9] Tarantella, Tarantera or Tarantella, are a traditional Italian dance. It features fast spins in pairs, and music is generally 6/8 beats or 3/8 beats. It is popular in Napoli, Sicily and other places. Dance music and dance... My mother wanted to publish a Book of The Godfather Cookbooks,[10] written by Liliana Battle, The Godfather: The Corleone Family ... Continue reading。 The rush to commercialize The Godfather embarrassed me. There's even a godfather pizza, and while it doesn't matter to anyone, someone just does it.
You know, my idea of business stuff and making money is very simple. Making money isn't a bad thing, but you should do it by making a certain contribution to the world. If you invented a cure for polio and became rich as a result, that's a matter of course, think of the little kids you've helped. Or even if you get rich because you made Star Wars, it doesn't matter because you give everyone something they didn't have. These are fair ways to make money. The unfair way to make money is when you don't give anyone anything of value, you just grind a new soft drink or come up with something that doesn't do any good for people.
Star Wars is the project of your apprentice George Lucas, who made it last for many years. It has become a great asset. What are your thoughts on Star Wars right now?
What he created brought joy, happiness and pleasure to many people, and even some wisdom. Whatever benefit he gets from it, it is what he deserves and what he deserves. If I'm a little sad, it's that he didn't make the other films he was going to make. George was indeed a smart, talented man. Look at the innovative stuff in American Graffiti (1973). We should get more out of him.
Have you ever expressed to him the idea that he should make more personal films?
Oh yes, he knows. It has reached a point where there is no need to mention it again. I do kind of think of him as a little brother. Those of us who are older must celebrate [young people's] success. I recognize that my daughter Sophia is also somehow more successful than I am, and people are more interested in what she's going to do next than [what I'm going to do next]. That's just the way it should be.
We film critics certainly like to psychoanalyze filmmakers. Many of Sophia's films often feature a young woman as the protagonist, facing a father figure that is more important than life. Are there any shadows of your relationship with her in these movies?
Yeah, how could there be none? There was only one girl in our family. My brother's children are all boys, so are my sisters, and I myself are boys, except for Sophia. She was a lonely girl surrounded by cousins. She was very precocious and always said interesting topics and did interesting things. She has a great sense of design and art. She was a talented painter. I sometimes do wonderful things – take her on trips, make her a table of desserts and make lunch. I believe I spoiled her. But she became more and more powerful as she got older.
Do you think your name, your career, and your status will affect her?
I think any famous or well-known parent will... Did John Huston influence Anjelica Huston's career? Did Jon Voight influence his daughter? How do you avoid this from happening?
A lot of big directors say something like, "One day I'm going to stop and go back to my roots and make a small personal film." "Looking at your last three films, I feel like you're one of the few people who've actually done that.
I really like Mircea Eliade's novella Youth Without Youth[11], which tells the story of Dominique Matei who experiences intellectual upliftment and the opportunity for a new life after being struck by lightning, which Coppola adapted into the film of the same name in 2007. I was very impressed with this kind of writing, it was like Borges's story. Of course, Tetro (2009) is also a film I might have written when I was 20. Even the last film, Twixt (2011), didn't get a good response, and I became interested in turning into a horror film like Roger Corman's, and I realized there was more personal story in it. So I'm working on a new version. I think all three of them can improve. They're mine, and I haven't finished them yet.
The development and change of the Corleone family, as an American legend, seems to apply to many American families, such as the Trump family, the Kennedy family and the Bush family. Even personal dynamic relationships between brothers can be shaped.
Well, Mario Puzo has a heart of fraternity, he loves his family, he loves his wife and children. He didn't know much about the mafia. Like me, he is in the Valachi papers[12] The Valachi report is a 1968 biography written by Peter Maas about former mafia member Joe Walache. Continue reading) and what he learned in his books, even his Italian was not fluent. I mean, any real Italian knows that Vito Corleone will never be called Don Corleone, you'll call him Don Vileone. I'm Don Francisco, I'm not Don Coppola. What is shown in Mario is his natural understanding of the family. He wrote many of the roles of the father of the underworld, among which the so-called Don Corleone was actually based on his mother. A lot of the lines about "a man should be the real man in his family" come from what his mother said. He wrote The Godfather just to earn money to support his family. So naturally it eventually comes back to the idea of being loyal to the family. I made the Godfather movie with my family. Here, I work with my sister, my father makes music, and my daughter is the child in The Godfather. So, yes, it naturally exudes a family atmosphere. Because it's a family, and it's a real family.
Have you seen the video of Chris Cuomo at the bar? He was called "Fredo"[13] A character in The Godfather, he was the weaker brother in the family, who later called someone "Fredo ... Continue reading, he was furious at this guy, he screamed "Fredo" was a racial insult. Then I think Donald Trump Jr. and others responded on Twitter that, basically, Fredo "just means you're a stupid little brother." ”
I heard. I've always been surprised to hear that Saddam Hussein's favorite movie is The Godfather, one of Donald Trump's favorite films is The Godfather, and Rudy Giuliani[14] Giuliani was mayor of New York City for 8 years from 1994 to 2001, and he has been a big supporter of Trump since 2016. In April 2018, Giuliani joined the team of lawyers for US President Donald Trump) favorite movie is also The Godfather. By the way, I had the privilege of meeting Como's father, Mario Cuomo [15] an American politician who served as Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994). He was an amazing man. I spoke to him because I was trying to write the utopian movie ([16]... Continue reading）。 I asked him, "What will America become one day?" He spoke to me and I was inspired.
Have you met Donald Trump?
Oh, I've seen it. He and I attended the same military academy, the New York Military Academy. When I used to know him, every time he saw me, he would raise his index finger like this, meaning that The Godfather was the best movie. He knows how to protect himself. I'm interested in him because he owns 76 acres of land in New York, and he has a project called TV City.[17]... Continue reading。 My work Megalopolis tells the story of Robert Moses [18] in New York City, referring to the famous American master of large urban planning Robert Moses. Continue reading) and Walter Gropius [19] Gropius was a respected master architect and founder of the Bauhaus. A utopia built for the character of creative archetypes. It would be a beautiful work. In a way, Donald Trump is a bold man, and that appeals to me. I went to see him once and he met me very kindly. I admire his guts and his ability to achieve his dream plan. But I think that if the original intention of the dream plan is not right, something will go wrong. Obviously, he behaves more like a German in 1934 than a dreamer.
You've been working on the Metropolis project for a long time. Is that the project you want to do right now?
Yes, that's natural. But now the film industry is in a state of chaos, nothing can be released in theaters, and it is difficult for large-scale films to raise the required funds. People think more about things like streaming. You need to have the feeling that there can't be any risk in making a movie. The best of all my films, there are a lot of risks. Kirk Kerkorian[Kerkorian[20], the now-deceased media named Bad Boy. Continue reading once asked me, "How do you make a great film that gets huge recognition in its creation and makes a lot of money?" I said one word to him: "risk." Risk is part of the art.
My wine business is not bad, but now most of my business – mainly hotels and wine – has been closed during the pandemic, either temporarily or by death. I do not know. But if I could survive this crisis, I'd probably choose to fund Metropolis myself, or most of it. It's not like my last three small budget films, it's a big production and I'll do everything I can to get it done.
You also have two incredible eyes of Bó Lè. The actors you choose are either people who are just starting out in their careers or unknowns, and they all go on to become big stars — James Caan, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Your nephews Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne, Jim Carrey – or in some cases, like Marlon Brando, you give them a second spring in their careers. What do you see when casting?
For example, when you go to a party and meet dozens of people, there will always be someone who impresses you and makes you remember it the next day. Obviously, when you're young, you might be thinking about some woman. Or maybe it's just something some old guy said. But you don't know why there's always something you remember. That's how I look for people. I also have a wonderful colleague named Fred Roos, who is always very meticulous in finding new people.
It was funny to see the young Tom Cruise while re-watching The Outsiders (1983). Somehow, in that movie he was the least handsome man of his time.
I really like Tom Cruise. And he was the result of a deal. Fred Ruth was not very optimistic about Tom Cruise. I said well, if Tom Cruise could play the role he played, Rob Law could play a more important role in the film, Sodap. Personally, I'm bullish on Tom Cruise. I must say that Tom Cruise did all his best. He was willing to do anything to be better. He was willing to do dangerous wrestling moves, and he broke his teeth. He is 100% committed to everything he does. I don't think he cares a lot about me because he probably thinks I'm an asshole or something. I did a lot of interesting things while shooting that film. I treated the little hooligans in the movie as poor kids, so they had poor accommodation, picked up a dilapidated car, they didn't get the same daily allowance as everyone else, and all the guys who played the children of rich families stayed in nice hotels. I just want them to really make that difference, and I always try to get the actors to have an experience that helps them experience the character.
You say Tom Cruise doesn't like you. Did he ever say anything or...
He never said "I don't like you". But in the end, he wanted to leave the film early because he got the role in Risky Business (1983), which made him a star, but I let him stay and did everything. I just don't think he likes me. Not everyone likes me. But after the shooting, Tom Cruise wrote me a very elegant and warm thank you letter.
What other actors don't get along well with you?
In Rain Clan, I didn't get along well with Shirley Knight,[21] and in Rain Clan, Shirley Knight played Natalie Raveena, a pregnant housewife who left her husband in pursuit of herself. But the movie came out and she had a good opinion, so she became my friend and supporter. Generally speaking, I get along well with the actors because my view of acting is that the actors themselves are acting. When they say, "Oh, such a director can make that actor perform well," my reaction is always more negative. This is not true. It's the actors themselves. The director is like a coach, or a person who creates a safe environment, so that the actors feel comfortable and at ease when doing their performances, because the actors' work is hard.
Were you disappointed when Robert Duval didn't come back to make The Godfather 3?
Very disappointed. I don't even know what to do. In a way, everyone in the movie is a star, but you can't pay each of them a salary like Pacino. I've always admired [Duval] and liked him. Even later, after all this, I sponsored his Argentine film,[22] referring to The Argentine crime thriller Assassination Tango (2002), written, self-directed, and starring by Robert Duval. I tried to show feelings that weren't particularly sad. But I was really disappointed.
After Revelation Now, do you still have a connection with Brando?
Sometimes. Yes, he had a love-hate relationship with me. I've met a lot of great people in my life. I've met Akira Kurosawa, I've seen Jean Renoir, Orson Wells, and Marcel Duchamp. But if I were to say who was the best, I would say Marlon Brando. He's the most superorganic person I've ever met, and he can talk to you for two hours about termites.
Do you remember your last conversation with him?
It was the film with him and Johnny Depp called Don Juan DeMarco (1994[23] in which Marlon Brando plays Dr. Jack Mikler, a psychiatrist, who treats Johnny Depp, who considers himself the world's greatest lover. Movies, that movie was made by me. I remember when I was with him, he said, "You know, we've all been through a lot," and he was suggesting that we've both lost one of our children. He loves his children. Brando loves children, he loves innocent creatures. I remember when Sophia was born, I went to him and I had her play the baby in The Godfather. When Sophia was about three weeks old, I said, "Malone, you've been doing well. I want to give you an award. He gently held the child in his hand, looking very confident. His whole being lit up, as if it were the most beautiful thing. But going back to the scene after "Born to Love," he says we've all been through some tough times. I think he was sensitive because someone thought I blamed him for being overweight when he came to Apocalypse Now. I think he's sensitive to media coverage. While that's true, he said he'd lose weight, but he was fatter when he first arrived, and I don't even know what uniform to wear for him. I think he was a little upset with me criticizing him. He admits that we had a tough time between us. But I really appreciate him.
The filmmakers who emerged in the 1970s, including you, really redefined American cinema and led to a renaissance of American cinema. In recent years, some people have looked back on that period and revisited it. They noticed that it was a very masculine period – a bunch of men making movies about men for men.
Yeah, that's what Hollywood was like at the time. There are some female directors in the American film industry, notably Dorothy Arzner.[24]... Continue reading), Ida Lupino [25]... Continue reading), but that's about it, and there's not much precedent for that. In 1969, We co-founded American Zoetrope[26] Coppola, a film production company with George Lucas, the American Diorama Company. In the 80s, a lot of effort was made to train female directors. Lucy Fisher and I were the first to hire a woman as a production executive. Our concept of training female directors was not to find actors who wanted to direct films, but to look for 15- and 16-year-olds who had tried to make short silent films, and we found Martha Coolidge [27] Martha Coolidge's first film, Valley Girl (1983), starring Nicolas Cage, another member of the then-obscure Coppola family. And Susan Seidelman(28) Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) was named one of the 100 greatest female director films by the BBC. Such a new generation of women. In other words, we look for filmmakers the same way we look for male filmmakers – kids who start playing movies, not hollywood celebrities.
You know, when I was in college, the girls who participated in my drama club were my classmates. In other words, a woman can become the president of a newspaper reading club or the president of a short story magazine. We do everything with girls. Then when we graduate from college, you suddenly realize that the only profession of women seems to be that nurses, teachers, or housewives is gone. That's the world I entered after graduation. The world has changed dramatically before our eyes. This has nothing to do with Diorama, it has to do with changes in political and social forms.
After The Godfather 3, it seems like a comeback, and you made Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). I think there should be a lot of people who are expecting people who made "The Godfather" to have a very solemn, serious Dracula movie. But you've gone in a completely different direction. Movies make money, but critics have mixed reviews.
With the exception of The Godfather 1, film critics have been mixed reviews of my films. Frank Rich famously said, "Apocalypse Now is Hollywood's worst work of the last decade." I mean, is this true? I said, "Is it really the worst?" But that's what he said. See what critics have to say about Herman Melville's Moby Dick and Georges Bizet's Carmen. What critics at the time advocated had little value 40 years later. We all know this. Because my films are different, there have always been very different responses to reviews. What critics really want you to do is the same thing that the Catholic Church or the Calvinists want you to do, they just want you to follow the rules.
Tell me what you thought behind your handling of Dracula at the time.
The way to deal with it is simple. The novel Dracula was written at the same time as the birth of cinema, in the hands of people like Georges Melies – basically a magician. My concept of Dracula was made in the style of a 1905 or 1900 film, that early film style. In short, that's it. Also, I knew the studios would be afraid that I would make a runaway work. If I go to Romania to do it, I can't just go over budget and take care of everything else. In fact, I didn't want to go to Romania either, because I was sure that if I were filming in some castle in Romania at three o'clock in the morning, Count Dracula would come and arrest me. In other words, I wanted to make this movie at Columbia Pictures, and I knew they were going to jump at it because they thought they could control me. But actually, I just wanted to make a film in the studio.
With Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) and The Godfather 3, and Dracula, in a way, you seem to be really back...
In my entire career, I've never "gone back". I've been doing weird, stupid things and following my heart. It doesn't seem like much sense to deal with my profession this way, but I wouldn't do it any other way.
I was just about to ask you about Jack (1996). A lot of people are surprised to see you go in that direction.
Did you know that David Lynch, the brilliant filmmaker who recently made Eraserhead (1977), invited me to see one of my films and wanted to do some conversations about it together? I said, "Well, I only do this if I show what people think is my worst movie." That's Jack, of course. I was proud to screen Jack at the David Lynch Film Festival. I think the audience loved it. They laughed a lot. I don't hate Jack. The biggest problem with Jack is "big", with Penny Marshall's film[29] referring to Penny Marshall's Big (1988), starring Tom Hanks, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay.
I recently heard that you directed an episode of Saturday Night Live ([30] referring to Coppola's experimental attempts on Saturday Night Live, co-hosted with actor George Wendt and with Lorne Michaels. Continue reading, it was a real surprise.
That's pretty interesting. That night, it was the only Saturday Night Live feature with a live series.
There was such a great moment in Heart of Darkness that you said something like this. I tried to highlight, and you said, "I really don't want to be so willful anymore. Then your wife seems to say, "But you have your best work when you are willful." "Have you spent a while coming to terms with the fact that you often finish your best work when you're on the verge of collapse emotionally, artistically, and financially?
Well, I have the gift of putting myself in this situation, and I'm sure I'll do it before I die. But I think [Metropolis] is going to be beautiful, even a little transformative, because this pandemic has led a lot of people to say, "Well, what's the future of humanity?" What are we going to do? How can we all be brought together to become a happy human family again? "As we all know, the climate crisis is not really the climate crisis of the Earth. The Earth will continue to exist. It is the human species that is threatened. I think it's important to start seeing all of us as one big family. In fact, we are.
Well, I guess that's all we have today. Francis, thank you very much.
Well, I look like you now, start now [put on a pair of glasses], and in 20 or 30 years you'll be me. Good luck!
an edited version of the original | was published in New York Magazine December 21, 2020 – January 3, 2021 PP.74-77 | Translation: Derek
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exegesis
↑1
The original author of the best-selling book The Godfather and co-writer of the film series of the same name
↑2
In 1975, Coppola and his wife Eleanor bought part of the famous Ingnuck Estate as a holiday home, where they began brewing their own wine. They vowed to one day own the entire estate, so they bought the rest of the Ingnuque estate in 1995.
↑3
A character in The Godfather, played by Alfredo Lettieri
↑4
Martin Sheen had a heart attack while filming Apocalypse Now. During filming, he was pushed to the limit of his body and emotion by Coppola and also experienced a full-blown mental breakdown.
↑5
Coppola collaborated with then-Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos throughout the filming of Apocalypse Modern, using AF helicopters and pilots.
↑6
Coppola's late son, Gian-Carlo Coppola, who worked as a photographer in Garden of Stones, died in a rowing accident between shots.
↑7
Coppola had a long history of disagreements with producer robert Evans, the former head of Paramount, during the filming of The Godfather.
↑8
Composer Nino Rota is best known for his works in The Godfather, Romeo and Juliet (1968) and La Dolce Vita (1960).
↑9
Tarantella, Tarantera or Tarantella is a traditional Italian dance. It features fast spins in pairs, and music is generally 6/8 beats or 3/8 beats. It is popular in Napoli, Sicily and other places.
↑10
Written by Liliana Battle, The Godfather: The Corleone Family Cookbook has a total of 75 recipes, all inspired by the film trilogy of the same name.
↑11
The novel tells the story of Dominique Maté, who experiences an intellectual upliftment and the opportunity for a new life after being struck by lightning, which Coppola adapted into a film of the same name in 2007
↑12
The Wallach Report, a 1968 biography written by Peter Maas, tells the story of former mafia member Joe Valachi, a junior member of the Kenovese crime family in New York and the first ever government witness from the U.S. Mafia itself. His account of his criminal history reveals many previously unknown mafia details.
↑13
"Fredo" is a character in The Godfather, the name of the weaker brother in the family, and later calling someone "Fredo" means that they are just a stupid loser like the character in the Godfather movie.
↑14
Giuliani served as mayor of New York City for eight years from 1994 to 2001, and since 2016 he has been a loyal supporter of Trump. In April 2018, Giuliani joined the legal team of US President Donald Trump
↑15
An American politician who served as governor of New York from 1983 to 1994
↑16
Referring to the film Megalopolis that Coppola wanted to make in the 1980s, it has been brewing for more than three decades, because Coppola's obligations to the "Godfather" series, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the scale of production have been postponed
↑17
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Trump worked on the construction of TV City, which was later renamed Trump City, but it was never completed. His plan for the Pennsylvania Central Railroad Depot is to transform it into thousands of apartments, shopping malls, television and filmmaking spaces, and at least six 76-story skyscrapers.
↑18
Referring to Robert Moses, a famous american master of large-scale urban planning, Moses' remarkable vision of public works changed the entire city of New York. He presided over the construction of 35 highways, 12 bridges, countless parks, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Chia Stadium.
↑19
Gropius was a respected master builder and founder of the Bauhaus.
↑20
Cokerian made his fortune by investing in casinos and film studios. Coming from a humble background, he was an amateur boxer, an adventurer pilot and a high-stakes poker player before becoming a billionaire investor.
↑21
In Rain, Shirley Knight plays Natalie Raveena, a pregnant housewife who leaves her husband in pursuit of herself.
↑22
It refers to The Argentine crime thriller Assassination Tango (2002), written, directed and starred by Robert Duval.
↑23
In the film, Marlon Brando plays Dr. Jack Mikler, a psychiatrist, who treats a man played by Johnny Depp who considers himself the world's greatest lover.
↑24
Dorothy Azner was the only female director of the "Golden Age" of Hollywood cinema from the 1920s to the early 1940s. During her 15-year career, she directed 17 films, including Christopher Strong (1933) and Dance, Girl, Dance (1940).
↑25
In addition to being a distinguished actress, Ida Lupino also worked as a film director from 1949 to 1953, an experience that earned her the title of "Mother of Independent Cinema". She directed films including The Hitch-Hiker (1953), Never Fear (1949), and Hard, Fast and Beautiful (1951).
↑26
Coppola co-founded the film production company, the American Diorama Corporation, with George Lucas in 1969.
↑27
Martha Kulic's first film, Valley Girl (1983), starred Nicolas Cage, another member of the then-obscure Coppola family.
↑28
Susan Seidman's Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) was named one of the 100 greatest female directorial films by the BBC.
↑29
Refers to Penny Marshall's Big (1988) starring Tom Hanks, which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay
↑30
Referring to Coppola's experimental attempts on Saturday Night Live, he co-hosted with actor George Wendt and co-directed with Lorne Michaels. The series aired on March 22, 1986, with composer Phillip Glass as a musical guest.
American journalist and filmmaker, former full-time critic of Village Voice magazine, and now editor of New York Magazine.
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