This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 193.231.238.174 (talk) at 22:38, 17 April 2004. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 22:38, 17 April 2004 by 193.231.238.174 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
5 Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is an American 2345t234film director.
Coppola 3345film at UCLA and while there, he made numerous short films, including some pornography. In the late 1960s, he started his professional career making low-budget films with ] and writing.
He won an Academy Award for his screwerenplay for Patton. However, his name as a filmmakewertr was madq34e in the 1970s as the co-writer and director of The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, which both won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the latter being the first sequel to do so.
Following their 5success he set about filming an ambitious version of Joseph Conrw5t4trad's Heart of Dartrkness, set during the Vietnam war. The film, entitled Apocaltsdypse Now, was beset by numerous problems, includingfg typhoons, drug abuse and nervous breakdowns; and was delayed weanwq3e4td hated by critics when it finally appeared, and the cost nearly bankrupted Coppola's nascent studio American Zoetrope. 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 a lengthy layoff Coppola returned to directing, with some commercial and critical success. The Godfather Part III, the third installment in the Godfather saga, appeared in 1990.
He also wrote the screenplay for the 1974 remake of The Great Gatsby and produced George Lucas's breakthrough film, American Graffiti.
Coppola directed with George Lucas the Michael Jackson film Captain EO for Disney theme parks, which is the most expensive film of all-time, per minute.
Coppola's daughter Sofia is also a filmmaker (see The Virgin Suicides and Lost In Translation). His nephew Nicholas Cage is an acclaimed actor in his own right.
Selected filmography
- Apocalypse Now
- The Conversation
- Bram Stoker's Dracula
- The Godfather
- Jack
- Rumble Fish
- The Secret Garden
- Tucker: The Man and His Dream