See also: Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola is a realizer, producer and American scenario writer, born on April 7th, 1939 with Detroit in the Michigan (the United States).

He is the father of the realizers Sofia and Roman Coppola, the brother of Talia Shire and the uncle of the actor Nicolas Cage.

In 1969, it founds with his/her friend George Lucas the studios American Zoetrope, based with San Francisco. The studio produces then the THX 1138 of this same Lucas, whose failure ruins the ambitions of Coppola. Constrained to accept an ordering of studio, it carries out the Godfather according to a novel of Mario Puzo. The gigantic success of this spectacular brings back it towards independence and ressuscite its dreams of conquest of Hollywood.

In the beginning, Lucas was to carry out itself another project of Zoetrope, Apocalypse Now , according to the novel In the middle of darkness of Joseph Conrad, and he had worked during five years on the scenario with John Milius. But Lucas deciding to harness with the Star Wars , Coppola decides to take again the project “Apo”; that scrambled the two friends during several years. After a properly irrational production in the jungle of Philippines, during which Coppola, fallen into the Drug, failed to lose the reason, the film, left in 1979, gains the Palme of Gold Cannes festival. In 1982, the disaster of Very favorite completes the ambitions of Coppola; reduced by a mountain of debts to orders such as the Godfather, 3rd part , Dracula and Jack , it must from now on be satisfied with an activity of producer: thus films of his/her Sofia daughter, Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation or Sleepy Hollow of Tim Burton.

Character odd, megalomaniac, one calls it sometimes rightly “Napoleon of the cinema”. Equipped with a monstrous pride that the failures did not attenuate, Coppola never leaves indifferent, it is voluble, arrogant, extraverti, equipped with a remarkable capacity to insert the doors which one closes in front of him; it is typical “author-tyrants” who regard the others as pawns to conclude their own demiurgic ambition. Apocalypse Now is certainly the film which transcended this nature to become a cinematographic masterpiece on the madness.

Life and Career (1960 to 1978)

Francis Ford Coppola was born from Dyes with carmine Coppola, the first flutist of the symphony orchestra of Detroit, and his Italia wife in Détroit, Michigan on April 7th, 1939, the second of three children. Two years later, Carmine became the first flutist of the Symphony orchestra of NBC and the family moved with Long Island, New York, or Francis passed the remainder of its childhood. Coppola had the polio, and passed most of its childhood confined to bed, which supported its imagination with the theatrical productions of puppet made at the house. By using the camera 8 mm of his father, it started to make films when it was 10 years old. He studied the theater of the University of Hofstra before going with MFA in realization of School UCLA Film School where he met Jim Morrison, whose music was used later in famous the Apocalypse Now .

At the beginning of the Years 1960, it began its professional path by making films with small budget with Roger Corman and writing the scenarios. Its first notable film was with Corman, the small budget Dementia 13 . After having graduated with You' Re has Big Boy Now , Coppola was seen offering the reins of the cinematographic version of the piece of music of Broadway Finian' S Rainbow , putting in the high-speed motorboat Petula Clark, in its first American film, and the veteran Fred Astaire. The producer Jack Warner, made perplexed by the pace hirsute of the scenario writer, left it with itself. He took along his distribution to Napa Valley for the external sequences, but these scenes were in contrast slicing with the studios of Hollywood, having as result a glance disjoins with film. To treat the obsolete material at the same time when the popularity of the musical comedies was inclined, the end result of Coppola to only half was successful, but its work with Clark has without any doubt contributed to its nomination of better actress. During this period, Coppola lived for a time with his wife and moved her family with Mandeville Canyon in Brentwood, California,

In 1971, Coppola gained a Oscar for its scenario of Patton . However, its name as scenario writer was made when it has Co-writing and carried out the Godfather (1972) and Godfather 2 (1974), which brought back to him two Oscars for best film, becoming the first following doing it.

Between the first two films of the Godfather , Coppola carried out secret Conversation , the history of a paranoiac put on listening and an expert of monitoring (played by Gene Hackman) who are on a possible history of murder. secret Conversation left in 1974 to the cinema and was nominated for best film, which made of Coppola the first scenario writer have carried out two films contributing for the Oscar of best film since the annual number candidates was lowered to five in 1945; while Godfather 2 gained the Oscar, secret Conversation gained in 1974 the Palme of gold to the Festival of film of Cannes.

For this period he wrote also the scenario for unfruitful critical and commercial success adapted novel of Francis Scott Fitzgerald Gatsby Splendid the (putting in the high-speed motorboat Mia Farrow and Robert Redford) and produces film of George Lucas, American Graffiti . Also during this period, Coppola invested in the city Magazine of San Francisco, engaging a very new personnel, including the girl of a criminal and écrivaine Susan Berman, and appointed editor. Although critiquement acclaimed, that did not last a long time. The last number will be published in 1976.

Coppola often worked with members of its family. It makes play its two sons in the Godfather in a scene of street battle and in the funeral of Gift Corleone. His/her sister, Talia Shire, play Connie Corleone in the trilogy and his/her Sofia daughter incarnates a big role in the third part. His/her Carmine father has Co-writing several musics of his films.

other activities

He repurchased and renovated one of oldest and more important American vineyards, Inglewood. He manages several hotels after a first with the Belize.

Catalog of films as a realizer

Nominations and rewards

He was the president of the 49e Cannes festival in 1996.

External bonds

  • American Zoetrope

Simple: Francis Ford Coppola

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