I've decided to make it my business this year to sift through all of Francis Ford Coppola's work as a film director and share my insight to what makes him one of my favorite directors, even if I do not consider his movies to be among my favorites.
Coppola has a very straightforward, endearing and intelligent way of speaking and divulges many candid anecdotes about his craft, how others treat him in the business, and what he longs to do outside of the system.
Most recently Francis has become something of a film hobbyist, making his own personal films and theatrical experiments, as well as maintaining his renowned winery, cafes, hotels, resorts and lifestyle supplements in the form of vacation adventure.
For a guy who came onto the scene, wrote a large chunk of Patton and won George C. Scott's approval, made 3 acclaimed crime dramas, a Vietnam war epic like a nightmare, and even dabbled in a musical, an autobiography fantasy of a car designer, a high school time travel romance, a Val Kilmer selfie misfire set to CGI gothic set design, Bram Stoker's book to screen with virtually NO cgi, and so on and so forth, he's had a fine career.
But something keeps drawing me back to the man himself, Francis Ford. I watch him in an interview. He sits there like a nervous but docile dog. Overweight, looking tired, sleepers oozing out of the corners of his eyes. He's not starving these days. He probably never was. He may not even be very healthy, physically. I love him. He doesn't have much time left. I want to express my thoughts on him and see all of his films this year.
I'll report on them here.
Coppola has a very straightforward, endearing and intelligent way of speaking and divulges many candid anecdotes about his craft, how others treat him in the business, and what he longs to do outside of the system.
Most recently Francis has become something of a film hobbyist, making his own personal films and theatrical experiments, as well as maintaining his renowned winery, cafes, hotels, resorts and lifestyle supplements in the form of vacation adventure.
For a guy who came onto the scene, wrote a large chunk of Patton and won George C. Scott's approval, made 3 acclaimed crime dramas, a Vietnam war epic like a nightmare, and even dabbled in a musical, an autobiography fantasy of a car designer, a high school time travel romance, a Val Kilmer selfie misfire set to CGI gothic set design, Bram Stoker's book to screen with virtually NO cgi, and so on and so forth, he's had a fine career.
But something keeps drawing me back to the man himself, Francis Ford. I watch him in an interview. He sits there like a nervous but docile dog. Overweight, looking tired, sleepers oozing out of the corners of his eyes. He's not starving these days. He probably never was. He may not even be very healthy, physically. I love him. He doesn't have much time left. I want to express my thoughts on him and see all of his films this year.
I'll report on them here.