Francis Ford Coppola Birthday April 7

 

Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is an Italian-American film director, producer and screenwriter. Away from show business, Coppola is also a vintner, magazine publisher and hotelier. He is a graduate of Hofstra University where he studied theatre. He earned an M.F.A. in film directing from the UCLA Film School. He is primarily known for directing the Godfather films, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. He is immediately recognisable by his luxuriant beard.

Trivia:

Caught polio when he was a child. During his quarantine, he practiced puppetry.

Some sources say he is the uncle of Alan Coppola, but Alan’s name does not appear on any family tree authorized by the Coppola family.

Like Martin Scorsese, Coppola was a sickly youth, a case of polio which allowed him time to indulge in puppet theater and home movies.

Brother of Talia Shire.

Father of Sofia Coppola, Roman Coppola and Gian-Carlo Coppola.

Son of composer Carmine Coppola and Italia Coppola.

Received an M.F.A. in Film Production from the University of California in Los Angeles (1967).

Since 1978, owner and operator of a Rutherford, California vineyard making Rubicon wine.

Coppola began his winery enterprise by buying portion of historic Inglenook estate in 1975. His success in field is explored in book “A Sense of Place” by Steven Kolpan, 1999.

Brother-in-law of Bill Neil.

Was in the early stages of developing a script for a fourth Godfather film with Mario Puzo which was to tell the story of the early lives of Sonny, Fredo and Michael. After Puzo’s death in July of 1999, Coppola abandoned the project, stating that he couldn’t do it without his friend.

As of May 2002, the number of Coppola-family members appearing in or contributing to filmmaking stands at thirteen, spread over three generations.

Francis Ford Coppola has been in competition with Bob Fosse on several occasions. In 1972, Coppola was nominated for the Best Director Oscar (The Godfather (1972)), but lost to Fosse (Cabaret (1972)). In 1974, Fosse was nominated for Best Director (Lenny (1974)) but lost to Coppola (The Godfather: Part II (1974)). In 1979, both were nominated as directors (Apocalypse Now (1979) and All That Jazz (1979)), but both lost. When Fosse won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival (Coppola won the previous year), he tied with Akira Kurosawa, whose movie was produced by George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola.

Grandfather of Gia Coppola. Great-uncle of Weston Coppola Cage.

Has released his own line of specialty foods.

As a child, his bedroom was covered with pictures of his favourite film star, Jane Powell. When he discovered she’d married Geary Anthony Steffen, Jr., he tore them all down.

His wife arranged for him to meet Jane Powell as a 40th birthday present.

Out of all his peers who rose to fame and power in the 1970s “Golden Age” era, he is perhaps the only filmmaker still married to his first wife.

Made a commercial for Suntory whiskey with legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa in the 1970s, an event which later influenced a salient plot point in his daughter Sofia’s movie, Lost in Translation (2003).

Was voted the 21st Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. “World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945- 1985″. Pages 227-234. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

George Lucas said that he based the “Han Solo” character from the Star Wars trilogy on Coppola.

Serves as the Honorary Ambassador of the Central American nation of Belize in San Francisco, California, USA. On their official roster of worldwide honorary consulates found on their official website, he is referred to as “His Excellency Ambassador Francis Ford Coppola,” although he is not a Belizean citizen.

In 1971 and 1973, George C. Scott and Marlon Brando refused their respective Best Actor awards for Patton (1970) and The Godfather (1972) – both written by Coppola.

Four of his relatives have been involved in the Star Wars films of his friend George Lucas. His brother-in-law, Bill Neil, worked at Industrial Light and Magic during the production of the original trilogy. His daughter, Sophia, and son, Roman, played a handmaiden and Naboo guard, respectively, in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). His nephew, Christopher Neil, who worked as a dialogue coach for both Francis (on Jack (1996) and The Rainmaker (1997) and Sophia (on The Virgin Suicides (1999)), did the same job on Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)–a job for which Coppola recommended him. In addition, his late older son was named Gian-Carlo. In Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), there is a Naboo vehicle called the Gian Speeder.

Directed 12 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Geraldine Page, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Robert De Niro, Michael V. Gazzo, Lee Strasberg, Talia Shire, Kathleen Turner, Andy Garcia and Martin Landau. Brando and De Niro won their Oscar for their performances as Vito Corleone.

In 1975, he accepted the Oscar for “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” on behalf of Robert De Niro, who wasn’t present at the awards ceremony. De Niro won for his performance in Coppola’s The Godfather: Part II (1974).

The only person to direct a sibling in an Oscar-nominated performance (his sister Talia Shire was nominated as “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” for The Godfather: Part II (1974))

President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996

He is among an elite group of seven directors who have won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Original/Adapted) for the same film. In 1975 he won all three for The Godfather: Part II (1974). The others are Leo McCarey, Billy Wilder, James L. Brooks, Peter Jackson and Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (the brothers co-produced, co-directed and co-wrote No Country for Old Men (2007) with each other).

Co-owns the Rubicon restaurant in San Francisco with Robert De Niro and fellow Bay area resident Robin Williams.

Was involved in both movies that his father and his daughter won Oscars: He was the director of The Godfather: Part II (1974)which won his father an Oscar for “Best Music, Original Dramatic Score” and he was the executive producer of Lost in Translation (2003) which won his daughter the Oscar for “Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen”.

There are three generations of Oscar winners in the Coppola family: Francis, his father Carmine Coppola, his nephew Nicolas Cage and his daughter Sofia Coppola. They are the second family to do so, the first family is the Hustons – Anjelica Huston, John Huston and Walter Huston.

Since the mid-90s (and possibly even earlier), he has been writing and re- writing an original screenplay entitled “Megalopolis”. Described as “one man’s quest to build utopia set in modern-day New York,” the project has been delayed due to Coppola’s constant tinkering with the script and the fact that the director is attempting to finance it himself. Several A-list actors have had their names attached to it and a great excess of second-unit footage (shot in 24p HD) has been captured by Coppola and the film’s cinematographer, Ron Fricke of Baraka (1992) fame.

Currently owns 2 resorts in Belize and 1 in Guatemala. They are the Blancaneaux Lodge in the Pine Ridge Region, Turtle Inn in Placencia and La Lancha near Tikal in Guatemala.

He, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg presented Martin Scorsese with his first ever Oscar for Best Director for The Departed (2006). All four directors were part of the “New Hollywood” movement in the 60s and 70s.

Brother of August Coppola.

Was named after his grandfather Francesco Pennino.

Uncle of Nicolas Cage, Christopher Coppola, Marc Coppola, Robert Schwartzman, Jason Schwartzman, ‘John Schwartzman (I)’, Matthew Shire and Stephanie Schwartzman.

Briefly attended the New York Military Academy where Troy Donahue was his classmate. They later worked together on The Godfather: Part II (1974).

His middle name was given to him to honor Henry Ford. Francis was born at the “Henry Ford” Hospital in Detroit; Francis’s father participated in a music show that Henry Ford really liked and they, in fact, met. So the middle name Ford was to honor Henry Ford himself. (Source: Francis Ford Coppola, “Inside the Actor’s Studio”).

As a hold-over from his days directing theater when he was young, he always engages his cast in a lengthy rehearsal period before filming. Occasionally, he finds film actors that are not used to this will bristle against the process.

In 1986 his 22-year-old son, Gian-Carlo, died in a boating accident.

Favorite movies from his own personal filmography: The Rain People (1969), The Conversation (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979), Rumble Fish (1983) and Youth Without Youth (2007).

Is a big fan of actress Diane Lane and has cast her in no less than 4 films, The Outsiders (1983), Rumble Fish (1983), The Cotton Club (1984) and Jack (1996).

Won five Oscars in four years – one in 1971 for Patton (1970), one in 1973 for The Godfather (1972), and three in 1975 for The Godfather: Part II (1974).

Has an IQ of 117.