The god father was made in a very classical, almost shakespearean style. It was going to be about succession. Like a king who had three sons, and none of the sons had all his talents. [ speaking nonenglish ] michael could be ruthless when he had to be ruthless, but he could be friendly. Nord, he was a complex hero. In other words, he was a complex hero. Were here in the napa valley on a rainy day, to interview Francis Ford Coppola. Now, hes one of the greatest Movie Directors of alltime, without any question. If you google the best movies of all time, the greatest movies of all time, the godfather is number un, number one, usually. But The Godfather 2 is often on that list of top ten and so is Apocalypse Now. So of the 10, 15 greatest movies of alltime, this man has made three of them. I am really interested in talking to him for another reason. When i came to america first, i was in college and i took a class, classics of american cinema. It was in some ways helpful for me, because it gave me a sense of the culture and a country that i was now living in. And i wrote my final paper on the godfather. Actually, on the opening four or five minutes of the movie, the first scene. I had a thesis about what it all meant. Now i get to ask the man who made the movie whether i was right. When i first read the godf godfather, i was shocked. The author knew very little about italian culture. Anyone knows that don corleon is not possible. It would be don franchesco. So he didnt know anything about italy. He didnt. He was the most wonderful man. Also, the book was like it was so salacious and absurd story. I went from chapter after chapter about this girl and her doctor. Doctor who was having an affair with this girl who had certain anatomical problems. Ultimately, i diagrammed every page, and i found within this book this interesting story about america. And i was very intrigued with it, because it really introduced you to the idea that if you were the friend of a mafia guy, you had power because he was your friend. And if someone offended your friendship, it was like an alliance. So when i look at that Opening Scene i believe in america. America has made my fortune. You have this man who wanted to become part of the new modern america. And his daughter gets brutalized by these two thugs. He goes to the godfather and tries to, in a modern way, do a transaction. What do you want . So in a sense, he is representing the new america and the godfather is saying no, we have to move back into the old world of relationships, intangible favors. You dont offer friendship, you dont even think to call me godfather. And its this fascinating tension in america between wanting the individualism and the freedom of the new, but being pulled back into the world of the old. Does that make sense to you . Well, of course. It says everything about america, and why america is perhaps different from these other systems. So what is this . When i was a kid, i had been trained to be a Stage Manager. A Stage Manager has something called a prompt book. So that was my training. And i now was given the job of doing the godfather and i was nervous, because it was starting to become a big production. Here is this massive novel, and im going to be like a sculptor and sculpt a movie out. But before i knew how to do it, i was going to begin by Dissecting What was in the thing. So i thought i would ask myself four or five questions about what i was going to cover. What do you want to say in the briefest few words as to why youre doing it . As a director, i knew if i got that, maybe i didnt get great imagery or tone, but if you got that, you got it. So that horses head scene, in the book, the horses head is not in the bed, is it . Heres the book, no. What made you put it on the bed . I just thought it would be more interesting if he felt something in his bed and he opened the shoot and there was blood. Always you get more shock if you can get the audience to think its called misdirection. So if he saw blood, maybe the audience would think they had wounded him and hes discovering that he had a big gash in his head. As he opens, hes got blood. As he flips over the covers, then he sees that its the horses head. Ahhhhh ahhhh the book can say he had an incredible shock. How do you give the audience that incredible shock . You have to do it differently than the book describes. You say here, i think, if the audience does not jump out of their seat on this one, you have failed. Yeah, so im like the guy, the little voice saying all right, francis, are you ready to do this . I was scared. I figured if i had this with me, when i had to do the scene, i would have this voice, this Angel On My Shoulder telling me, the core is to reveal in a horrifying way what the don decided to do to convince him of the seriousness of his actions. If you do it, then you got the core. What will you do . What will you change . Will you make Something Better . Will you create something entirely new . Our Dell Technologies advisors provide you with the tools and expertise you need to do incredible things. Because we believe theres an innovator in all of us. Pain hits fast. So get relief fast. Only Tylenol Rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release Medicine Fast for fast pain relief. And now get relief without a pill with tylenol dissolve packs. Relief without the water. You pour your heart into everything you do, which is a lot. So take care of that heart with lipton. Because sippin On Unsweetened Lipton can help support a healthy heart. Lipton. Stop chuggin. Start sippin. I was always the new kid because i went to maybe 20 schools and then my dad was always taking me out of school. And i would get introduced in, uh, middle of other, um, we have a new student, his name is francis. Ha, ha, ha. Its a girls name. The Theater Department was where the girls were. As opposed to the footballs games, which i had no abilities in whatsoever. So i would hang out at the Theater Department and, be a techie. I would do the lights. And i would look down and i would see the teachers directing the kids. And i said, well, i could do that. You know, tell you to stand here, stand there. And, and you get to hofstra and do you then start to realize, uh when did you fall in love with movies . At hofstra, i started to, uh, direct oneact plays. And my oneact play was the best one that anyone ever had seen a student do. And there was a Little Theater called the Little Theater and they said, today only, four oclock were showing sergei eisensteins, ten days that shook the world. And i saw this four hour russian movie of eisenstein. Its, its about the bolshevik revolution. I never saw anything like it. I i was astounded, because theres no sound, and i hear everything just from the way the film is edited, and when i came out of that, i said, im not gonna go to the yale drama school, im gonna go to ucla film school, and i decided to become a film student. It was like a Night And Day decision. The godfather, um, why did you get the the directing job . You werent a famous movie director at that time. I was the opposite of a famous eh first of all there had been a movie, uh a year or so before the godfather called The Brotherhood, and it was, i think with kirk douglas. It was a big flop. And The Brotherhood was a gangster movie . And it was a gangster and so so the idea was, this is a bad way to so every every director turned it down, and so they decided to give this nobody, who was Italian American, a screenwriter and was young. I was about 28, uh, the chance. Is it true that you almost got fired several times . Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, i would say i was almost fired more than four times. One time i thought i was fired. All my ideas were counter to what they wanted. They wanted to shoot the picture in, uh, st. Louis, and they wanted the script to be set in the 70s, which is when it was gonna be made, because if you make the movie in normal time, like if we make a movie today, all the cars can be the same. Yeah. The hairstyles can be the same, the wardrobe can be the same, the props can be. If you make a period picture, youre adding a lot, a big layer of cost. And st. Louis wasnt new york, which is where the book was set. So, first thing i said is, i wanna shoot it in new york, and i wanna shoot it 1945, in the period of the book. And its very important that it be shot at period. And then they said, who is this kid . What does he think, its crazy. Were were gonna make the movie for two Million Dollars. Uh, whats It Gonna Cost if we try to go to new york . Then when they got into casting, and they wanted, you know, maybe ryan oneal or someone who had been in love story, which had been a big shit for them, to play the, uh, michael character. And i was emphatic, i wanted al pacino. I had met al pacino on another project that i had written, and i just thought he was an interesting guy. I liked him personally, and also, when i read the book. I i pictured al pacino in all those scenes where als walking across sicily with the guys with the shotguns. But but the biggest fight was over brando . An important person i was working with that that was a real casting talent, was a guy named fred rouse. Hes still living, and and still worked on my later pictures. And i remember saying to fred, you know fred, what if we, what if we try something unusual with the godfather, what if we just get the greatest actor in the world . So, whos the greatest actor in the world . Well, we said theres laurence olivier, and theres Marlon Brando. Brando was young. Brando was 47, he was a handsome, beautiful man that hed always been. Olivier was english, so he wasnt italian, he had an english accent. Hed have to act his way out of that. Brando wasnt italian, and he was young, so but i said, you never go wrong casting the most brilliant actor you can get. Yeah, theyll do something. So Stanley Jaffe said, francis, i tell you and i tell you as the president of paramount picture, Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture. And as president i say, dont even bring him up again. So when he told me that, i sort of whether it was fake, it was sort of fake. I just fell off the chair, fell on the floor, and everyone looked. And i said, if im supposed to direct a movie, and you tell me i cant even discuss a great actor like Marlon Brando, what can i say, okay, you know. And then they said, all right, well tell you what, we give you three conditions. One, he would have to do a screen test. Two, he would have to do the film for free. And three he would have to put a Million Dollar bond that he will not cause any disturbance, or uh mishigas, to use an italian word on the picture. In other words, he would put a wonld that he would not cause any trouble because he was considered possibly troublesome. So i said, i accept. So i contact brando, and i am i am totally i mean, Marlon Brando is god to me. I said, you know, since youre not italian, i thought you might, would like to fool around a little bit and do some improvisations and see how you would approach being an italian. So i didnt say the screen test. And he sort of said yes. And at one point, brando emerged from his bedroom in a japanese kimono with this beautiful blonde flowing hair. And then he um, he said Imitating Brando uh, hes Like A Bulldog and he put kleenex in his mouth. And and i so thats where the jowls came from . Yeah and he explained, he was like, and then he said Imitating Brando uh, you know, he was shot in the throat in the story. So maybe he talks, he always talks like that, you know . So he started go he started doing this. Just like im shooting, im amazed. Why do you come to me . Why do i deserve this generosity . But basically, it was miraculous what he did. And, and i thanked him. I decided to just take a chance and fly to new york and go to Gulf And Western and show it to the head of Gulf And Western, Charlie Bluhdorn. He was the, he was the bosss boss. Charlie bluhdorn was a viennese guy, he probably was around 50 at the time. And he was very demonstrative. He talked like francis what are you crazy guy. What are you doing . Very, he had a viennese accent. Hed talk like that. But any rate, charlie comes out, francis. Francis what are you doing here . Francis, where is bob, is anyone here . I said, no, no mr. Bluhdorn. I just wanted to show you something. What what do you gotta show me . I was like i have here a screen test of Marlon Brando and the guy, screen brando . Brando out. No brando. And i turned on and he sees brando come out with the blonde hair. What . Thats, thats no thats, bra, bra, thats incredible. He watches this transformation and Charlie Bluhdorn said, thats incredible. So if he says its incredible and hes gonna get the part, hes gonna get the part because hes the boss. And thats what happened. Wait what . Get it before its gone on the subway app introducing a revolutionary comfort mat that can be lengthened and even go around corners to perfectly fit your space. Because we dont want to be confined to just one area to stay comfortable while working. The comfortmat connect from weathertech. The Snaplink System makes it easy to connect end middle, and cornerpieces. For comfort that lasts as long as the day. Learn more about the Infinite Possibilities of the American Made comfortmat connect at weathertech. Com. Pain hits fast. So get relief fast. Only Tylenol Rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release Medicine Fast for fast pain relief. And now get relief without a pill with tylenol dissolve packs. Relief without the water. This rental car is so boring to drive. Lets be honest. The rentacar industry is the definition of boring. And the reason can be found in the name itself. Rent a car. You dont want a friend. You want the friend. You dont want a job. You want the job. The is always over a. Thats why we dont offer a car. We offer the car. Sixt. Rent the car. Brando was wonderful on the picture. He was, he did it. A lot of times, i know that they say director, oh he got a great performance. Directors dont get performance. I mean some directors will argue when i say this, actors give the performance. The directors like a coach. The directors may be there to say the right word at the right time, and give them a good direction. But the actor does it of course. Obviously, and brando did it. Brando was so ingenious of how he approached every scene. But i could do things, which i did like in the first scene in the godfather where i just took a cat off the floor, it was just a studio cat. It wasnt a prop cat. And i just put it in his hand. He didnt say to me, what do you want me to do with the cat . He just did it. And literally no matter what happened, he would incorporate it. He was that kind of an actor. H was, i mean he is the genius, that everyone do you think he was the best actor you ever worked with . Yeah. Yeah, i mean, because he was so unique. I used to joke that if a herd of buffalo ran through the room, he would say, oh look at the buffalo, he wouldnt say, why are there buffalo in the studio, which everyone else would. And then when you when you closed the movie, you end at a very dark place. You end where michael is lying to his wife. He lies to his wife. And hes just murdered a whole bunch of people. And he closes he goes out and hes being accepted. Oh, hes being accepted as the new god father. And the wife is watching, but shes going to be closed out of his life. And that was the end. And to you, what does that say . To me it was all a waltz. It was and its like something thats going to go on and on and on always. But the wife is always going to be excluded. So in a sense, it is about succession . Its about the the movie is about succession. Is when you did it, you thought this is it, no sequel. Oh no, i i when they said a sequel, oh, charlie says, you got the formula of cocacola. You gonna tell me youre not gonna make more cocacola . I said, no i dont wanna make any more cocacola. I thought it was over. I thought it was one movie. I had had enough of it, i really and you know, when i chose to the second film, the deal i made was i would write it, i would produce it, i would pick a director who would direct it, and when finally when i told them im ready, i have a script and everything. They said, well who do you want direct it . I said, well hes very talented and he can do it just as well as me, his name is marty scorsese. And they said, absolutely not. And so you no, i then got a phone call from Charlie Bluhdorn. He said, francis, now lets talk. This is charlie. You you got the formula of cocacola. You really are not gonna do it . This is incredible. Ill give you anything you want. So i said, all right charlie, ill do it. I want a Million Dollars. I want total control, without double checking anyone, not to show them the script, not to get their notes. And i wanna call it The Godfather Part Ii. So i get an answer, uh day he calls me back. He says, francis whatever you want. Youre gonna get a Million Dollars. Bob evans will have nothing to do, knowing youll be absolute control. But marketing does not feel that The Godfather Part Ii makes sense because everyones gonna think its the second half of the movie they already saw. I said, well in that case, i guess im not gonna do it. And i held out. And it was the smoothest movie i ever worked on. It was the most complicated one. But it went it went really well, was all over the place. Had cuba in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I showed it to fidel. Fidel said really . Fidel said it was very accurate depiction of the of what that night. I was he was he was a big movie fan. Come with me. Its the only way out of here tonight. Come with me. Youre still by brother fredo you you must have met a number of people over the years who turned out, uh to be great fans of the godfather. All the bad people on earth. You know, all the saddam hussein, number one fan. Gaddafi, all of those kinda guys love the godfather. Its subways biggest refresh yet its a lovely day today so whatever youve got to do youve got a lovely day to do it in, thats true [ chuckling ] and i hope whatever youve got to do is something that. [ music stops ] [ beeping ] cars built with safety in mind, even for those guys. The volkswagen atlas with standard front assist. You pour your heart into everything you do, which is a lot. So take care of that heart with lipton. Because sippin On Unsweetened Lipton can help support a healthy heart. Lipton. Stop chuggin. Start sippin. Im a laidback mediterranean hotel, looking for someone with simple needs. Just a room, with a view. Of rolling portuguese vineyards. A meal. Of fresh, seasonal cuisine. Exercise. In the crisp countryside air. And pets. I have a herd of horses. If you too share these simple needs, i may be your perfect somewhere. Dictators may have loved the godfather, but coppolas bosses, they didnt love him or the film, while he was making it. In an odd turn of events, though, an earlier film project seems to have saved his hide. You write the screenplay for patton. Right. Correct me if im wrong. You get fired because they dont like the Opening Scene, which is now the most famous scene in the movie. That no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. We won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard to die for his country. So i had this idea that what if you could just see him at the beginning as if the audience were the men. And he just came there and the whole audience technically would spring to attention. Well the actor chosen was Burt Lancaster, and he did not like that opening at all. And i got fired. They didnt pick up my contract, which is what happens. How you get fired. But then george c. Scott is given this role and he says, you have to have that scene. So i love george c. Scott. And he was gonna play patton and he felt the script that they had done for, um, Burt Lancaster wasnt quite interesting. I dont know. So by hook or by luck or whatever, my script not only, umm, got i donted, but was sort of a hit and nominated for an academy award. And the week i was gonna for sure get fired from the godfather was during the oscars. And which i watched with marty scorsese. I remember marty said to me, when, when i won for patton. He says, well i guess theyre not going to fire you right away. So in a way, the patton story saved me from what looked like surefire curtains on the godfather. These two openings strike me as showing something really interesting where youre always trying to do something very distinctive, very you know, different. Why is it so important to you to do things in this very distinctive way that, that others havent done . Well there was a wonderful director, dusan makavejev, who told me, hey francis, a good rule is that when you shot all this stuff, look and decide whats the best thing you have, the second best thing and the third best thing. Take the best thing you have and make it the ending of a movie, and take the second best thing and make it the beginning of the movie, and the third thing put in between those two. I always thought that was really clever. Because of course, you wanna win the audience in that first scene. But thats not as important as what you want to do at the end of the movie when you wanna have them leave with Something Wonderful because then theyll tell all the Friends To Go See the movie. In other words, the ending of the movie is the most that counts for like double anything else in the movie. If you have a great ending, then youre likely to have people recommend the movie because then they were impressed. Why do you not have a signature style . I think of your movies and i think of the godfather very formal, theres almost a kind of operatic quality to it. But but then you have Apocalypse Now, which is kind of, you know in many senses weird, right . Are you kind of almost trying out ideas . My ideas, when i made the godfather was made in a very classical, almost shakespearean style, and cinematically very, you know shot. But when i then was gonna make another movie, i didnt want to make a movie i knew how to make. I i thought well if i made a movie i dont now how to make, then ill learn more. When i started Apocalypse Now, i had no idea how to make it. Because it was nothing like the godfather. I always chose movies that i didnt know how to make on the theory that then i would learn. And maybe when i was an old man, i would have gathered a style that i could then use and make one ultimate movie in whatever was my style. But every movie i made i learned how to make it. I didnt know how to make it when i started. But you always asked yourself, how can i do it differently . No i always asked myself, how can i serve the theme . What what elia kazan calls the core. If if the core in Apocalypse Now was morality, and i knew it was morality out of shape, because th that was not a moral war. You still here . Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. There was a line i read we teach the boys to drop fire on people, but we wont let them write the word f on their airplane because its immoral. I thought, that said it all. Morality is what this movie is, but im going to put 10,000 volts in it and see what i get. And that ends up being the second to the last line of the movie . Yeah. We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders wont allow them to write [ bleep ] on their airplane because its obscene. What will you do . What will you change . Will you make Something Better . Will you create something entirely new . Our Dell Technologies advisors provide you with the tools and expertise you need to do incredible things. Because we believe theres an innovator in all of us. Mckenzie eliza, shes the little ray of sunshine. Her laugh is full of joy and love. Im so blessed to be her parent. Brennon i think shes the most beautiful girl in the world. You know i love her with everything in me and shes so tough. Mckenzie eliza is diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma at four months. Its cancer of the eyes. Its aggressive and its fast growing and as a mom hearing that, i still cry, because you want to take away all of the pain and you dont want your kid to be sick, obviously. Brennon it just breaks you. And with what weve been going through, i dont know how we would have made it without st. Jude. St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital works day after day to find cures and save the lives of children with cancer and other life threatening diseases. Mckenzie the care that shes gotten at st. Jude, its seriously saved her life. Good job. Mckenzie and its amazing that we dont receive any bills from st. Jude. We only have to worry about eliza. We are so thankful that there are people out there who care and who give to st. Jude so that we can care for our baby girl. Join with your debit or credit card right now and well send you this st. Jude tshirt that you can proudly wear to show your support. Brennon st. Jude has given us hope. Were going to grow with her, and laugh with her, and make so many memories with her. And the people that donate money each and every month to st. Jude, its all because of them. Please call or go online and become a st. Jude partner in hope right now. Pain hits fast. So get relief fast. Only Tylenol Rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release Medicine Fast for fast pain relief. And now get relief without a pill with tylenol dissolve packs. Relief without the water. So the godfather has all these complications that weve heard about. But it turns out to be nothing like Apocalypse Now, um, which, uh just seems like you had every possible and problem a movie can have, and then some, right . Well it was ambitious in scope. And it was not helpful that the Department Of Defense totally wanted nothing to do with i was banned by to make this movie. And of course, apocalypse was Gonna Need Helicopters and military hardware. So ultimately we we figured out and went to the philippines, there with president marcos, who did make a deal for us to come, and would give us helicopters, and umm and and the reason that worked is because they were American Helicopters they were they had to be. The philippines had, right. The first thing that happens is your original lead man, harvey keitel, you decide is not the right guy . Yeah thats a hard decision. I ive not made many of those in my career. And its the toughest Thing A Director can do is fire an actor. Harveys a wonderful actor and and i consider him a friend to this day, but hes a very what ill call an active actor. Hes like bobby de niro, are you talking to me you know he did yeah. And i was worried, uh because i knew the part of willard was more of a reflective a you have to look at this guy whos looking at stuff, and hes not in your face acting. And i wasnt sure i knew how to do that with harvey. Dont look in the cameras as i said, thats the toughest thing. You dont ever wanna do that. Right. So but im trying to think through the challenges you faced, so very early on you have to replace the leading man, harvey keitel. You you switch, swap him for martin sheen. Then a typhoon hits and well, that came essentially destroyed all my sets. Destroys all the sets. And then martin sheen gets a heart attack. I get the word word that martin sheen has had a heart attack. Not that hes alive or not. I just knew he had a serious heart attack. And i i thought we all thought he had died. And at that point, you thought the what did you think the movies over . I was in a tough position, because i had guarantee the economics were this. Lets say he had died, i essentially would have been wiped out. Because i would own a movie that didnt exist. Was incomplete. Right, right. So i was there on the verge of and what was happening is and all this, you had essentially mortgaged this, this estate. Well this and everything, a lot more than this. Right, right. But what i suggest is, just take him to the best hospital in the world, and care for him. And ill keep shooting. And i used his brother joe to dress in his costume, and i kept shooting. Hed come back four weeks later, but we had been shooting the whole time, so all i was missing were all the close ups. And when brando comes on the scene, um, this this is not the Marlon Brando you dealt with in the godfather. He had gotten weirder, right . He was still wonderful. Brando was like a big kid. You know how sometimes a kid is you love them and everything, but he does these irresponsible things . Well he arrived heavy. And he was a Green Beret Colonel, so i, my problem oddly enough was, what kind of costume am i going to put him in . They dont make Green Beret Colonel size xxxx. So im gonna have to, how do i deal with it . How do i deal with the fact that he showed up heavy . And he had a deal, a Million Dollars a week for three weeks, yeah he he was very smart that way. This is about a third of the 20 of the budget originally. But i had him for three weeks, it was a Million Dollars a week. And the first week were basically just talking. And we talked the whole first week. Brando knew that if we talked a whole two weeks there still was gonna be three, he was going to make another million or two on top of it. But you must have been scared . I was scared out of my mind. I was i but i had been scared now for five months. You know the whole movie i was scared. I had one blessing was that i always had a rule that when i went away on a movie more than 10 days, i took all my kids out of school, and i brought them all with me. So i had all my kids with me, and i had my wife with me, who was however shooting a documentary. So when i would go home and say to her, oh dear, this movie is the worst movie, im gonna just fail im gonna get an f. I was hoping shed say, oh no darling, its going to be wonderful, i have faith in you. Instead shed say, oh can i put a microphone on you. Would you say that again . What i have to admit is that i dont know what im doing. They see the magic of what has happened before. Im saying hey, its not going to happen. I dont have any performances. The script doesnt make sense. Im like a im like a voice crying out, saying please, its not working. Somebody get me off this. And somebody listens to me. Everyone says yeah, well, francis works best in a crisis. Im say thing is one crisis im not going to pull myself out of. So Apocalypse Now was became was famously filled with delays and cost overruns. Yeah, they used to called it, apocalypse when . And at some point you realized people need to see something, because theyre not gonna believe there is this movie. And so you show a rough unfinished version of the movie at the cannes film festival. Um, at this point what are you hoping to in doing that . So i had this concept, what if i submitted to cannes, and show it unfinished as a stealing the phrase from joyce, a Work In Progress. And i did. My idea was that the only way i could shut people up as to whether or not the movie is the apocalypse when, and a disaster and all theyre saying, because they said that. Uh, was to show it, and then, and they agreed to show it as a Work In Progress and we took it to cannes. And it wins the main award. Because sippin On Unsweetened Lipton can help support a healthy heart. Lipton. Stop chuggin. Start sippin. The new subway series menu. The Greatest Sandwich roster ever assembled. Tony, the new outlaws got Double Pepper Jack and juicy steak. Lets get some more analysis on that, chuck. Mmm. Pepper jack. Tender steak. Very insightful, guys. The new subway series. Whats your pick . This rental car is so boring to drive. Lets be honest. The rentacar industry is the definition of boring. And the reason can be found in the name itself. Rent a car. You dont want a friend. You want the friend. You dont want a job. You want the job. The is always over a. Thats why we dont offer a car. We offer the car. Sixt. Rent the car. You know i own Apocalypse Now, did you know that . Yeah, you mortgaged this, this winery on it. Yeah, but you know why i own it . Nobody wanted it. Yeah, i had made two godfather films. I had a bunch of oscars, uh, i had like five or six, right . I was probably the hottest young director, er going and yet nobody wanted me to no one, uh ive always been in that situation. But, uh what ive learned is this interesting sentence, and and it relates to patton. Its sort of uh, its sort of another version of the things they fire you for when youre young, are the same things they give you Lifetime Achievement awards when youre old. The same thing. The the reason i got fired from patton was the opening, and im celebrated for that opening now. So, how that Works In My Life is that the movies that are most like me, that i wanna do, that in my imagination i feel could be like my dreams, are impossible to finance. And yet live longest. My movies tend to do sometimes okay, or middling, or fair to middling. But they last for 50 years. So if a movie is played to audiences, eh for 50 years, it makes a lot of money. So i know now that anything i wanna do, as it was true with Apocalypse Now with me francis, that age, you know, im 82. Im not a spring chicken, but i have a very good memory. I have good energy, i mean, i get enthusiastic. I know i could make a movie with the same tools ive ever had whether in the past. But i know i cant get financing for it, because its not what theyre doing today. And but it will live a long time. People will be spending the next 50 years trying to figure out, what was he really trying to say . Or wow he was saying that then . Did you know at the time you were making movies that were gonna last like this . No way, no way, no way. You know, first of all, i know more about movie history than these people making these stupid lists. But anyone who asks you, what are the 10 greatest movies ever made . You have to look at them and say, hey, as me what the 400 greatest movies ever made. There were 10 great movies made in the silent period. Why do you think that when people make these lists, what is it about the godfather, um that propels it so high . Because theres some combination of the fact that its art, but its also popular. Its clearly the right story with the right cast, told in the right style, with the right music, with the right photography. I mean there are a lot of elements to a movie. And if you get them all right, then you make a movie that will live. The godfather will stand the test of time. Certainly by the early 1980s you realized these movies are are classics. Did that cast a shadow on you . I mean, did it make you think like i can what am i gonna do to top the godfather . I dont you didnt think that . I have no desire to top, im not interested in that subject. I wanna make, what am i gonna do that can have life . That can that in the words of joseph papp, That Can Illuminate Contemporary i think i can do better than the godfather to illuminate contemporary life. I can, i can do better than apocalypse, i really believe that. At the same time that hes been illuminating contemporary life, coppola has been building a big business in the worlds of wine and hospitality. In 2021, he sold his Namesake Wine Business For what some say was hundreds of millions of dollars. But he still owns the inglenook winery, where we met. The Coppola Winery Sale gives the filmmaker the ability to finance his next movie, megalopolis, an extravaganza that may cost well over a hundred Million Dollars. You know im in this funny position where, because of my merger, im basically gonna make my film no no matter what it costs. Youre, youre young enough that youre gonna be around, and im gonna be gone, and youre gonna say, well he did it, or he didnt do it or who cares. Look it, was bizet a success . Was van gogh a success . Those people all died thinking they were a failure. Bizet who wrote carmen, which is the most popular opera in the whole opera, i think, died thinking it was a dismal failure. We dont get to know our place in in whats really important, which is in, how did it measure up in time . You, you know what the great composer Ricard Strauss said . He said, and ill say it, im a second rate director. When you look at those people who came before us, for these names that are giants, Francis Ford Coppola is the second rate director, but im a first rate second rate director. I couldnt leave coppola and inglenook without tasting some of the winerys bounty. This is a 2011 inglenook made by felipe pasco, who was the first wine he made here. 2011 was not a good year for california. But some people, us made wonderful wines in 2011. We should try it. Why not . Its beautiful. Yeah it is. And as you say, very elegant. So in a way the wine is like your filmmaking, out of adversity comes great, great product. Well maybe lets lets extend that to life. That you know, certainly you would say that these years, this last two, three, four years have been years of adversity. But maybe something really good is gonna come from it. Thats what i think. Something wonderful will come from because human beings are capable of coming together and and producing wonders out of adversity. And do you think art has a role in steering us toward that Higher Ground . Without a doubt. I think the artists are the headlights of society. The the job of film and theater and literature is to is to shine light on what what is the contemporary human issue. What is coming forward. The headlights so that we can see and to help us. So if a young Francis Ford Coppola were to be making a movie about your life, what one word would capture that life . Its about a kid who wanted to be one of the group. You know its interesting, because when i was an outsider of the group, i was didnt make the group. But then i became so famous that i was the leader. But i was also outside of the group. Why . Whats whats important about that . Its an emotional thing. Its why i like theater because we were its why i like that i have my colleague film directors. I will always say good things about them, and they say good things about me, because were were all part of the group, you know . So do you think its you want to belong . Probably. I came from an Italian American family, which which is sort of unique. There was a certain unique thing about being both an american, which my mother said oh thats the greatest thing in the world. And my father said, but youre also italian, which is one of the greatest things in the world, because they make the best of everything. In a way its back to that Opening Scene of the godfather bona sera proud to be an american, proud to have this american paradise. And yet drawn back to the older world with its relationships, with its culture. Thats kind of what being an american is. I love this country. I really do. I cant imagine if this doesnt go right, im going to go move to new zealand or canada. You believe in america. I believe in america, i really do. Merry christmas. You are live in the cnn newsroom. I
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