Francis Ford Coppola, the visionary director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, was named the 2024 Kennedy Center Laureate earlier this year, honoring his lifelong artistic accomplishments. The 85-year-old filmmaker has won five Oscars, six Golden Globes, two Palmes d’Or and a BAFTA over a career spanning more than half a century.
When asked if there was a sign, he said,coppola “Style,” the director said, “Even as a 17-, 18-year-old filmmaker, I always wanted to express my work poetically, and then I thought, “What if I did it?” I think he was the kind of person who would take things to the brink.” If he went any further, he would fall off a cliff. ”
Bold creative philosophies have shaped some of the most influential films in history, including The Conversation and The Godfather trilogy.
Coppola’s journey began in Detroit, where he was born into an Italian-American family. Growing up in Queens, New York, he was strongly influenced by his parents, especially his father Carmine, a flautist with Arturo Toscanini’s NBC Symphony Orchestra. There he learned that music and painting are not necessarily connected.
While in college, Coppola was deeply inspired by Sergei Eisenstein’s silent film October.
“It was a silent video, but they weren’t playing any accompaniment,” he said. “And I was amazed at how the movie itself, because of the way it was cut, made you feel like you were hearing it. I was completely devastated by the experience.”
Coppola enrolled at UCLA to pursue his passion for film. “I didn’t have any money, I didn’t have a car, I didn’t have a girlfriend, I didn’t have anything,” he said.
After graduating, he was hired by Warner Bros. to direct Finian’s Rainbow and won his first Academy Award in 1970 for his screenplay for Patton.
At just 29 years old, Coppola signed on to co-write and direct The Godfather, a film that became the foundation of modern cinema. “I was really Italian-American, so I didn’t know about gangs, but I knew inside and out what life was like in a family like that,” he said.
Casting Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone proved difficult. Director Coppola said, “The head of the studio ordered me not to even mention the brand.” Ultimately, the studio agreed on three conditions. “He has to do the movie for free, no pay. He has to shoot a screen test. And he has to pay a $1 million deposit. So I said, ‘I’ll take it.’ ” he said.
Brando’s transformation into the character surprised the studio. The studio dropped all conditions after seeing Brando’s screen test, and the rest is history.
Coppola was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director and won Best Adapted Screenplay for The Godfather. He continued that record with film adaptations like “The Outsider.”
Coppola went on to adapt SE Hinton’s The Outsider and Rumble Fish, which featured his nephew Nicolas Cage.
Cage is just one of many members of the Coppola family who have pursued successful careers in the arts. Reflecting on his priorities, Coppola said, “I want my kids to be healthy, I want them to be happy at work, and they seem to be doing that. “Right now, I’m more worried about what will happen to the Earth if things continue as they are.” To maintain myself. ”
Reflecting on how he sees himself as a Kennedy Center recipient, Coppola said, “I think of someone who loved the human family. Not just the immediate family, but all of humanity.” That’s me. I’m that person.” Someone who loves everyone. ”
Kennedy Center Honors The ceremony, which took place on December 8, 2024, is scheduled to be broadcast on CBS on December 22.
More from CBS News
Vladimir Dutierre
