Francis Ford Coppola - Celebrities attend TCM honoring Francis Ford Coppola at Hand & Footprint Ceremony at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX® in Hollywood. at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX® in Hollywood - Hollywood, California, United States - Friday 29th April 2016
News that Sofia Coppola has replaced Joe Wright on the 'Little Mermaid' has been welcomed, but how did the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola become so renowned in her own right?
Sofia Coppola was never exactly destined to pursue a career as a lawyer or a teacher. Born in New York City to artist Eleanor Coppola and 'The Godfather' director Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia had creativity in her genes from the offset. Her cousins Nicolas Cage, Jason Schwartzman and Robert Carmine all joined the family business, so it seems only natural that Sofia followed suit.
Sofia Coppola Will Direct 'The Little Mermaid'
She made her screen debut when she was still a baby, starring as the baby boy who is baptised in 'The Godfather'. She would later replace actress Winona Ryder in the second and third movies in The Godfather trilogy, although her acting career would be plagued with accusations of nepotism and her acting panned by the critics.
Continue reading: Hollywood's Golden Girl: In Praise Of Sofia Coppola
Anyone interested in how movies get made will love this feisty behind-the-scenes documentary, which uses sharp comedy to explore the messy business side of cinema. Both smart and very funny, it may not tell us much that we don't know (mainly that it's almost impossible to get a film financed unless it's a blockbuster with bankable stars), but it reveals things in ways that make us wonder about the future of the movies.
The film follows actor Alec Baldwin and director James Toback as they head to the Cannes Film Festival to secure funding for their planned Iraq-set riff on Last Tango in Paris. They meet with a variety of experts who tell them that their hoped-for budget is three times too high for a movie starring Baldwin and Neve Campbell. So they talk to Chastain, Bejo and Kruger about taking over the lead role. They also consult with a range of prominent filmmakers including Scorsese, Coppola, Polanski and the Last Tango maestro himself, Bertolucci. But the more time they spend with the people who control the money, the more they wonder if their movie will ever get made.
It's fairly clear from the start that Last Tango in Tikrit is a joke project, but everyone takes it seriously. And as they talk to prospective investors, Baldwin and Toback consider adjusting the film to get more cash by, for example, shooting scenes in Russia or China. It's fascinating to hear these billionaires offer advice on how to get their movie made. And hilariously, no one worries about Baldwin's insistence that the story requires explicit sexual scenes.
Continue reading: Seduced And Abandoned Review
A biography of iconic filmmaker John Milius, this engaging documentary features some of the biggest stars of all time talking about their friend who changed the movies forever. And he's got such a huge presence that we love listening to his stories almost as much as we've loved watching his films over the decades. This movie also explores his controversial image as a right-wing gun lover, but the salient fact is that his friends and colleagues clearly love him dearly.
John Milius has always been a man's man. His asthma prevented him from joining the military, so he instead went to film school in the 1960s with a group that included Lucas, Spielberg, Coppola and Scorsese. And these young turks were exactly what cinema needed as the studio system ended. Milius' uncredited screenplay for Dirty Harry got him work as a writer and director, and his crowning achievement remains the screenplay for Apocalypse Now. He's also proud of his passion project Big Wednesday, an iconic surfing film that vanished without a trace when the studio abandoned it. But everything changed with Red Dawn, the teen fantasy that gave him his pro-gun reputation as a pariah. He's been less busy since, but is still working on his long-gestating epic about Genghis Khan, even though he has spent the past few years recovering from a debilitating stroke.
Like Milius himself, this is a beefy, jovial movie that zips along at a fast pace, observing telling details everywhere without any real criticism. Milius calls himself a "zen anarchist" rather than a conservative, and it's fascinating to see his life-loving personality emerge in the clips. Meanwhile, we see all of the iconic lines he's written and cinema-changing moments he's had a hand in, from writing Robert Shaw's amazing USS Indianapolis speech in Jaws to teaching Arnold Schwarzenegger how to hold a sword for Conan.
Continue reading: Milius Review
Mellody Hobson sits on the board on some of the world's biggest companies.
Mellody Hobson has married her long-time partner - Star Wars director George Lucas - at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. The ceremony went ahead on Saturday afternoon (June 29, 2013), with former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley giving away the bride and George's son Jett serving as the best man. The director and producer's daughters Amanda and Katie served as bridesmaids, according to the movie mogul's spokesperson.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison played live at the reception, with the soulful Janelle Monae also playing a set. Steven Spielberg was also in attendance and director Francis Ford Coppola read a poem by Maya Angelou. That's some guest-list.
Lucas became engaged to DreamWorks Animation chair Hobson, 43, in January. She is also head of the Chicago-based investment management firm Ariel Investments and chairman of Ariel Mutual Funds. Oh, and she's a director at Estee Lauder, Groupon and Starbucks as well as a regular contributor at CBS - in other words, she's a big player. A huge player. It will be her first marriage, though the second for Lucas, 68.
Continue reading: Mellody Hobson Marries George Lucas, But Which Legend Played Live?
The director is returning to the genres that made him as a Hollywood great
Francis Ford Coppola is apparently readying himself to take on his next film, one that will follow a similar Italian-American saga as his most famous film franchise; The Godfather. The veteran filmmaker's plans were revealed in a Hollywood Reporter article earlier this week, which stated that the director is planning on making a movie about an Italian-American family that isn't the Corleones.
THR revealed that the filmmaking great looks to follow a similar time scale and ethnic background to what he concentrated on during the celebrated Godfather movies, with the cinematic family lives from the 1930s to the 1960s being chronicled. The as-yet untitled film has reportedly only just began taking its baby steps towards becoming a fully-fledged release, with Coppola setting up office in the Paramount film studios to develop a coming-of-age story that follows a boy and girl in their late teens.
THR also reported that Coppola is enlisting the help of Courtney Bright and Nicole Daniels to find a suitable cast for the film, and enlisting longtime family collaborator and friend Fred Roos as producer. Coppola is handling the screenplay and story himself from the Paramount office. Bright and Nicole Daniels most recently worked with Francis' daughter Sofia Coppola on her new film The Bling Ring.
Continue reading: Francis Ford Coppola Is Getting Back Into The Business With Brand New Mobster Saga
Is it folly to suggest The Bling Ring could be a contender for the major awards this year?
The alarm bells started ringing when Sofia Coppola, the director of Lost in Translation and Somewhere, announced she would be adapting the story of a group of internet savvy Los Angeles burglars for the big-screen. Just as David Fincher's Facebook tale The Social Network vied for the top awards at the Oscars and Golden Globes, the idea of Coppola's The Bling Ring seemed likely to chime with the social media generation, and a new wave of younger Academy voters.
Unsurprisingly, the Cannes Film Festival welcomed Coppola and her new movie with open arms for this year's event, where it will make its worldwide premiere. That said, should The Bling Ring pull in nominations for this year's awards season, it would represent a very different type of awards' success story. Firstly, its lead actress Emma Watson is hardly an awards' magnet, having really only starred in the Harry Potter franchise and a couple of lightweight dramas. Secondly, it features appearances from the likes of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan in its examination of America's obsession with celebrity culture and the A-list mecca that is Los Angeles. Though we could imagine it scoring nods for the Globes, it would be a massive feat should The Bling Ring compete at the Oscars. However, it does have one thing in its favour: the director.
Emma Watson [L] and Paris Hilton [R] Both Appear In Sofia Coppola's 'The Bling Ring'
Continue reading: Can 'The Bling Ring' Compete For Movie Gold During Awards Season?
Francis Ford Coppola - Writers Guild Awards (WGA) - Los Angeles, California, USA - Sunday 17th February 2013
Bram Stoker, the Irish novelist who created Dracula, was born 165 years ago today (November 8, 2012). Google's latest doodle celebrates the author, who wrote 19 books in total though will always be best known for his vampire creation.
Dracula was actually Stoker's fifth book, published in 1897 after he'd spent several years studying mythological stories and folklore. He took most of his inspiration after staying in the North Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby, where he was trying to establish if the location would be suitable for a family holiday. Though not an initial bestseller, Dracula has since become a key text in vampire literature and the horror fiction canon and has spawned numerous television series and movie adaptations. Overblown in the most positive sense of the word, Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula (1992) put the horror back into Dracula, after decades of camp interpretations. Starring Gary Oldman as the Count himself, the film boasted a stellar cast that also included Sir Anthony Hopkins, Winona Ryder, Richard E. Grant and Keanu Reeves. Writing for the New York Times, Vincent Canby said, "With Dracula it's apparent that Mr. Coppola's talent and exuberance survive," while Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Overall, this Dracula could have been less heavy and more deliciously evil than it is, but it does offer a sumptuous engorgement of the senses."
The movie won a flurry of technical awards, including the Oscar for Best Costume Design, Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Makeup. Coppola and Oldman also won the Saturn Awards for Best Director and Best Actor respectively.
Continue reading: Bram Stoker Turns 165: In Praise Of Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula
And the result is stunning, making an astonishing film even more powerful ...
but changing it completely in the process.
Continue reading: Apocalypse Now Redux Review
Francis Ford Coppola Thursday 30th April 2009 52nd San Francisco International film festival held at Westin St. Francis hotel San Francisco, California
Set in the mid-seventies, the plot follows the Lisbon family, with James Woods, a physics teacher at the local high school, as the scatter brained father, and Kathleen Turner as the uncommonly strict mother. Their five daughters are beautiful, naturally blonde, and the desire of every boy in the neighborhood. When the youngest, Cecilia, mysteriously attempts suicide, psychiatrist Danny DeVito recommends that she be allowed to interact more socially, especially with boys. So the Lisbon girls are introduced to the boys of the neighborhood, who have already been watching the girls from afar through half-opened window shades, binoculars, and telescopes. At a party in Cecilia's honor, the boys witness a tragedy that shocks them out of their wits. As a result, the Lisbons fall into a deep suppression shutting out the rest of the world by retreating into their own inner sanctum. It appears they will never recover until Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett), the high school heartthrob, pursues the unattainable Lux (Kirsten Dunst). He attempts to ask her to the prom, but the only way her mother will allow him to take Lux is if all the girls go together. For the first time, the girls will venture out of the home to interact socially in an environment other than school.
Continue reading: The Virgin Suicides Review
Martin Sheen stars as Captain Willard, sent upriver in war-torn 'Nam to "terminate, with extreme prejudice" one Colonel Kurtz (Brando), a former green beret who has gone primal all the way in Cambodia and has taken on the guise of a god to the local people of the area.
Continue reading: Apocalypse Now Review
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