Francis Ford Coppola, Accepting DGA Honor From Granddaughter Gia, Revels In Break From ‘Megalopolis’ Promotion
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: After spending months talking about his long-nurtured dream project, Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola embraced the chance to depart from promo tour talking points.
Calling Megaloplis “a great adventure,” Coppola affirmed with a smile in accepting his DGA Honor on Thursday night, “I decided tonight I wouldn’t say anything I’ve been saying.” After being given the award by his granddaughter, Gia, Coppola said he was delighted to spin yarns about ” how the Director’s Guild was founded.” While he didn’t do so in linear fashion, the 85-year-old filmmaker had the audience in the palm of his hand as he recounted giants of cinema and his personal touchstones, paying tribute to masters like Billy Wilder, King Vidor and Samuel Goldwyn.
When he met Jean Renoir, Coppola recalled, the French filmmaker gave him a “beautiful smile” and shook his hand “like he was welcoming me to this profession that he loved so much.” Frank Capra, by contrast, was “a lot grouchier.
I remember how much he didn’t like Apocalypse Now because he thought it was anti-American.” Studio bosses like Darryl Zanuck and Jack Warner, he said, were “not exactly, by today’s standards, good-behaving people,” but their passion for the movie business was undeniable.
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