Is Francis Ford Coppola dead?

[Duck Sauce]

Any news on Megalopolis, anyone?  I just know that he's doing the final adjustments on the screenplay and then he will start shooting "shooting".

Then your one step ahead of us.


$20 CAD (monoply money) says Megalopolis never gets made. Any takers?

[grand theft sparrow]

$20 CAD (monoply money) says Megalopolis never gets made. Any takers?

Don't be such a pessimist.  He'll make Megalopolis.  

Right after Gilliam finishes The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

And that rough cut of The Magnificent Ambersons turns up.

[modage]

sure and then what?  the Beach Boys decide to go back and release Smile?  

[grand theft sparrow]

sure and then what?  the Beach Boys decide to go back and release Smile?  

Sure.

And then George Lucas will put the original theatrical releases of Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi out on DVD.

[Redlum]

sure and then what?  the Beach Boys decide to go back and release Smile?  

I saw Brian Wilson perform the completed version of Smile in London on Friday. I assume the CD will be released....

[Just Withnail]

I assume the CD will be released....

Then I guess this is good news for the ear, but bad for the wallet as Smile is being released April 24, the same date as Spielberg re-releases E.T. with director's commentary.

[mutinyco]

He's in no rush. It's his movie. He's funding it. He controls everything. If he's taking his time it's because he can afford to.

[SHAFTR]

How does he create, arguably, the best 4 movies of the 70s and once the 80s hit...well, lets just say I'd rather not Remember the 80s when it comes to Coppola's films, same goes for the 90s.  Perhaps he is using Sofia as a front and is actually resurrecting his own career.  Perhaps he directed and wrote Virgin Suicides & Lost in Translation.  You have to admit, in interviews she doesn't seem that insightful.

[Ghostboy]

That's cause she's just in touch with her feelings, which is why her movies are so good.

Bram Stoker's Dracula is basically the only good Coppola film in fifteen years. But whether or not Megalopolis is good, hopefully its ambition will make it a grand final stand for a once great director.

[Just Withnail]

Well I'll be keeping my fingers crossed, and hopefully it'll see the light of day before my fingers start to hurt too much.

I think whatever Megalopolis ends up as, be it good or bad, it'll most certainly be interesting. And it's not really hard to notice that Coppola does best with ambitiously scoped projects (though his involvement in Supernova is worrying).

[grand theft sparrow]

How does he create, arguably, the best 4 movies of the 70s and once the 80s hit...well, lets just say I'd rather not Remember the 80s when it comes to Coppola's films, same goes for the 90s.  Perhaps he is using Sofia as a front and is actually resurrecting his own career.  Perhaps he directed and wrote Virgin Suicides & Lost in Translation.  You have to admit, in interviews she doesn't seem that insightful.

Pretending that you're being completely serious about that, Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation just aren't his style.  I think Sofia is less than enthusiastic because, reportedly, that movie is her on a slab.  Would you be enthusiastic or loose-lipped about things leading up to your divorce?

But going back to Francis, his output of late has been less than spectacular (though Dracula was good and The Rainmaker was at least decent, the best Grisham adaptation thus far) , but it makes me wonder if he really is just pulling a Kubrick and is spending forever doing pre-production on Megalopolis because he, naturally, wants it to be his return to greatness that we've all been waiting for.

Or at least, that's what I tell myself.  

Excuse me as I put on The Conversation and watch it on a loop until the day Megalopolis comes out.

[Chest Rockwell]

He can't be dead! I saw him at the Oscars!

[mutinyco]

He's not dead. That's just his career.

No, seriously, Sofia is very sweet. She's just not the extrovert her father is. But a moment in her presense and you know she knows exactly what she's doing. You instinctively trust her.

As for the stiff, I think he's pulling a bit of a Kubrick/Malick. He's basically stopped making films just to concentrate on Megalopolis. He's been slowly simmering the hype. Letting the DVDs of his classics do the talking (he does the best commentaries).

It could be argued that after his success in the '70s, he really needed 20 years to get to a place where he had lived enough to take his work to the next level. Think about where he was back then. Those movies were so ahead of their time. He had the greatest career shoved into 10 years. Culture probably need 20 years to catch up to him, as well.

I'm sure it'll have been worth the wait.

[bonanzataz]

Bram Stoker's Dracula is basically the only good Coppola film in fifteen years. But whether or not Megalopolis is good, hopefully its ambition will make it a grand final stand for a once great director.

i watched dracula high, and when i watch a movie high i can cut through all the bullshit and pretension. i hate using that word (pretension) but that's just the word to describe what that movie was. a big, fat, piece of annoying crap.

[modage]

i love dracula.  i think its one of my 3 favorite films of his for sure.  its so different from most of his movies/most horror movies/most tellings of that familiar story.  the way he used a lot of simple trick photography that was used in nosferatu and other old movies to get a lot of creepy effects in the film i thought was great.  gary oldman is great, monica belluci is naked, keanu reeves is horrible, what more do you need?!