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Cage "Pleased" With Turner Libel Victory
7 April 2008 (WENN)
Nicolas Cage is "extremely pleased" to have won a libel lawsuit against Kathleen Turner after she accused the actor of drunk-driving and theft in her new autobiography. Cage began libel proceedings against his Peggy Sue Got Married co-star at London's High Court in February after claiming Turner's memoir Send Yourself Roses was full of false claims about him. In the book - which was serialized in British newspaper The Daily Mail - Turner alleged Cage deliberately disobeyed his director uncle Francis Ford Coppola on the set of their 1986 movie, adding he also found himself in trouble with police while filming. And the Romancing The Stone star was subsequently forced to apologize to Cage. The newspaper was ordered to make a substantial donation to charity, publish an apology and remove the offending article from its website. Turner has also agreed to insert a correction and apology into copies of her book. Cage's U.K. lawyer Simon Smith insists the star is delighted with the verdict. He says, "(Cage is) extremely pleased, since he has never been arrested for drunk-driving, dog theft or anything else. As an actor who stars in many family-friendly films and who has a young child and teenager of his own, Mr. Cage was understandably upset at having been wrongly depicted as condoning that sort of reckless, dangerous and criminal behavior."

Bardem Pulls Out of Coppola Film, Replaced by Maura
4 April 2008 (WENN)
Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem has pulled out of Francis Ford Coppola's new movie Tetro - only to be replaced by Spanish actress Carmen Maura. The legendary director originally wrote the part for a male lead, but decided to re-write the character as female when Bardem was forced to withdraw from the project. And Coppola insists he was glad he had the opportunity to give the character a sex-change. He tells The Hollywood Reporter, "One of the important roles in the script is a mentor and teacher to Tetro (leading character played by Vincent Gallo), and I originally wrote it for a man. As I read and re-read (the script), I felt that the interaction between the two characters would be far more intriguing if they were of the opposite sex." Maura has now joined the rest of the cast for the film's 11-week shoot, which began on March 31 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Turner Apologizes to Cage Over Book Claims
14 February 2008 (WENN)
Kathleen Turner has apologized to Nicolas Cage for "causing distress" by accusing the actor of drink-driving and theft in her new autobiography. Cage began libel proceedings against his Peggy Sue Got Married co-star in London's High Court last week after claiming her new book Send Yourelf Roses was full of false claims about him. In the book, Turner alleges Cage went to great lengths to disobey his director uncle Francis Ford Coppola on the set of their 1986 movie, adding he found himself in trouble with police while filming. But the 53-year-old actress insists she had no intention for the contents of her book to upset Cage, or anybody else, and is deeply sorry for any hurt caused. She says, "I guess what I can say is I'm truly sorry if I caused distress or harm, because one thing is for sure - I never, ever intended to do that. This is what I remember, these are my thoughts and (they were) certainly not intended to damage anyone else."

Cage To Sue Turner Over "False" Book Claims
11 February 2008 (WENN)
Hollywood star Nicolas Cage has begun legal proceedings against his Peggy Sue Got Married co-star Kathleen Turner after she accused him of drunk driving and theft in her new autobiography. In the autobiography, Send Yourself Roses, the 53-year-old insists Cage went to great lengths to disobey his uncle and the director of the 1986 comedy, Francis Ford Coppola - and even got in trouble with the police while filming. Turner writes, "Everything Francis wanted him (Cage) to do, he went against to show that he wasn't under his uncle's wing. Which was ridiculous. Oh, that stupid voice of his and the fake teeth! Honestly, I cringe to think about it. He caused so many problems. He was arrested twice for drunk driving and, I think, once for stealing a dog. He'd come across a Chihuahua he liked and stuck it in his jacket." On Friday Cage, 44, has issued libel proceedings against the actress at the High Court in London. A spokesman for the actor says, "The libel action follows false allegations that appear in the forthcoming autobiography. As legal proceedings have been commenced, it would be inappropriate to comment further."

Cage Hits Back at Turner's "Difficult" Claims
24 January 2008 (WENN)
Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage has hit back after Kathleen Turner accused him of behaving like a diva when they starred in 1986 comedy Peggy Sue Got Married. The film - which earned Turner a Best Actress Oscar nomination - was directed by Cage's uncle Francis Ford Coppola and Turner insisted the actor went to great lengths to disobey his famous relative. In her forthcoming autobiography, Send Yourself Roses, Turner, writes, "Everything Francis Ford Coppola) wanted him (Cage) to do, he went against to show that he wasn't under his uncle's wing. Which was ridiculous. Oh, that stupid voice of his and the fake teeth! Honestly, I cringe to think about it. He caused so many problems." She also went on to accuse the National Treasure star of getting in trouble with the police while they were filming. She adds, "He was arrested twice for drunk driving and, I think, once for stealing a dog. He'd come across a Chihuahua he liked and stuck it in his jacket." But Cage, insists the 53-year-old's book is inaccurate. He tells New York Post gossip column PageSix, "While I recall Kathleen Turner being a great lady and wonderful actress, the credibility of her biography and her memory is at stake . . . Fact credibility should have been exercised on (her) part."

Coppola Gets Mixed Greeting on Return to Films After 10 Years
22 October 2007 (StudioBriefing)
Youth Without Youth, which marks Francis Ford Coppola's return to filmmaking after 10 years, received mixed critical reaction at the Rome Film Festival following its screening on Saturday. To those critics who urged Coppola to stick with doing what he does best, the director said at a news conference, "I think we should be tolerant of artists who want to break new ground, and not require them to make gangster films all their lives." Coppola also told reporters that his recent remarks about Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson were quoted out of context. (GQ magazine had published excerpts from an interview in which Coppola had reportedly said in effect that the three actors had become content to rake in riches and rest on their laurels.) "I have nothing but respect and admiration for them," he said at the Rome news conference. "These are the three greatest actors in the world today and they are my friends. So I have nothing but affection for them."

Coppola vs. Pacino, De Niro and Nicholson
18 October 2007 (StudioBriefing)
Director Francis Ford Coppola has unaccountably castigated three of Hollywood's top stars, whom he has directed in the past, accusing Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Jack Nicholson of "living off the fat of the land" and doing little that is challenging or ambitious. In an interview with GQ magazine, Coppola noted that "Pacino is very rich, maybe because he never spends any money. ... [De Niro] created an empire and is wealthy and powerful. ... [Nicholson] is always wired in with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios." Coppola added, "You know, even in those days after The Godfather, I didn't feel that those actors were ready to say, 'Let's do something else really ambitious." Commenting on Coppola's remarks, the New York Daily News's "Rush and Molloy" column observed, "Some might ask Coppola how he has challenged himself lately. He admits he has been focused on his vineyard and on his resorts in Belize and Guatemala." And L.A. Weekly columnist Nikki Finke remarked, "Is there anything more hypocritical than a judgmental Francis Ford Coppola?"

Coppola: "Nicholson Is a Waste of Talent"
18 October 2007 (WENN)
Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola has accused Jack Nicholson of putting his love of money before his career. The Godfather director is disappointed Nicholson has halted his acting career in favour of enjoying a luxury lifestyle with a string of beautiful women - because he believes it is a waste of talent. Coppola says, "I think if there was a role that Robert De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don't think Jack would. Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he's a little bit like Marlon Brando, except Brando went through some tough times. I guess they don't want to do it anymore."

Coppola Lost 15 Years of Data in Burglary
1 October 2007 (WENN)
Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola lost 15 years of computer data during a recent burglary at his Argentinean home. Five thieves broke into The Godfather director's Buenos Aires house and made off with a laptop containing the script for his new movie Tetro, due to start shooting in February, writings and family photographs. Coppola wasn't home at the time of the break-in, but the burglars threatened a person who was in the property. Although Coppola has saved copies of the Tetro script elsewhere, on Friday he issued a plea for the return of a small computer back-up device. He said, "They stole our computers; they got all our data, many years of work. If I could get the back-up back, it would save me years all the photographs of my family, all my writing." A spokesperson for the Hollywood director says he has offered a reward for the back-up's safe return. Tetro is set to star Matt Damon and is about an artistic Italian immigrant family living in Buenos Aires.

Setback in Coppola Film After Burglary
28 September 2007 (WENN)
Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola's new film has suffered a setback after thieves stole vital equipment and injured a member of the production crew during a burglary in Argentina. Five thieves broke into The Godfather director's Buenos Aires home and made off with a laptop containing work on his new movie Tetro and other digital equipment including a camera, an employee confirmed on Thursday. The employee says, "Coppola is very sad and the only thing he's asked for is to get back his computer, which is essential for him and for his work."

Wilson 'Happy' for Movie with Suicidal Role to Be Released
28 September 2007 (WENN)
Troubled actor Owen Wilson is "very happy" his new movie is to be released in the U.S. on Friday, despite the fact he plays a man with suicidal tendencies. A depressed Wilson allegedly slashed his wrists in an apparent suicide attempt at his home in Santa Monica, California last month . And, in a bizarre coincidence, his latest movie character is involved in a deliberate motorcycle accident in The Darjeeling Limited. But director Wes Anderson - a longtime friend of Wilson's - insists the actor doesn't want the movie's release postponed in light of his recent troubles. Anderson says, "That's not what I want and not what Owen wants. Owen's very happy we're releasing it now." The Darjeeling Limited co-writer Roman Coppola adds, "There's the show business adage of the show must go on. We're all sympathetic about our friend's well being. I haven't spoken with him about this but I think he'd be very eager that the film be shown. He's proud of the work we did. "In terms of art and personal life echoing one another, that's the proper way to make a movie. I've been witness to a lot of movies that my dad (Francis Ford Coppola) did and it's very familiar to me that your personal life reflects the theme of the movie. "To me it's just a given that your life and the theme of the work is going to intertwine."

Allen Surprised He's Considered Influential
4 September 2007 (WENN)
Oscar-winning director Woody Allen is amazed he's considered a legend of the movie business, because he doesn't think his films have been influential. The 71-year-old, who has three Academy Awards, always felt the movies of directors such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg appealed more to the next generation of filmmakers than his own. He says, "Oddly enough, over the years I've never felt that I have influenced anyone. I don't mean that to sound like false modesty, but I could always feel the influence of my contemporaries Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Steven Spielberg but I have never seen my influence on anyone."

Turner Turns Theater Director
16 August 2007 (WENN)
Academy Award-nominated actress Kathleen Turner has turned theatre director and is thrilling audiences at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts with her stage-directing debut. The Romancing The Stone star is midway through a run of the Beth Henley play Crimes Of The Heart at the festival. And Turner admits her directorial style owes a lot to filmmakers John Huston and Francis Ford Coppola, who directed her in the movies Prizzi's Honor and Peggy Sue Got Married respectively. The 53-year-old says, "I learned a lot from them - Huston and Coppola."

Coppola Honored by French Legion
14 August 2007 (WENN)
Legendary American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola has been honored by the French Legion after they promoted his rank from "Chevalier" to "Officer." The Legion of Honor is the highest award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the social status or nationality of the recipients. Coppola was praised on Thursday for his contributions to cinema and culture, along with his "passion for food, wine and art" by France's consul general, Frederic Desagneaux. Desagneaux told Coppola at the ceremony held in his San Francisco home, "You are a wonderful storyteller. I think a main reason the French audience likes your films is that they deal with the myth and legend of America." Coppola says, "I wasn't quite expecting this promotion. I'm very grateful and I'm very touched. My granddaughter Romy (child of Sofia Coppola and French rocker Thomas Mars) thanks you as well." The Legion Of Honor was created by French leader Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.

Studio Bosses Pulled 'Godfather IV' Plans Over Budget
31 July 2007 (WENN)
Movie executives at Paramount scrapped an idea to wrap up The Godfather movies with a fourth film - because they refused to pay an ailing Mario Puzo. Director Francis Ford Coppola offered to help the dying author pen the screenplay for a final film for free, but penny-pinching studio bosses still refused to greenlight the idea. Ford Coppola, who initially balked at the idea of directing sequels to his 1972 masterpiece, admits he was so desperate to help Puzo before he died in 1999 that he offered to co-write the screenplay for no charge. He recalls, "He and I cooked up an idea for what there would be for The Godfather IV and we went to Paramount... and we said, 'Look, Mario is not well. Hire him to write this Godfather IV script, I will help him, do it for nothing...' Mario was very concerned to leave his kids some money and they just never made the deal... Mario died and it was heartbreaking."

Ryan O'Neal Arrested for Allegedly Pulling Gun on Son
5 February 2007 (WENN)
Actor Ryan O'Neal was arrested at his Malibu, California home and booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and negligent discharge of a firearm after a fight with his son Griffin O'Neal on Saturday night. Sheriff's deputies and paramedics responded to a call at 12:30 am regarding a suspected battery and say that O'Neal, 65, fired at least one gunshot during the altercation. According to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt John Benedict, "Deputies determined that Mr. Griffin O'Neal was assaulted by his father during a family dispute." He was booked at the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station and released at 5:30 am on Saturday after posting $50,000 bail. Sheriff's sources tell entertainment website Tmz.com that a 22-year-old female friend of Griffin's was "inadvertently" injured at the scene and transported to a local hospital. Authorities would not confirm that the injury was a result of the gunshot. Griffin O'Neal, 42, the son of Ryan and Joanna Moore, has had brushes with the law before and spent 18 days in jail for failing to perform community service ordered by a judge who found him guilty of reckless boating in a 1986 accident that killed the son of film director Francis Ford Coppola. He also pleaded no contest to a drunken driving charge in 1989 and in 1992 agreed to spend one year in a live-in drug rehabilitation program after pleading no contest to charges he shot at his estranged girlfriend's unoccupied car. The latest incident occurred just one day after the family received the news that actress Farrah Fawcett, who was the longtime girlfriend of Ryan and the mother of Griffin's half-brother Redmond, was cancer free after a battle with anal cancer.

WGA Names Greatest Screenplays of All Time
7 April 2006 (StudioBriefing)
The greatest screenplay ever written was Casablanca, by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch, according to a vote by the members of the Writers Guild of America. The WGA announced its results for the 101 best screenplays on Thursday with these films following Casablanca on the top-ten list: 2. The Godfather, by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola; 3. Chinatown, by Robert Towne; 4. Citizen Kane, by Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles; 5. All About Eve, by Joseph Mankiewicz; 6. Annie Hall, by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman; 7. Sunset Boulevard, by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman Jr.; 8. Network, by Paddy Chayefsky; 9. Some Like It Hot, by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond; 10. The Godfather Part II, by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola.

Coppola Returns to the Big Screen for the First Time Since 1997
27 September 2005 (WENN)
Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola is still so obsessed with the themes that inspired him as a student, he has decided to explore them again in his first movie since 1997. Coppola, best known for the Godfather trilogy, hasn't made a film since The Rainmaker and now plans to shoot an adaptation of Youth Without Youth, a novel by Romanian author Mircea Eliade. According to industry magazine Variety, the low-budget production will be financed and written by Coppola alone. The movie will star Tim Roth and is set to begin filming in Bucharest, Romania, later this year. Coppola says, "I was so excited to discover, in this tale by Eliade, the key themes that I most hope to understand better: time, consciousness and the dream-like basis of reality. For me, it is indeed a return to the ambitions I had for work in cinema as a student."

Brando's Voice "Unusable" in Video Game
28 July 2005 (WENN)
Late screen icon Marlon Brando's voiceover has reportedly been dropped from a video game based on The Godfather movie, because his ill health made it unusable. Brando won an Oscar for his portrayal of mafia boss Don Vito Corleone in director Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 classic, but games publisher Electronic Arts is said to have turned to an impersonator to re-record the lines. Brando attended a recording session in the months leading up to his death last year, but the use of an oxygen tank to aid his breathing diminished the quality of his voice. A video game insider tells British newspaper The Independent, "Electronic Arts only had him in for one session and didn't get through all the lines. Then most of what they did manage to record isn't useable because of an oxygen tank that he was breathing through at the time." The source adds that EA's Brando impersonator does a competent job: "He's not bad but then who can't do a decent impression of The Godfather?"

Coppola Angry Over 'Godfather' Video Game
8 April 2005 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola is up in arms over Paramount's decision to produce (with videogame makers Electronic Arts) a videogame based on his The Godfather movies. In a taped interview due to air on AMC's Sunday Morning ShootOut this Sunday, Coppola said that the studio had never mentioned its plans to release a Godfather videogame. "I knew nothing about it. They never asked me if I thought it was a good idea," Coppola said. Calling Coppola's movie, "one of history's most revered masterpieces," Electronic Arts says on it website that the game, due to be released in the fall, "serves as inspiration for the game as gamers will join the Corleone family and earn respect through loyalty and fear." Coppola says that he was able to get a preview of the game. "They use the characters everyone knows ... and then for the next hour they shoot and kill each other. I had absolutely nothing to do with the game and I disapprove."

Putin Praises Coppola
1 February 2005 (WENN)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Francis Ford Coppola during a visit by the American director to Moscow to receive a prestigious film award. The Apocalypse Now film-maker visited Putin at the Kremlin before receiving the Golden Eagle award from Russia's National Academy Of Cinematic Arts And Sciences for his contribution to world cinematography. The Russian premier was full of praise for Coppola's filmography during the televised meeting on Saturday - The Godfather is hugely popular in Russia, but Putin also cited Coppola films, "That so accurately tell the horrors of war." Coppola repaid the compliment by lauding Putin's speech to mark the 60th anniversary of Soviet troops liberating Auschwitz - the Polish Nazi death camp synonymous with The Holocaust. Coppola commented, "Excellent speech. But in person you look much younger than you did on TV."

Marlon Brando Dies at 80
2 July 2004 (IMDb News Flash)
Marlon Brando, the legendary actor whose performances in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Godfather and Last Tango in Paris made him one of the most important screen actors of all time and whose larger-than-life persona offscreen dominated his later years, died Thursday at an undisclosed location in Los Angeles; he was 80. According to Brando's attorney, David J. Seeley, the cause of the actor's death was being withheld because the actor was "a very private man." (A later report from Reuters stated that a UCLA Medical Center spokesperson said the actor died there at 6:30pm on Thursday of lung failure.) The most famous proponent of Method acting and considered by many to be America's finest actor, Brando paved the way for a new style of acting in the 40s and 50s, first working on Broadway, where he created his first signature role as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. He made his screen debut in 1950's The Men, which was followed by his Oscar-nominated re-creation of Kowalski in Elia Kazan's film of A Streetcar Named Desire. Riding his sudden superstardom, roles in Viva Zapata, Julius Caesar, The Wild One and On the Waterfront followed, the latter of which won him his first Oscar. Once he became a true icon in the late 50s and 60s, he branched into directing (1961's One Eyed Jacks) and a troubled, bloated adaptation of Mutiny on the Bounty, where his need for perfection (and infatuation with the south Pacific) put the movie over budget and over schedule.

That film marked the beginning of a string of failures in the 60s, and by the early 70s the actor's star seemed to have faded. However, it was a little gangster film in 1972 called The Godfather that catapulted Brando back into the spotlight, and his phenomenal turn as mob boss Vito Corleone earned him a second Oscar – which he notoriously refused, sending an actress dressed in Native American garb to the Academy Award ceremony to reject the award with a diatribe against the wrongs done to Native Americans by the U.S. He courted even more controversy with Bernardo Bertolucci's X-rated Last Tango in Paris (though he grabbed another Oscar nomination), and appeared in both Hollywood projects (Superman, for which he received a record salary at the time) and award-winning films (appearing as Kurtz in Francis Ford Coppola's troubled masterpiece Apocalypse Now) through the 70s. Sporadic film appearances marked the end of his career, including The Freshman, A Dry White Season and Don Juan De Marco, and his later years were dominated by scandal when his son, Christian Brando, shot and killed the lover of his half sister, Cheyenne, at the family's home in 1990; Christian was jailed and Cheyenne committed suicide five years later. Legal fees reportedly drained the actor's fortune, and the scandal contributed to the stories of Brando's bizarre offscreen antics. He lived in seclusion for the past few years, and most recently was the target of yet more rumors to be published in an unauthorized biography (one of many). Details about funeral arrangements were not immediately forthcoming. --Prepared by IMDb staff

Drunk Murray Rates Kathleen Turner's Bedroom Performance
2 April 2004 (WENN)
An inebriated Bill Murray gave Kathleen Turner's bedroom skills a high rating this week - in front of an all star audience. Funnyman Murray was hosting a benefit at New York's Museum Of Modern Art for Sofia Coppola, who directed him in the Oscar-winning Lost In Translation, in front of a panel which included Hollywood players Kirsten Dunst, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Claire Danes and Turner herself. Merry Murray blurted, "She's a great f***!," before blaming the cans of sparkling wine supplied by Francis Ford Coppola for his outburst. He later admitted: "I've had six."

Coppola Films Short for Amazon.com
4 February 2004 (StudioBriefing)
In a unique marketing ploy, Francis Ford Coppola has produced a 15-minute video about the recently released DVD restoration of his 1982 film One from the Heart that can be viewed exclusively on the Amazon.com website (http://www.amazon.com/dvd). In a statement, Coppola said that he hoped that the video would help counteract "the bad press and premature criticism" that originally shot down his film. "It seems appropriate to me now that we can take advantage of some of the fabulous technology available today, like the Internet and Amazon.com, to reach out directly to the public. Perhaps the film will at last find an audience," he said. Coppola has reportedly reworked parts of the film and has included more than six hours of "bonus material" in the DVD, which was released last week.

Sofia Coppola Goes Her Own Way
29 September 2003 (WENN)
Sofia Coppola refuses to follow her legendary father's film directing methods - because being quiet and polite works just as well for her. The daughter of celebrated film-maker Francis Ford Coppola made waves with her debut feature film The Virgin Suicides - which introduced the world to a grown-up Kirsten Dunst - and she's received rave reviews for her latest picture, the Bill Murray-starring Lost In Translation. But Sofia insists she's developed an on-set style that's completely her own, because she could never match up to her Godfather dad's well-known behavior. She laughs, "I have never tried to change my personality to be more like my father. We approach things completely differently. He came on the set of the Virgin Suicides and told me, 'You should say 'Action!' louder, more from your diaphragm.' I thought, 'Okay, you can go now.' I may say it differently, but I still get what I want."

Jonze and Coppola's Sad Summer
14 August 2003 (WENN)
Hollywood directing couple Spike Jonze and Sofia Coppola have spent this summer apart - leading pals to speculate their marriage is on the rocks. Being John Malkovich filmmaker Jonze, born Adam Spiegel, and Francis Ford Coppola's daughter married in 1999 at a star-studded ceremony where cult crooner Tom Waits sang Here Comes The Bride - but, according to sources quoted on the Pagesix website, the pair are experiencing real problems. A pal says, "Sofia is fed up with Spike being completely obsessed with his career. And she never sees him anymore. Plus, he doesn't want kids and she does." Virgin Suicides director Sofia also recently checked into Los Angeles' Chateau Marmont hotel, prompting reports she'd moved out of the couple's nearby house. However, her spokeswoman Sylvia Desrochers insists, "It's not true at all. Sofia's been in New York for most of the summer and Spike has been working in Europe. She's still at their house when she's in Los Angeles. She only checked into the Marmont for two days to do press for her new movie Lost In Translation. Everything's fine." Desrochers adds, "I think because they haven't been seen out together as much it's causing people to wonder, but it's just that they've both been really busy. They're like any other Hollywood couple." Jonze's agent Victoria Metzger insists there's "no story" - but when asked whether the couple are having difficulties, replies only, "They're the only two people who know that." With Adaptation, for which Chris Cooper won an Oscar and Meryl Streep received a nomination, Jonze's career surged ahead of Sofia's. But she has high hopes for Lost in Translation, with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, which opens in America next month.

Gregory Hines Succumbs to Cancer at 57
11 August 2003 (StudioBriefing)
Gregory Hines, who revived tap dancing as a performance art beginning with the Broadway musical revue Eubie! in 1978 and later in film and television, died Saturday of cancer in Los Angeles at age 57. He co-starred in Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club and with Mikhail Baryshnikov in White Nights. On TV, he starred in the sitcom The Gregory Hines Show in 1997 and had a recurring role on Will & Grace.

Owen Snubs Bond
23 June 2003 (WENN)
James Bond contender Clive Owen has snubbed the legendary franchise - by dismissing it as unchallenging. The British hunk is reported to be a frontrunner to replace departing 007 Pierce Brosnan when he hands over the superspy role after the next film. However, Gosford Park star Owen is nonplussed about the prospect of being the world's most famous hero - in fact, he doesn't want the job. According to British tabloid The Daily Express, he told a pal, "I think it's too formulaic, too tried and tested and a little past it's sell by date. I would not consider it to be a challenge. I've just come back from Los Angeles where I had a meeting with Francis Ford Coppola who wants to cast me in an exciting new project, which will be Bond-like but more challenging and relevant today. I'm really excited about it."

Woody Allen: Who Dunnit?
23 January 2003 (WENN)
A theatre company nearly bankrupted by Woody Allen are putting on a satirical play based on the auteur's 'death.' The Empty Stage Theatre Company were forced to scrap a production of Allen's play Death in spring 2001 when they were informed by Allen's lawyer that the rights had expired. They lost thousands of dollars from the cancellation - and have now written a show based on their experiences, entitled Who Killed Woody Allen? - enraging the neurotic star. The play features actors playing Allen associates Diane Keaton, Dianne Wiest, Christopher Walken, Conan O'Brien, Alan Alda, Spike Lee, Ed Burns, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Cusack, Francis Ford Coppola and Billy Crystal, all of whom have a motive for murdering him. One of the show's creators Tom Dunn invited Allen to the opening night, but has instead received a threatening letter from his lawyer Irwin Tenenbaum. He writes, "I trust that you have adhered to and stayed within the parameters of applicable law with regard to the use of my client's name and character. I reserve all of my client's rights with regard to this project, should events prove otherwise." Dunn insists the show is an affectionate portrait and the company are still big fans of the Manhattan mastermind. He says, "We steer clear of personal stuff in the show. It's a send-up of celebrity-obsessed culture. I think Woody'd get a kick out of it."

British Critics Vote 'Apocalypse Now' Number One
8 November 2002 (WENN)
Vietnam war epic Apocalypse Now has been named the greatest film of the past 25 years by a panel of 50 British critics and film writers. Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 classic, starring Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen, beat next best Raging Bull, and Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander came in third place. The survey was conducted by Sight and Sound magazine, and was open to all films dating from January 1978 - excluding many favorite movies, including Star Wars. Nick James, editor of Sight and Sound, says, "As film history now spans over 100 years it's almost impossible to compile a list of top films. In this new poll we wanted to free people up from choosing the established classics like Citizen Kane and let them concentrate on recent cinema." A Sight and Sound poll to find the best film of all time in August this year was dominated by films from the first half of the century, with Kane topping the list.

Sight and Sound's greatest films of the past 25 years: 1. Apocalypse Now (1979); .2 Raging Bull (1980); 3. Fanny and Alexander (1982); 4. GoodFellas (1990); 5. Blue Velvet (1986); 6. Do the Right Thing (1989); 7. Blade Runner (1982); 8. Chungking Express (1994); 9. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988); 10. (tie) Once Upon a Time in America (1983), Yi Yi (A One and a Two...) (1999).

Winona Ryder Jury Includes Producer
28 October 2002 (WENN)
The jury in Winona Ryder's alleged shoplifting case should at least know who the actress is - one of them is her former boss. Several of the jurors, sworn in on Friday, work in the entertainment industry and among them is former Sony Entertainment Pictures Chairman Peter Guber. During his tenure, Sony released the 1992 Francis Ford Coppola thriller Dracula, in which Ryder starred. Lawyers on both sides accepted the eight-woman, four-man panel after questioning whether their occupations might prevent them from being fair. Defense attorney Mark Geragos asked them whether the fact Ryder is "pretty and rich" would prejudice her in their eyes. No one answered affirmatively. Addressing the former Sony executive, he said, "Mr. Guber, you're not afraid of working in this town again if you get on this case, are you?" There was laughter in the courtroom as Guber answered, "No." Other jurors included a legal secretary who works at Sony Studios, a man who is involved in program development for television and a doctor the judge said he knew from the local Rotary Club. Heathers star Ryder, 30, was arrested last December at a Saks Fifth Avenue store for allegedly stealing nearly $5,000 worth of designer merchandise. She could face up to three years in prison if convicted of three counts of grand theft, second-degree burglary and vandalism. She denies all the charges. Opening statements are to begin tomorrow.

Zagat Guide Names 'The Godfather' Number One
23 September 2002 (WENN)
The first Movie Guide compiled by America's top restaurant survey tip book Zagat has named The Godfather as the best film of all time. The 1971 Francis Ford Coppola gangster epic beat Casablanca and Star Wars in the new book, which lists the best 1,000 movies - as rated by over 5,000 polled moviegoers. The movie's sequel also features in the definitive top 10. The book also lists moviegoers' most annoying cinema peeves, with people talking during films and high ticket prices topping the list. The top 10 films in the new Zagat guide are: 1. The Godfather; 2. Casablanca; 3. Star Wars; 4. Gone With The Wind; 5. The Shawshank Redemption; 6. Braveheart; 7. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring; 8. Citizen Kane; 9. Godfather Part II; 10. Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Lucas and Coppola's Fantastic Journey
24 August 2002 (WENN)
Movie makers George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola went on a mammoth trip this summer - a 2,719 mile train ride across Canada. Lucas, the maker of the Star Wars saga, and Coppola, director of The Godfather series and Apocalypse Now, rented a vintage train for the six- day vacation which cost the heavyweight pair upwards of $600,000. The duo, friends for more than 30 years, left Toronto on August 13 with their families on the chartered Royal Canadian Pacific train for the week-long trip to Vancouver. The train features three luxury cars with four bedrooms and three members of staff per passenger.

Al Pacino's Godfather Blunders
10 May 2002 (WENN)
Al Pacino is amazed he kept his role in movie classic The Godfather - because he proved useless at several points in the shoot. The Hollywood legend got his big break playing Michael Corleone in the 1972 Oscar-winner - only his third feature film - but he says he almost blew it on location in Sicily. Pacino told an audience at this week's New York tribute to director Francis Ford Coppola that his first problem came when Coppola asked him to chat up some Sicilian extras. Al replied, "But I don't speak Italian!" He then tripped up when required to dance a traditional wedding waltz during a marriage scene. He confessed to Coppola, "I can't waltz!" Then came the final challenge when the newlyweds had to make their getaway by car. Pacino explains, "I said, 'But I don't drive!' Francis said, 'Why did I pick you?!'"

Scorsese Wants Liv Tyler As Leading Lady
3 May 2002 (WENN)
Martin Scorsese is in talks with Hollywood actress Liv Tyler to star in his next film. The American Goodfellas director wants Tyler to play the title role in his biopic about '50s pin-up Bettie Page. Scorsese is developing a script, and is said to be aiming to recruit Francis Ford Coppola to produce the drama next spring.

Coppola: Hollywood Fails To Respond To 9/11 Challenge
14 March 2002 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola has criticized Hollywood for failing to tackle subjects like terrorism and violence in bolder ways than it has in the past following the Sept. 11 attacks. In an interview with the BBC World Service, Coppola said that he had been "hopeful that such a historical event would bring about films of greater content that tried to shed light on human contemporary life ... [and] that would be more useful to people to try to understand how to live together." Coppola indicated that he had put his own film, Megalopolis, on hold following the attacks, since it dealt in part with a Soviet satellite falling to earth and demolishing a part of New York. "It took me a while to really scratch my head and think, 'well, how am I going to deal with this?'" he said. "I believe I've come up with a way to approach it now."

Coppola In Thailand To Rework Epic Drama
28 February 2002 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola arrived in Bangkok Wednesday to supervise the reediting of the lavish historical drama Suriyothai, directed by Prince M.C. Chatrichalerm Yugala. An immense success in Thailand and a hit on the international festival circuit, the film, produced originally as an eight-hour TV miniseries, then shortened to three hours for a theatrical release, is expected to be additionally compressed by Coppola, who has known the director since they were students at UCLA thirty years ago. A spokeswoman for the prince's production company, Promit Productions, said that Coppola "arrived early this morning and would like to work on the film for a few weeks before scheduling a meeting with the media." Earlier reports said that it was not clear whether the film will re-released internationally by Coppola's Zoetrope company or whether a separate international distributor will be sought.

Coppola May Release Thai Epic In U.S.
19 November 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola is in advanced talks to oversee a re-edit of the Thai epic Suriyothai, according to the British trade publication Screen International. The $14-million film, about a legendary Thai queen who was killed defending her country against Portuguese and Burmese invaders in the 16th century, closed the Pusan International Film Festival on Saturday. Directed by Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol, a classmate of Coppola's in film school 30 years ago, Suriyothai currently runs three hours and five minutes. (It originally ran eight hours.) Coppola is expected to shorten it further and perhaps reshoot certain scenes. "It was always in my mind to do an international version. Western audiences are less interested in the details of Thai history and would prefer to see it as a cultural experience and entertainment," Prince Chatrichalerm told Screen International.

Bruce Jets Into Britain To Steal The Show
23 October 2001 (WENN)
Bruce Willis is flying in the face of fears about air travel by jetting over to Britain for the premiere of his movie Bandits. Bruce will take center stage on November 15th at the screening of his latest blockbuster at the London Film Festival, where he'll be joined by director Barry Levinson and co-star Cate Blanchett. The 16-day event aims to give a snapshot of the best in world cinema, with premieres from 46 different countries. Stars expected at the festival include Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola, Kristin Scott Thomas, Kevin Spacey, Martin Sheen, Michael Caine and Helena Bonham Carter.

Coppola Used Real Horse's Head
17 October 2001 (WENN)
Acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola used a real horse head in a shocking scene in movie The Godfather. The memorable movie scene shows a Hollywood tycoon waking up to find the severed animal part beside him in his bed. Movie fans assumed the bloody head was a fake but animal-rights activists believed it was the real thing and bombarded Coppola with letters alleging a horse had been slaughtered merely to give the film added realism. Now, in the recently-released Godfather DVD Collection, Coppola admits he used a real head. "It came from a slaughterhouse where horses were being destroyed for dog food," he says.

Al Pacino's Brush With God
12 September 2001 (WENN)
Al Pacino's greatest moment as an actor came when he got to do his first scene opposite Marlon Brando in The Godfather - because Brando is God. Pacino, who idolises Brando, says the experience of acting with him was one he'll never forget. He says, "Have you any idea what it was like to be doing a scene with him? I sat in the theatres when I was a kid just watching him. Now I'm playing a scene with him. He's God man." He adds, "There's no doubt every time I see Brando that I'm looking at a great actor. Whether he's doing great acting or not, you're seeing somebody who is in the tradition of the great actor. "What he does with it, that's something else, but he's got it all, the talent, the instrument is there, that's why he endured." And Pacino, who was a virtual unknown when Francis Ford Coppola cast him in the role as Michael Corleone, says the studios were convinced he'd be a disaster. He says, "They said I was too meek and mild for the part. But when we finished the movie, the same people who were against me and put me down whenever they could were all for me."

Pacino Struggled To Be In The Godfather
11 September 2001 (WENN)
Al Pacino was screen-tested five times before finally getting the part of Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Then a little-known stage actor, the Hollywood legend became so fed up he even begged director Francis Ford Coppola not to put him through any more tests. He says, "I think they wanted a movie star, which I absolutely was not. But to make it worse, I screen-tested on a scene that didn't really allow me to show my chops. I kept thinking, 'This is ridiculous. These people don't want me, and I don't want to be around when they feel that away. Besides, I think they might be right.' At one point, I just begged Francis, 'No more auditions, no more screen tests. I can live without this part.'" The studio thought Pacino was too meek and mild for the part, and the method acting star has never forgiven them. He adds, "When we finished the movie, the same people who were against me and put me down whenever they could were all for me. But then they couldn't understand why I didn't want anything to do with them."

Roman Coppola Grateful For Family Connections
17 August 2001 (WENN)
Roman Coppola is grateful for being a member of such a famous family because it helped when he made his first film. Coppola is the son of Apocalypse Now director Francis Ford Coppola and brother of Sofia Coppola, who helmed The Virgin Suicides. Roman's first film, CQ, screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival this month. He said, "To me it's just a help, I've always been so proud to be connected to my family. I've always been involved in projects, I've helped on dad's movies, and he was one of the producers in this movie." Roman says his father offered him advice while he was making CQ, "Dad wasn't present during the film-making, but during the casting and editing he'd give his opinion of things. The biggest thing was that his company got the money together to make this movie." CQ stars Jeremy Davies and Gerard Depardieu. Roman says he always wanted to have an international cast.

Apocalypse Arrives With A Roar
15 August 2001 (StudioBriefing)
The new director's cut of Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 war drama Apocalypse Now, renamed Apocalypse Now Redux, is attracting sell-out crowds at virtually all the 19 theaters in which it is being shown in the U.S. and Canada. According to Exhibitor Relations, it earned $620,802 during the first four days of its release and averaged $3,147 per theater on Monday.Over the weekend it averaged $20,202, versus $14,730 for the No. 1 film, American Pie 2. The film pulled in the biggest crowds in Toronto, where it is playing on one regular screen and one IMAX screen, earning $39,850 during the Friday-Sunday period.

Coppola Itching To Make New Movie
26 July 2001 (WENN)
Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola is desperate to make another blockbuster movie - because he needs the cash. The Godfather maker admits he is worried about losing money if his next film is a flop - but he insists he'll carry on making movies anyway. He says, "I'm looking for that next, great, wild movie. I'm ready, and I want to do it again. "But it's harder to do that today because of middle management in the Hollywood system. They make so much money. A studio head gets $30 million at the end of the year. That kind of money makes them afraid to take chances, because they are driven by corporate bosses who want only to get the stock prices up, and keep them up. It's more difficult to take chances today, but I'm sure ready to do it."

Coppola Says Apocalypse Now Couldn't Have Been Made Today
25 July 2001 (StudioBriefing)
With some reviewers suggesting that Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now Redux may be the best movie of the summer -- despite the fact that it is a reedited version of his 1979 film -- Coppola is suggesting that in today's Hollywood it would be unlikely that he or anyone else could make such a film. In an interview with New York Daily News columnist Mitchell Fink, Coppola blamed the "middle management in the Hollywood system." He told Fink: "They make so much money. A studio head gets $30 million at the end of the year. That kind of money makes them afraid to take chances, because they are driven by corporate bosses who want only to get the stock prices up, and keep them up. It's more difficult to take chances today, but I'm sure ready to do it." In a separate interview with Daily Variety, Coppola said that he is prepared to finance his next film, Megalopolis, himself. It is budgeted at about $65 million, but Coppola remarked, "It will look like $120 million."

$80 Million -- Easy Come, Easy Go
19 July 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Fulfilling Francis Ford Coppola's own prediction in 1998 that there could be "many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip," before the case was over, the California Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to hear Coppola's appeal of two lower-court rulings that effectively threw out a jury's award of $80 million to him in his long-running battle with Warner Bros. over a live-action version of Pinocchio.Coppola had claimed in his original suit that Warner's had blocked his efforts to take the project to Columbia by falsely asserting that it had an exclusive deal with the director.

Coppola Going On The Road
22 June 2001 (WENN)
Legendary Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola is reportedly set to turn the classic Beat novel On The Road into a movie. The novel was written by Jack Kerouac in 1950, but has never been made into a film. Coppola bought the film rights to the book some years ago, but has only just found a suitable director, Joel Schumacher. Brad Pitt is reportedly being wooed to play the main role of Dean Moriarty, who was based on real-life Beatnik and car thief Neal Cassady. News of the movie comes at a time of renewed interest in the 50s Beat Generation, which also included writer William Burroughs and poet Allen Ginsberg.

On The Road Is On Its Way
14 June 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Jack Kerouac's beat-generation classic On the Road may be on the road to a film production, the British website Popcorn.co.uk is reporting. Without citing sources, the website said that the film will be produced by Francis Ford Coppola, that it will star Brad Pitt and Billy Crudup, and that it will be directed by Joel Schumacher.

Coppola: "I Hate The Movie Industry"
14 May 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola suggested over the weekend that the original 1979 version of Apocalypse Now represented a compromise between commerce and art. In an interview at the Cannes Film Festival with the International Herald Tribune, Coppola said that he had personally been forced to guarantee the budget of the film. "The truth is, Apocalypse wouldn't have been made if I hadn't put up the money. ... The same is true today: you can't do anything unless it makes money. These people are not in the movie business, they're in the money business." Coppola added: "I hate the movie industry. If you ever want to know who runs the world, just look at who is employing the artists." Meanwhile, Coppola's new version of Apocalypse, lengthened by about an hour, is receiving mixed reaction from critics attending the festival. Andrew O'Hagan, writing in today's (Monday) London Daily Telegraph, commented that the original version "managed to be good despite being a mess, but Coppola's new version doesn't really address the mess, preferring to add scenes of a superfluous nature, which hold up the action." However, today's New York Daily News said that most reviewers attending the festival found the new version "to be an even more satisfying journey" than the original.

Gidget On Stage?
11 May 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola is planning to mount the 1959 Sandra Dee movie Gidget on London's West End as a stage musical. Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, which is showing a re-edited version of his Apocalypse Now tonight (Friday), Coppola told reporters that he had originally written the musical for a performance by students at the High School of Performing arts in Orange County, CA. "I thought it would be nice to take it and do it in London ... as soon as I have seven or eight weeks free." Coppola, who has made waves in Hollywood with many of his controversial films, did not explain how he intends to make waves on the stage for the story about a surfer girl.

Coppola Lengthens Apocalypse Now
10 May 2001 (WENN)
Francis Ford Coppola will show a re-cut version of his classic movie Apocalypse Now at the Cannes Film Festival. The filmmaker and winemaker has always dismissed the Oscar-winning movie as a work in progress, despite its runaway cult success. Coppola has now added an extra 54 minutes of footage, bringing the run time up to 3 hours and 16 minutes.

Miramax To Distribute Apocalypse Now Redux
23 March 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Miramax said Thursday that it has acquired the rights to distribute Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now Redux, the 3-hour-and-17-minute director's cut of the 1979 classic (53 minutes longer than the original). In a statement, Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein said, "The new footage seems strongly prescient and insightful today and elevates the picture's already considerable stature dramatically." Coppola said in the same news release, "The film is funnier, sexier, more romantic, more political, and more bizarre, with more historical perspective [than the original]. ... It will be as if it's being presented for the first time." The movie is due to debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May and to be distributed nationally in the fall.

Coppola Re-edits, Lengthens Apocalypse Now
27 February 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola said Monday that he will screen a completely re-edited and expanded version of his 1979 film Apocalypse Now at the Cannes Film Festival in May. In an interview with Reuters in Paris, Coppola said that the film will be 53 minutes longer than the original and is "a more disturbing, sometimes funnier and more romantic film, whose historical perspective has become more forceful." Festival president Gilles Jacob said that Coppola will attend the screening but that a date has not yet been set.

Zemeckis To Receive Golden Eddie
11 December 2000 (WENN)
Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis will receive the American Cinema Editors' filmmaker of the year award. Zemeckis is best known for his work on Forrest Gump (1994), which won the Oscar for best picture. He has also directed Contact (1997), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and the Back to the Future (1985) trilogy. The award, known as the Golden Eddie honors those in the film industry who have made "significant contributions to the advancement of motion pictures." Steven Spielberg will present the award to Zemeckis on February 25th in Beverly Hills Past recipients include Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

Caan Bites The Hand That Feeds Him
30 October 2000 (WENN)
Tough talking actor James Caan blasts the current trend in Hollywood for directors becoming celebrities. Caan, 61, is currently starring opposite Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron in Yards, The (2000) but claims he isn't so impressed with the film world. Most of his wrath is aimed at modern-day directors who "want to be the star of the movie more than anybody else. They don't want to distract from that. So they hire people who are average." However, Caan refuses to name names: "I could give you 24 examples, but I can't 'cos I'd get into trouble." Caan praises director James Gray (I), whom Caan describes as a "young Francis Ford Coppola" because "he has a vision and knows actors and actresses. I mean, Francis loves actors." Of actors, Caan reckons most of them won't be remembered in the long run. He says it isn't about the acting any more, but "the spaceships and the explosions. You can't remember a character in any of that s***. There is a difference between wanting to work and having to work. Sometimes I have to work. I have found that the scripts that I want to do are usually independent movies, but they haven't got much money, so I have to do other stuff. But I like young guys who will not cave in to the bull****, the digital things... oh God, the computers - they drive you nuts."

Coppolas Keep It In The Family
2 October 2000 (WENN)
Francis Ford Coppola'S American Zoetrope production company will be busy this autumn working on the directing debut of Francis' son Roman Coppola. The younger Coppola also wrote the screenplay of C.Q. (2001), which tells of a young American film-maker in Paris in the late 1960s who takes over directing a low-budget sci-fi movie set in the year 2000. Coppola Jr., a graduate of New York University's film school, has mostly directly music videos to date, but as a teenager he worked on his father's films in various production capacities, and directed visual effects and second-unit shooting of Dracula (1992). "We believe in giving the young people some real responsibility early on, " Coppola said. "It's time to go out there on the high wire and the family will support him." Apparently Sofia Coppola - whose film debut Virgin Suicides, The (1999) was widely acclaimed on its release earlier this year - gave her brother key casting help, repaying him for contributions on her film. Meanwhile their mother Eleanor is filming a documentary about the making of C.Q. (2001).

The Fantastic Journey Of The Fantasticks
21 September 2000 (StudioBriefing)
The movie version of The Fantasticks, the longest-running show in New York (it opened in May 1960), will finally be released theatrically by MGM on Friday, after being shelved for five years, the New York Daily News reported today (Thursday). The newspaper credited Francis Ford Coppola with rescuing the film, saying that he agreed to take a look at it and make some editing suggestions. His advice, said director Michael Ritchie, "was a revelation." Coppola is a member the MGM board of directors.

Salma Hayek And Edward Norton Cement Love On Big Screen
21 September 2000 (WENN)
Salma Hayek and Edward Norton are set to cement their love on the big screen. Hayek is going head-to-head against fellow Latino beauty Jennifer Lopez in getting a biopic of Mexican painter FRIDA KAHLO to the big screen. Amongst the impressive list of cast members joining Hayek's project are Antonio Banderas, Ashley Judd, and her off-screen beau Norton. Banderas, who co-starred with Hayek in Desperado, has agreed to star in the supporting role of David Siqueiros, a painter, while Judd will play Tina Modotti an Italian photographer who was part of Kahlo's social circle, with Norton portraying the politician Nelson Rockefeller The rival Kahlo project, starring sexy Lopez, also has some big guns on board, with Francis Ford Coppola producing.

Coppola Celebrates 25 Years In Wine
20 September 2000 (WENN)
Top director Francis Ford Coppola has celebrated 25 years of winemaking - with a huge party at his vineyard in the Napa Valley, Northern California. Daughter Sofia Coppola, son-in-law Spike Jonze and wife Eleanor joined 400 guests for a two day celebration, including extensive wine tasting from the last ten years, a gala dinner, and an outdoor screening of Coppola's One from the Heart (1982) - which Francis introduced as "his biggest flop." In 1975, Coppola went looking for a little summer cottage in Napa Valley where he could escape Hollywood, write and spend time with his family. He purchased 1, 560 acres of the Inglenook Estate with the profits from Godfather, The (1972), buying the rest of the estate, including the Inglenook chateau in 1995. But Coppola modestly claims, "I'm not certainly a winemaker. I wouldn't have the skill or the experience to be a winemaker, so I'm more of a ringleader in that I try to set the goals for the winery... When we began, we conceded in 1975 that we didn't know a lot about winemaking and so our approach was to crush the grapes and leave them alone."

Priscilla Presley Joins MGM Board
12 September 2000 (StudioBriefing)
MGM expanded the size of its board of directors to 11 Monday to include Priscilla Presley, the actress and widow of Elvis Presley. In a statement, Alex Yemenidjian, chairman and CEO of the company, cited Presley's "enterprising approach to business, coupled with her comprehensive understanding of our industry." Other board members include primary investor Kirk Kerkorian, director Francis Ford Coppola, former MGM studio chief Frank Mancuso and former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, according to a news release distributed by the company.

Robert Duvall Tangos To Keep Fit Every Day
27 June 2000 (WENN)
Actor Robert Duvall can't keep his feet still after learning to tango. The Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) actor says he dances every single day and is even making a movie about it. He explains, "I practice the tango every single day. I'm working on a tango movie right now called Assassination Tango. It's about social dancing clubs. Francis Ford Coppola is producing it and I'm directing... I used to go to social dancing clubs and the first time I did the tango, he was in the audience so we've come a full circle."

Sofia Coppola Lends Prom Dress To Kirsten Dunst
2 May 2000 (WENN)
Director Sofia Coppola is helping out the star of her debut movie Kirsten Dunst by lending her a dress for the 18-year-old's prom night. Dunst, who plays a distraught homecoming queen in Virgin Suicides, The (1999), will be attending her own high school graduation early next month. The daughter of legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia, says, "I'm helping Kirsten with her prom dress. I have told her she can look through my closet and borrow anything she wants as it is such a big night."

Coppola Loses Contact Lawsuit
14 April 2000 (StudioBriefing)
A Los Angeles judge has tossed out Francis Ford Coppola's lawsuit against Warner Bros. and the estate of Carl Sagan, ruling that the statute of limitations on the suit had run out. Coppola had charged that he had originally come up with the idea for a TV show called First Contact and had a contract with Sagan to develop a script. Instead, he claimed, Sagan developed a book, Contact, based on the idea, which later became a Warner Bros. movie.

Caan Denies Godfather Iv Report
6 August 1999 (StudioBriefing)
James Caan has described as "baloney" continued reports that he will costar with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Godfather Part IV. In an interview with syndicated columnist Cindy Pearlman, Caan said, "The Hollywood Reporter, which started this whole thing, originally called Francis Ford Coppola]. He said another Godfather sequel wasn't true, and then this reporter said, 'Well, we know different. We know it from a reliable source.' How much more reliable can you be about The Godfather than Francis, who directed these movies?"

Godfather Iv?
21 June 1999 (StudioBriefing)
A fourth Godfather movie from writer Mario Puzo and producer-director Francis Ford Coppola is in the works, the Hollywood Reporter reported today (Monday). The trade paper, citing unnamed sources, said that Andy Garcia and Leonardo DiCaprio have already agreed to star in the new film. Contacted by the Reporter on Friday, Coppola "remained coy" about his involvement in the project, the trade paper said.

Coppola To Direct A TV Commercial
14 May 1999 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola has agreed to direct a commercial for his favorite coffee, Illycaffé, Advertising Age reported today (Friday). The trade paper said that the spot will begin airing on Italian TV next month. A spokesman for the Trieste-based coffee company said that Coppola even makes an appearance in the "movielike" ad.

Lucas' Friends Chime In
6 April 1999 (StudioBriefing)
Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma are among an elite group of people for whom George Lucas has screened The Phantom Menace, the Calgary Sun reported Monday. In an interview with the newspaper, Lucas indicated that, based on their comments, he is making several changes in the film. "They're friends whom I trust and quite frankly they were blown away, but you never know, " Lucas was quoted as saying. Today's (Tuesday) USA Today, however, reports that Ron Howard is denying that he told the Sun that the film has "a problem." Howard told USA, "It's so far from having a problem, I'm green with envy." In the Sun article, Lucas indicated that he probably will continue to make minor alterations to the film right up to its release date on May 19.

Kurosawa Restoration Project Announced
15 December 1998 (StudioBriefing)
A U.S.-Japanese effort being organized to restore the English-subtitled versions of Akira Kurosawa's movies has garnered support from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Japan Foundation and about 30 individuals including Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Susan Sarandon and Warren Beatty, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported today (Tuesday).

Coppola Sets Up Online Screenwriters Workshop
16 November 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Screenplays site has had 125 screenplays submitted to it since it went online a month ago, Wired News reported Friday. The site requires each writer who submits a screenplay to read and review four others. This "workshop" concept, Coppola told the online news service, "provides useful feedback, comments and evaluation." In the end he observed, an editorial staff only needs to look at the top-rated screenplays.

Actor Has High Praise For Coppola's Daughter
15 October 1998 (StudioBriefing)
James Woods, who co-stars with Kathleen Turner in the upcoming Virgin Suicides, The (1999), written and directed by Sofia Coppola, has given the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola high marks for her work on the film. Noting that Sofia was derided for her performance in The Godfather Part III, Woods told syndicated columnist Cindy Pearlman, "Now the joke is going to be on everyone else, because she has written this unbelievably beautiful screenplay... and she turned out to be one of the best directors I've ever worked with, ever. So all the naysayers who slammed her when she was a teenager because her father put her in a movie, will finally get to shut up."

Judge Reverses Part Of Award To Coppola
15 October 1998 (StudioBriefing)
A Los Angeles judge Wednesday overturned a jury's award of $60 million in punitive damages to director Francis Ford Coppola in his suit against Warner Bros. An award of $20 million in compensatory damages was allowed to stand. Coppola said he plans to appeal the decision.

Coppola Is Awarded Another $60 Million
10 July 1998 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola, who had already been awarded $20 million in compensatory damages last week in his lawsuit against Warner Bros. over a proposed live-action Pinocchio film, was awarded an additional $60 million in punitive damages Thursday by an L.A. Superior Court jury. Afterwards, Coppola commented to reporters, "I feel sorry for the Warner Bros. shareholders, but studio cochairmen Terry Semel and Bob Daly need to be taught a lesson about how to treat creative talent. ... Hopefully, this will teach them to treat creative people as an asset, not as serfs." A statement issued by the studio described the award as "simply ludicrous" and promised an appeal.

Jimminy Cricket! Coppola Awarded $20 Million
3 July 1998 (StudioBriefing)
A Los Angeles jury Thursday awarded Francis Ford Coppola $20 million in compsatory damages in his breach-of-contract suit against Warner Bros. over its decision to scrap plans to produce his version of Pinocchio. The studio had claimed that it dropped the project after Coppola's budget exceeded $100 million and when the director agreed to terminate the deal. Jurors are to decide punitive damages on Monday. Warner Bros. said that the decision will be appealed.

Shining Reviews For Rainmaker
21 November 1997 (StudioBriefing)
Of the weekend's new openers, by far the best reviews are going to Rainmaker, The (1997), directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Judy Gerstel in the Toronto Star says that Coppola brings "warmth and heart" to a John Grisham tale for the first time. "Coppola really shows his mastery, " she writes. "Handsomely crafted populist stuff, " Jay Carr calls the movie in the Boston Globe. "It's a pleasure to watch, " comments Newsday's Jack Mathews. And the New York Times' Janet Maslin calls Rainmaker "Coppola's best and sharpest film in years, " Like virtually every other critic, Maslin applauds the individual performances, and credits Coppola with "graceful, unembellished direction." Combined, she concludes, they result in "a rich, lifelike texture for the whole film."

Panned Mafia Flick Is Joker For Cbs
19 November 1997 (StudioBriefing)
CBS Entertainment chief Les Moonves seemed particularly pleased with the strong ratings performance of the critically panned Bella Mafia against Batman Forever (1995). The fact that Batman scored only an 8.3 rating, Moonves told today's (Wednesday) New York Times, "throws a lot of these expensive deals for theatrical movies into some question." Moonves also indicated that the network is considering mounting a "Mafia series." He told the Times: "We even have an idea in development with Francis Ford Coppola. He has a great idea for a kind of Mafia soap opera."

Coppola Can Drink To His Movies
10 November 1997 (StudioBriefing)
Francis Ford Coppola used profits from Godfather, The (1972) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) to purchase a Napa Valley estate and a vineyard that has become the location of the area's largest winery, the London Daily Telegraph reported Sunday. At a chateau on the property, Coppola has created a private museum including Don Corleone's chair and desk from The Godfather, costumes from Dracula, and storyboards from Apocalypse Now (1979). Coppola's five Oscars are also displayed, the newspaper said.