comment #1

Josh Massey says ...

This is coming from the director of Jack?

comment #2

le corbeau says ...

Gee, the fat of the land comment is a little too easy a target coming from a guy who owns a winery in Napa... I'd say that Nicholson proved this isn't strictly true by doing About Schmidt, for one.

comment #3

DarthCorleone says ...

I have not read the article, but nowhere in this excerpt does Coppola give himself an exemption from the phenomenon. Maybe this is a case of pot and kettle, but I bet Coppola would admit that his own hunger has waned over the years.

comment #4

Dave says ...

I'm with DarthC-- FFC can spot it because he knows it.

It's easy to get lazy in life once you've succeeded. After all, that's why we chase success, isn't it? How many people want to earn a million dollars so they can stay doing what they're doing now? With few exceptions, it's human nature to chase success only because it offers you such wonderful opportunities to phone it in once you've arrived.

Pacino, De Niro and Nicholson are all greats, but *of course* age and success limit, even eliminate, creative hunger and risk-taking. It's not just true for artists, but for everyone.

comment #5

Ray says ...

From this article, this is what I think about Coppola's comments:

Let’s make this perfectly clear. Coppola has, in the last ten years, directed exactly two movies: the upcoming Youth Without Youth, and the shitty Rainmaker. Not exactly an amazing tapestry of creative output. To make matters worse, he has executive produced stunning crap like Jeepers Creepers, and … wait for it … Jeepers Creepers 2.

Perhaps he’s not the best judge of career integrity and passion.

These three fine actors are being unfairly judged by a man that cashed in his one true masterpiece - The two Godfather films - with a second sequel so horrible and pointless that its only useful function was to print money upon its release. This is a director so whorish for a hit that he poorly adapted The Outsiders in order to desperately appeal to kids, and Dracula in order to appeal to the popcorn crowd.

Gimme a break, Coppola.

The man’s big-nosed lezbo daughter has shown more talent, integrity, and passion than her father has shown with anything outside of a big plate of pasta con broccoli in the last twenty-five years.

Instead of questioning the integrity DeNiro, Pacino, and Nicholson, perhaps Coppola should look into that nasty mirror along with the seventies directors like himself who once believed in directorial passion and integrity. Coppola has sold himself out. Steven Spielberg did that long ago, only to struggle to find it later in his career. And George Lucas has spent the last twenty five years making the same damn toy commercial over and over again.

The truth hurts, doesn’t it Francis? Clean the shit out of your own underwear before you start bitching about someone else’s smell, you fat fuck.

comment #6

Geoff says ...

Coppola is a big fat lazy prick who suffers from his own success syndrome. Part I, Part II and The Conversation. What else of his even comes close to this? What an asshole.

comment #7

Geoff says ...

Ah shit....Apocalypse Now. But still, we're talking a good 20 years here.

comment #8

christian says ...

I think losing a son might have a litle bit to do with stalling out on career ambitions.

comment #9

Tim says ...

Nicholson has proven occasionally that it's not all about the paycheck. About Schmidt, The Pledge, The Crossing Guard, Ironweed. I don't know if I'd call those flicks "living off the fat of the land."

Deniro however? Apparently willing to work for anything lately. Stardust, Hide & Seek, Godsend, City by the Sea, Showtime, 15 Minutes, Rocky & Bullwinkle...

I just threw up.

comment #10

a1 says ...

Two words of advice for Coppola when it comes to complaining about other people living off the "fat of the land".

STOP WINING.

comment #11

Mark says ...

Right. So we all get old and then we can't hack it anymore. Is that it? That's your theory?

p.s. here's a little known movie fact. 98% of all great directors peak with their 2nd movie. (i still have hope though for There Will Be Blood.)

comment #12

colby says ...

It took me longer than I would like to admit to figure out why the DVD of Stay Hungry attached to this article. Either way, that film has one of my favorite scenes with the whole crew of 70's bodybuilders running through the city streets and posing on top of buses.

comment #13

calvados says ...

Maybe you're unaware but Coppola had to do those films. He made a big gamble starting up his own production company (Zeotrope) and lost all his money on "One From The Heart". He was so in debt that he spent the next 15 years making completely for the studios. It was not his choice to do so. I don't believe that DeNiro, Nicholson or Pacino have ever had that excuse.

comment #14

MAGGA says ...

Again I get offended on behalf of someone else, but stop sticking Spielberg in with the washed-out crowd. The work he has done in the last ten years alone includes four Private Ryan, A.I, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can, the first half of WOTW AND Munich. Show me ONE director with this kind of ambition working today! As for Coppola, yes it looks strange when someone whose career has had suck a decline for decades to say these things, but with the exception of Pacino, who did Angels In America and The Insider amongst other things in the last decade, I believe his beliefs are accurate.

comment #15

MilkMan says ...

De Niro has nothing to prove. He was great in Heat and Casino, and that was back in 95.

Pacino seems a little mentally unstable to me, so you have to cut him some slack.

Jack Nicholson struggled to make it in Hollywood for over a decade before he became the entity we know as Jack Nicholson, and then had a remarkable run up until, I'd say Terms of Endearment. He likes to smoke dope and eat big meals and hang around with his friends and collect art and fuck bimbos. Why would he be hungry? He's already stuffed.

Coppola, to me, out of all the directors that came to prominence in the 70s, is by far the biggest disappointment. He simply gave up after Apocalypse Now, and that was over 30 years ago. He thought his legend was cemented and I'm not quite sure if it was. The movies will live on, but I don't think his reputation will. I think he'll be seen as having an amazing creative surge and then retreating into a vino-induced haze of sloth. And I think he knows this and that's why he's taking shots at other people and I think that it's telling that he's taking shots at actors instead of other directors like Bogdonavich (watched Paper Moon last night and I mean, seriously, what the fuck happened to that guy? His life story is going to be very interesting when it's over. I think he's the greatest flameout ever) or Friedkin, although I would argue on Friedkin's behalf that Friedkin is the better filmmaker than Coppola if you just take into account what people consider to be their masterpieces (Godfather I and II, The Conversation & Apocalypse Now vs. French Connection, Exorcist, Sorcerer & To Live and Die in L.A.).

And by the way, why is Sofia Coppola a lezbo? I don't understand. She can write and direct and I also happen to think she's beautiful.

comment #16

arch451 says ...

Does Coppola realize he is describing himself as much as Pacino, De Niro, and Nicholson?

comment #17

calvados says ...

He didn't believe "his legend was cemented" (Which actually it was), he was in debt and had no choice.

comment #18

gatsby1040 says ...

1. These are excerpts. Maybe we should read the whole article before we decide if he's being an asshole or not.

2. Godfather I, II, Conversation, and Apocalypse? Those are four mind-blowing masterpieces. Add the uneven but very interesting One From the Heart, Rumble Fish, Outsiders and Dracula and you've got a career that bests anyone from the seventies, except maybe Marty.

3. Friedkin better than Coppola? HA! The guy's entire filmography doesn't come close to even the first 20 minutes of The Godfather. If Friedkin ever made a film as daring as One From the Heart, he'd be considered a true artist, instead of the chronic sensationalist, tabloid-photographer he'll forever be known as.

comment #19

arch451 says ...

To say he was somehow forced to make studio films is no excuse. Many great movies have come out of the studio system.

comment #20

calvados says ...

Well, of course they have. My point is that he didn't have the options to do films that he actually wanted to. A film like "Youth Without Youth" is clearly a film that he truly wants to make. He would never have done something like "Peggy Sue Got Married" if he had had the same clout that he did back in '75.

comment #21

arch451 says ...

A better director would have made "Peggy Sue Got Married" into a visual masterpiece, at least.

comment #22

Jay T. says ...

I think this is a somewhat fair assesment of De Niro, who will do just about anything for a paycheck these days (Rocky and Bullwinkle, REALLY?). However, Pacino and especially Nicholson have still made some creative leaps and given some solid performances over the past decade. I don't think it's realistic to say they should expect to go all out every time, because no one else would in their shoes either.

Oh, and I liked The Rainmaker.

comment #23

RMBurnett says ...

Folks,

The vitriol on display here is astonishing. Francis Ford Coppola made movies not only as a passion, but as a profession as well. He chose to work his way up within the studio system to create two of the greatest Amercian films ever made within that system, then used his success to create perhaps the greatest independent film ever made in Apocalypse Now.
After that film's success he risked everything he had to make One From the Heart. How can anyone fault this kind of passion? Who in Hollywood has ever taken on these kind of risks (besides, of course, George Lucas, who's self-financed practically everything he's made since Empire Strikes Back)?
Then, the eighties and nineties brought The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, Dracula and yes, Godfather III, a very fine film in it's own right, although clearly not the masterstrokes of the first. Then, there's the many films he presented and or produced, including The Black Stallion, Koyaanisquatsi, Kagemusha, Mishima and The Secret Garden, not to mention the countless television projects he's been involved with.
Since when is such a career to be faulted? Since when does such a talent deserve to be called a "Fat Fuck?"
Only his wife Elinore has earned the right to call him that.
Seriously, some of the opinions on display here are truly suspect...and clearly those of amateurs.

comment #24

RMBurnett says ...

Folks,

The vitriol on display here is astonishing. Francis Ford Coppola made movies not only as a passion, but as a profession as well. He chose to work his way up within the studio system to create two of the greatest Amercian films ever made within that system, then used his success to create perhaps the greatest independent film ever made in Apocalypse Now.
After that film's success he risked everything he had to make One From the Heart. How can anyone fault this kind of passion? Who in Hollywood has ever taken on these kind of risks (besides, of course, George Lucas, who's self-financed practically everything he's made since Empire Strikes Back)?
Then, the eighties and nineties brought The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, Dracula and yes, Godfather III, a very fine film in it's own right, although clearly not the masterstrokes of the first. Then, there's the many films he presented and or produced, including The Black Stallion, Koyaanisquatsi, Kagemusha, Mishima and The Secret Garden, not to mention the countless television projects he's been involved with.
Since when is such a career to be faulted? Since when does such a talent deserve to be called a "Fat Fuck?"
Only his wife Elinore has earned the right to call him that.
Seriously, some of the opinions on display here are truly suspect...and clearly those of amateurs.

comment #25

calvados says ...

Well said.

comment #26

calvados says ...

Well said, but you forgot "The Conversation".

comment #27

Jay T. says ...

Going over some recent history for Nicholson...

- The Departed (he kind of phoned it in, but it was a good movie and he was still fun to watch).
- Something's Gotta Give (paycheck, and man, I hate Diane Keaton)
- Anger Management (paycheck)
- About Schmidt (great performance)
- The Pledge (art film, great performance)
- As Good As It Gets (great performance, Oscar)

That's it for the last 10 years, so out of 6 movies he gave 3 great performances, 1 that was pretty good, and did 2 paycheck movies. That's really not so bad, in fact, better than most.

As for Pacino, he has some major paycheck roles, but he's also done stuff like Heat (okay, more than 10 years ago), Donnie Brasco, and The Insider... although, since The Insider in '99 he's only given one performance I would call quality (Insomnia).

De Niro was funny in Meet the Parents, but he hasn't given a performance I really admired/liked since maybe Jackie Brown or Ronin. Yeesh...

comment #28

snoop says ...

The idea of this annoys me to no end. First, the general idea that these guys need to be amazingly hungry or whatever, is ludicrous. Their age fluctuates from 65-70... they are in retirement age--obviously the hunger died.

Sitll, I think these guys have all shown they've had impressive hunger, considering their age. Sure they show up in mroe crap and mail it in more than, say, Michael Cain (who took off as an older actor), but still.

Nicholson has a great three-movie run in which he flexed his acting muscles (As Good as it Gets, The Pledge, About Schmidt), before he went for the big time blockbusters of the last few years.

Meanwhile, Pacino is consistently turning out a fantastic performance every few years. In the last decade, he's done Donnie Brasco, The Devil's Advocate (meh movie, but perhaps his best ham performance), The Insider, Insomnia, Angels in America, and The Merchant of Venice (defintiely ambitious role selection there). I mean what do you expect, two great roles every year or something. The guy's in his twilight years.

Last, DeNiro. He's definitely wavered, but he ended the 90s with some great films -- Ronin and Wag the Dog, -- and some very good ones -- Cop Land and Jackie Brown. Hell, even Flawless and Analyze This were enjoyable and allowed him some fresh material. The 2000s are different, but I can't fault him for making The Score (love the cast) and City by the Sea and The Good Shephard weren't bad.

comment #29

DarthCorleone says ...

RMBurnett>> You said it. Considering some of the comments here, I'm embarrassed to even be a part of this thread now.

comment #30

malibugigolo says ...

No one's killed anybody here. Let people live their own lives.

comment #31

Terry McCarty says ...

Re the comment about Peter Bogdanovich:
Let's not pick on him too much. He was good as an actor in THE SOPRANOS. The Hearst/Davies/Chaplin film wasn't bad. I recently finished watching the first half of his Tom Petty documentary RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM--clearly a commissioned-by-others project,but more interesting than I thought it would be.

comment #32

christian says ...

And since it was Coppola himself who told Bill Cannon to sell SKIDOO to Otto Preminger, thus insuring my destiny, I have to say, lay off Francis. He's a cool guy and he appreciates vision and passion. Nothing wrong with that.

By the way, I was interviewed for Foster Hirsch's new Preminger bio. Get yer copy today!

http://www.killfee.net/

comment #33

erniesouchak says ...

1. Let's not forget how good Nicholson was in "A Few Good Men."

2. Who among us hasn't become less hungry with age? I'm 38 and would love to collect an easy paycheck.

3. Comparing American cinema of today to American cinema of these guys' "hungry" years is at the very least phenomenally depressing, if not an exercise in futility. Where are the great films these guys are supposedly turning down? Look at De Niro's run from Mean Streets to Once Upon a Time in America and tell me how anything like that could be accomplished in Hollywood "product" today.

comment #34

Ari says ...

I don't think Coppola's comments were coming from a place of disdain or anything like that. Pacino and De Niro are obviously very close to him. He produced De Niro's The Good Shepherd, btw.

And Coppola didn't give up after Apocalypse Now. His films in the 80s weren't as successful or accomplished as his '70s classics, but movies like The Cotton Club (underrated) and One From the Heart were still ambitious.

But really, he has nothing more to prove as an artist. It doesn't matter if The Godfather I and II, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now were 30 years ago. These are among the finest American films ever made.

comment #35

arch451 says ...

It's funny that the biggest sellout of all, Nicholas Cage, is Coppola's nephew.

comment #36

Mr. Kockum says ...

Then what the hell is driving Eastwood?

Not refuting of Coppola's statement per se, just generally asking.

comment #37

Ray says ...

Hey Burnett - We wouldn't even be talking about Coppola at all if he hadn't opened his fat, cannoli-eatin' mouth and ripped into some prestigious actors.

The point here isn't that Coppola is worthless - nobody ever said that. The point here is that he shouldn't go in print and disparage the declining work of these actors, when his own career has been flagging for DECADES.

Take a reading comprehension course. It will help. Possibly.

comment #38

Wrecktum says ...

You angry numbnuts know that Coppola is really talking about himself here, don't you? Subtext, people.

comment #39

DarthCorleone says ...

Point understood. What I fail to understand, though, is why you need to use phrases like "big-nosed lezbo daughter," "fat fuck," and "fat, cannoli-eatin' mouth" to convey said almighty, enlightened point. Try writing less offensively and perhaps your writing will be worth comprehending.

comment #40

arch451 says ...

But does Coppola know that he is talking about himself?

comment #41

TheJeff says ...

"Two words of advice for Coppola when it comes to complaining about other people living off the "fat of the land".

STOP WINING."

If you're only going to offer to words of advice, couldn't you be bothered to spell them both correctly?

comment #42

TheJeff says ...

Okay so I see that was supposed to be a pun, but it only works if anyone on planet Earth has ever used Wining as a verb to describe winemaking. "Wining" means to drink or entertain with wine.

comment #43

alynch says ...

I'm amazed at just how many people are ignoring the subtext of Coppola's statement. He is definitely lumping himself in with De Niro, Pacino, and Nicholson as someone who lost some of his drive upon reaching success.

comment #44

christian says ...

"STOP WINING."

when i figgered it out i thought it was brilliant.

comment #45

jjgittes says ...

Said it before, I'll say it again : Pacino in "Angels in America" (2003) is jaw droppingly brilliant and it ranks with his best work ever. Add in "Merchant of Venice" the very next year and that's a one-two punch that can stand with anything anyone has done in the last 10 years. Plus look what he has coming up (once you get passed the lame "88 Minutes") : an adaptation of Wilde's "Salome" and playing Salvador Dali - doesn't sound like coasting to me.

Pacino challenges himself every few years and every few years it results in a great performance - anybody see his "Actor's Vision" boxset? It's a revelation how good he is in "Chinese Coffee" (from 2000).

Nicholson is also good to great still when he's inspired. He doesn't take the crap Pacino does, which counts for something although he doesn't stretch himself quite as much either. De Niro has done nothing worth mentioning since HEAT.

Anyway, Coppola didn't even say anything bad. He would probably say it to their faces and laugh while saying it. Big Deal.

And the man directed 4 flat out masterpieces *GF 1 and II, Apocalypse Now and The Conversation which I rank as his best actually), and a whole bunch of other good to very good films. Really "Jack" is the only outright bad film he's made for my money. All his stuff is worth seeing in some way.

His top 4 can stand with anybodys'.

comment #46

DarthCorleone says ...

I thought "STOP WINING" was pretty clever myself.

comment #47

Hallick says ...

"I thought 'STOP WINING' was pretty clever myself."

It's like something from the JUMBLE game in my newspaper: "What the upbraided actors wanted to tell the well-fed director". I can already picture the cartoon with a couple of actors waiting impatiently on stage with Francis standing in the front row and turned round to shout at the audience while pointing back at the cast.

I think I'll go work on the scrambled word portion now.

comment #48

Hallick says ...

Today's Jumble clues:
OPTSO
LISLW
CYBHIT
GANAIN

"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.'"

It's one thing to observe that these guys aren't really hungry anymore; and up to a point, maybe they could even cop to the spirit of that assessment. But to set the line all the way back to the completion of "The Godfather" just makes Coppola sound like a preening ween.

comment #49

malibugigolo says ...

How do you stay hungry?

Try eating something at Cafe Zoetrope or Cafe Niebaum-Coppola up in SF.

One bite and you'll sip water for the rest of the meal.

comment #50

knightrider76 says ...

I feel sorry for Coppola. So sad.

comment #51

Nate West says ...

"Ray: Clean the shit out of your own underwear before you start bitching about someone else’s smell, you fat fuck."

This is ignorant and digusting. Ray, won't you please just go away?

comment #52

Nate West says ...

"Ray: Clean the shit out of your own underwear before you start bitching about someone else’s smell, you fat fuck."

This is ignorant and disgusting. Ray, won't you please just go away?

comment #53

BurmaShave says ...

All you haters make me something as watchable as THE RAINMAKER and then we'll talk.

comment #54

christian says ...

What I love about Coppola is his old school love of showmanship and tenacity. You can see him sitting outside his cafe in SF, chatting up all that come by to say hello. He's a real mensch.

comment #55

D.Z. says ...

The trailer for Youth Without Youth got posted at http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2007/DEFGH/Hitman/trailer.php
. I didn't know Frankie wanted to remake Powder...

comment #56

chicagodad says ...

There's another interesting angle to approach this from.

Coppola's talking about actors who were mavericks in the 70s, and the thread has expanded that conversation to include directors.

Well it'd be interesting to see how hungry the mavericks of oh say, 1942 were in 1970 as these guys came on the scene.

I mean, people and artists change as they get older. It happens....