When the man behind The Godfather came to the Cannes Film Festival in 1979, he brought with him an unfinished cut of his new Vietnam war picture
Apocalypse Now. After a tumultuous, disaster-prone shoot, and with the press baying for his blood, Francis Ford Coppola had something to prove. But, when the film won the Palme d’Or, the doubters were silenced, and a new classic of cinema was born. Now, 40 years on, one of modern moviemaking’s most profound disruptors sits on the veranda of his Napa Valley winery to reflect to MIKE FLEMING JR. about his time at the festival, the philosophy behind his risk-it-all approach to making cinema, and his imminent return to large-scale moviemaking
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA MOMENT OF TRUTH
Above: Coppola with his family at the inaugural Cannes screening of Apocalypse Now on 19th May, 1979. it went on to win the Palme d'Or.
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D E A D L I N E .C O M / AWA R D S L I N E