By: Hermione Eyre / The Telegraph
Translation: Telegrafi.com
Shortly after arriving at Francis Ford Coppola's hotel in the Basilicata region of southern Italy, I came across - by chance - the great director himself working in the hotel's open kitchen. He was wearing a pair of elegant green suits and was chopping vegetables. I stopped, surprised. Had he fallen this far? Word had spread that the great director had sold one of his wineries to raise £90 million [about €104 million] to finance his latest film. megalopolis, and since then there have been reports of him selling off his precious watches and handing over the lease of a private island to “keep the ship afloat.” But working in the kitchen?
Except, of course, that wasn’t the case. He simply had a sudden urge to cook a roast chicken for his guests—with the help of his hotel staff. That evening, he served the peppery brown dish to me and two of his film-maker friends, along with a stream of debate and poetry and, at the end, although no wine was consumed, Noel Coward was sung along. “One day I’ll find you / the moon shines behind you.” He didn’t seem like a man troubled by financial troubles. “I’ve just had some good news,” he said at one point during dinner, glancing at his watch. Apple He didn't say anything more, but he made me understand that it was about his next film project - still unannounced.
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Coppola, 86, is a living legend of cinema. He could have chased me away, or shut me up, as he did when he posed for our photographer, refusing to take off his dark glasses — he prefers to be behind the camera rather than in front of it. But he was surprisingly welcoming and chatty. When I asked him if I could give him a copy of a novel I had written, he pretended to be moved and asked me to write a dedication: “No, not to ‘Mr. Coppola’! Write ‘to Uncle Frank.’”
The lounge at “Palazzo Margherita”, the Coppola family's lovingly restored hotel in BernaldaPhoto: Giovanni Cipriano
I could understand why his actors and crew adored him, working with him again and again, like a family; why they followed him to the forefront, realizing tapping [The Conversation, the 1974 Palme d'Or winner, a terrifying prediction of the Watergate scandal) and to hell and back to make it happen Apocalypse Today [Apocalypse Now, 1979]. His successes have been extreme; his bankruptcies numerous. A common theme of many of the stories he told me was how he circumvented this or that bureaucratic regulation to make a film that had little chance of success.
Politically, he still speaks like a 60s radical. He believes that soon we will no longer have states. “They are no longer logical. In the future I see a world that has all the cultures of different nations, but without the nations themselves. That will happen. You know, before 1914 nobody had passports. We are one human family. It is our Earth.”
He believes that Universal Basic Income (UBI) will happen. “It’s a certainty. There’s no doubt in my mind.” And, as for material possessions, he spoke like someone who had no trouble giving up those fancy watches he’s putting up for auction on December 6-7. “Luxury,” he told me, “is the most explosive market, but it’s a huge driver of discontent.”
When I asked him where he kept his six awards Oscar, he grimaced, shrugging slightly: “I don’t even know where my Oscars are. They’re at a wine company I owned…” A pause. He’s always had a, shall we say, ambivalent relationship with these awards, throwing them out the window when he got angry during the casting for apocalypseHe told me: “What I consider more important [than golden statues] is when young filmmakers tell me they got into this profession because they saw one of my films.” His examples are Edward Berger and Alfonso Cuarón.
Francis Ford Coppola with his wife, Eleanor, in 1987Photo: Juergen Vollmer/Popperfoto
Coppola may be selling off his assets, but he still believes that megalopolis will withdraw the investment. "The same thing happened with apocalypse. The interest was high in those days, about 20 percent. And, I had to give a big percentage of the gross revenue to Marlon Brandon [11.5 percent]. I thought, I’ll never get my money back. But, it’s still bringing in revenue, 40 years later. In the industry, they call it ‘the long tail.’”
He told me, with a boyish smile, that he plans to release a version of it Megalopolis, which will be called Megalopolis Unbound. This version will have additional footage, like a scene with British actress Kathryn Hunter - used sparingly in the original version as a Roman matriarch. “It’s going to be really crazy.” Many people found the original version pretty crazy too. He seemed wise, shaking his head. “People need a little time to like new things.”
Palazzo Margherita is located on the crest of the Bernalda hill, not far from the sweeping views towards the Ionian Sea. The region's wonders include the ancient cave city of Matera, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and, close to the hotel, the temple dedicated to Hera in Metaponto. Known as Great Greece, the region was once colonized by Greece. “Some people still speak ancient Greek, so it’s like suddenly you’re in a conversation with Sophocles …” Coppola said.
He bought Palazzo Margherita in 2004. It was irresistible: a neoclassical gem reminiscent of [the film] Leopardi [The Leopard, 1963] of Visconti, in the middle of his family’s hometown. The Coppolas lived in Bernalda for generations, innovating (his mechanic grandfather, Agostino, helped bring electricity to the area) and intermarrying. “Twice,” Francis says wryly, “a papal dispensation was needed for a Coppola to marry another Coppola.” But this was the poorest region of Italy, and like the fictional Corleones, the Coppolas emigrated to New York in search of work in 1904 and never returned. Francis grew up in New York and Los Angeles, with a classic American middle name.
“We heard stories about ‘Bernalda the Beautiful’ coming to us from childhood, and we had to eat all that Italian food. As kids, we hated it. Do you know what lampashoni is? Fried shallots. Do you know what capucelle is? Half a lamb’s head. I ate brains because I wanted to be smart.”
A look inside “Palazzo Margherita”Credit: Giovanni Cipriano
In 1962, Coppola, at the age of 22, realized he was within reach of his old home. “I was working on a film in Dubrovnik and I looked at the map and saw it was close by. I took the ferry to Bernalda.” Although he didn’t speak the language, people recognized his last name. There were no hotels, but they found him a bed that night. “A newlywed couple welcomed me, I slept in the bed with the husband; I think the wife slept in the barn. Think about it!” He had a different return, in the 70s. “When I came back, after having done godmother [The Godfather], it was such a huge success that it put me on the map in a way I didn't expect. I had more cousins than I ever realized.”
Coppola bought Palazzo Margherita from the fourth generation of the Margherita family, who made their fortune exporting olive oil. He loved it as a home, but he knew he would be away from it often, so it made sense to turn it into a nine-room hotel. He hired the famous French interior designer, Jacques Grange. “The idea was to preserve a patina of age,” says Coppola, pointing to the romantically dilapidated wall in the courtyard. “That’s twice as hard as a restoration.”
The hotel's Cinecittà bar is a shrine to Italian cinema. "I made a film at the Cinecittà studios in Rome and, frankly, I didn't like the way it was managed," says Coppola. "There were police everywhere, you had to have the Italian flag ... the best thing about it was the bar."
The large lounge on the first floor transforms into a home cinema at the push of a button, as the projector lowers and the chandelier, swaying slightly, rises. A list of about 200 films, chosen by Coppola, emphasizes Italian neorealism, as well as works by family and friends, plus a few Pixar films for the little ones. The uniformed staff are discreetly charming. If you think it sounds like Wes Anderson’s dream hotel, you’d be right – he’s a regular visitor. The pool is half-chlorine, half-salt, utterly seductive. “It’s unusual because the pool liner is black,” says the manager, Rossella De Filippo. “That was Mr. Coppola’s idea.”
His daughter, the film director Sofia Coppola, married French musician Thomas Mars - here, in 2011. "It was a wonderful night," he says, recalling waiters bringing food from local restaurants. "Which room are you staying in?" he asks. I describe the vaulted ceiling, the white frescoes - "Ah, you're at George Lucas'. That's where he stayed when he came for Sofia's wedding."
When did he realize that Sofia would also become a director? “She was always unusual, even when she was little, unique. She came to me when she was 13 or 14 and said, ‘Am I just an amateur?’ ‘I’m studying painting, but I like fashion, I like writing stories, but I also like photography.’ I said, Sofia, just do what you want. In high school they made a film, Lick the star [Lick the Star], you can find it on the internet. I saw it and said, that girl is a director.”
Movie gossip abounds. "You know what Olivia de Havilland liked? Champagne. Sofia and I brought her a bottle when she turned 100. You can get better at acting if you work at it - look at Kevin Spacey. I was offered to write the movie. Midnight Cowboy [Midnight Cowboy], but I was young, I had no reference to what a man selling his body was, then of course I saw the movie and I loved it. John Schlesinger was very supportive, a wonderful man .... Ken Russell, now, he was an influence on everyone ...”
Al Pacino and Francis Ford Coppola during the filming of "The Godfather" in 1990Source: ScreenProd / Photononstop / Alamy Stock Photo
Childhood memories surface. His father taught him to play the trumpet so he could get a scholarship to the New York Military Academy. A brilliant idea, except he hated it, and decided to drop out immediately. Did he meet Trump, who also studied there? “No, he was younger than me. He was a rich kid, I was the opposite. I sold my uniform for the fabulous sum of $200. I was afraid to go home, so I stayed in New York, all alone, sleeping in cheap shelters, spending the money on professional women who would dance with you for a few dollars.” Luckily, he had the perfect book of the time with him: The Catcher in the Rye [The Catcher in the Rye] by JD Salinger.
Now, he has just read Mid-March of George Eliot, Kim of Rudyard Kipling, and a biography of Herbert Spencer. Maybe some clues as to whether his next film will be set in England. He liked Katherine Rundell's book, Super-Infinite, about the English poet John Donne. He is obsessed with Christopher Marlowe. “Without him, there would be no Shakespeare!”
I asked him if Botox was okay for actresses. “Well, that’s scary. The prime of youth is 27. But in every decade, women are beautiful. There’s no age of woman that isn’t beautiful. I’ve always loved having 90-year-old ladies to lunch, some of whom I’ve been lucky enough to know. They’re fascinating, they’ll tell you stories about their lives.” Indeed, throughout our interview he mentioned with admiration great ladies, such as American escort Lee Radziwill and Antonia Fraser (“could you do what she did? Run off with Harold Pinter after you met him at a party?”). “Just don’t try to look like a flower when you’re a flower. It starts with just a little bit here, and then it falls off, and it does more, and by the time it’s over, you don’t even look human!”
The most beautiful part of his hotel is the garden. Refreshed by a traditional stone fountain, it is planted with small paths and hidden places to sit in the sunlight among the greenery.
After breakfast, I happened to see him sitting in one of these places, alone, with his laptop. He invited me to sit with him, and he started talking about his wife. He had been married to Eleanor Coppola — Neil’s maiden name — for 61 years. “And I lost her a year ago,” he says. “My favorite time with her [Eleanor] has always been in the morning. My whole life I’ve had someone to connect with emotionally — so now, I … I don’t know where I am. Can I?” He took my hand briefly.
Coppola and Hermione Eyre in the garden of Palazzo MargheritaSource: Hermione Eyre
She was an artist. “I learned so much just from talking to her every day. She told me about conceptual art, how anything can be art – someone peeling a potato can be art. I thought it was the stupidest thing I had ever heard, but it was interesting – even if I didn’t understand it or agree with it.”
He believes in marriage. “You know what I hope will survive in the future? Marriage. There’s more to marriage than loyalty.” He would take Eleanor and their three children with him whenever he shot a big project. “I would always take the whole family, pick the kids up from school—they loved adventure. But Eleanor had things going on in her life. She said, ‘What am I going to do?’ I said, ‘Why don’t you make a documentary about it,’ and I bought her a handheld feature film camera. It was one of the best I’ve ever seen. She held it in a way that I could never do.”
Her acclaimed documentary Hearts of Darkness: Apocalypse Director's Cut [Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse], was released in 1991. At the age of 84, she released her first feature film, Paris can wait. [Paris Can Wait], with Alec Baldwin and Diane Lane. A new memoir by Eleanor, Two of myself [Two Of Me], about her parallel lives as an artist, wife and mother, is being published posthumously this month. She was not present for the premiere of Megalopolis, but died knowing that he had finally finished it. “I saw it,” he shakes his head. “I saw it, in its final version.”
To keep calm without Eleanor, he has developed a new morning routine. He showed me his laptop. “Every morning I write a list of 10 positive words, which I turn into a poem. And, I learn a new word.” Today’s word is rescind"It's hard to find a good new source for words."
Coppola has recently been living in London. “The reason I moved to Putney was because I had never lived there with him.” A fresh start, with no memories – except for the fun ones from the last time he had been there in the 60s. “There are some bohemian girls in Putney who want to look after me, and take me to plays. We had a great time. I was staying with an ex-girlfriend of my friend, the British writer David Benedictus.”
Coppola met Benedictus in 1964 - who had made a splash with his first novel, June Fourth [The Fourth of June], about sex, snobbery and sadism at Eton, and was recovering from an affair with the actress Sarah Miles. (He was made to continue the stories of Winnie the Pooh / Winnie-the-Pooh of AA Milne, but that twist would come later.)
Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor at the 2022 OscarsSource: ABC
"David was a very interesting guy in what was then known as Swinging London. I got the rights to adapt his novel." You are a grown boy now. [You're a Big Boy Now] and it was my first movie. He had a lot of beautiful girls at his house and we both liked to watch movies - he had a 16 millimeter projector. The movie Gjenerali [The General"I saw Buster Keaton's ] for the first time with him."
The friendship continued. "I was just this crazy guy and then I became the one who did godmother, and even David felt the emotion of that. My latest film, megalopolis, I sent him in different versions. Then I got a sad note from his daughter, Jessica, saying he had died.” He paused.
"I love people and I've had a life of love. Friends are a religion for me... My family used to say that of the three children, my brother August is the smart one, my sister Talia is the beautiful one, but Francis is the sweet one."
He laughs, but he really does spread love. His father, Carmine Coppola, for many years a disillusioned musician, won an Oscar for Best Original Score for The Godmother, Part II; his sister, Talia Shire, was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Connie Corleone in the same film.
At this point in our conversation, the evening embers were dying down, and he began to sing. Coppola is a brilliant singer, well known among his friends. Sitting next to him at the table, I joined in the song as he sang, word for word, Cole Porter and Gilbert and Sullivan: “And now I am a captain in the Queen’s navy.”
“How,” he says, “can people be sad, when there is so much wealth to enjoy?” /Telegraph/
