27 Quotes & Sayings By Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola, the son of Italian immigrants, was born in Detroit in 1939. He grew up in the suburb of Bloomfield Hills, where he attended high school at Cranbrook School. After graduating in 1957, Coppola studied theater at UCLA, where he met Martin Scorcese, who became his lifelong friend and collaborator. They were roommates for a short time before leaving to drive across the country in a VW camper Read more

The two men made their way to New York City in 1959 where Francis worked odd jobs while writing screenplays and directing TV commercials. He received his first break when he sold the script for The Rain People (1964) to Martin Scorcese's brother, Robert. Coppola and Scorcese made two films together: This Property (1966), a satire about American life; and The Band Wagon (1953).

Coppola moved to Italy to make his first feature film, The Student Of Prague (1968). He then landed his first feature film as director: One from the Heart (1981) starring Glen Campbell and Raquel Welch. For the last thirty years of his career, Coppola has been active as a producer and writer of films such as Youth Without Youth (2011), The Godfather: Part III (1990), and Apocalypse Now Redux (2010).

1
We teach our boys to firebomb villages, but we won't let them write fuck on the side of their planes because it's obscene. Francis Ford Coppola
2
We want you to take from us. We want you, at first, to steal from us, because you can't steal. You will take what we give you and you will put it in your own voice and that's how you will find your voice. Francis Ford Coppola
3
I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians. Francis Ford Coppola
4
I've been failing for like ten or eleven years. When it turns it'll turn. Right now I'm just tryin' to squeeze through a very tight financial period get the movie out and put my things in order. Francis Ford Coppola
5
I've been failing for like ten or eleven years. When it turns it'll turn. Right now I'm just tryin' to squeeze through a very tight financial period get the movie out and put my things in order. Francis Ford Coppola
6
The only TV I would be interested in exploring would be live television. There's no substitute for a team of artists performing at their peak live when failure is possible. It's a high-wire act. That excites me. Francis Ford Coppola
7
When I was going for my graduate degree, I decided I was going to make a feature film as my thesis. That's what I was famous for-that I had my thesis film be a feature film, which was 'You're a Big Boy Now.' Francis Ford Coppola
8
I had a heartbreaking experience when I was 9. I always wanted to be a guard. The most wonderful girl in the world was a guard. When I got polio and then went back to school, they made me a guard. A teacher took away my guard button. Francis Ford Coppola
9
We were raised in an Italian-American household, although we didn't speak Italian in the house. We were very proud of being Italian, and had Italian music, ate Italian food. Francis Ford Coppola
10
I like to work in the morning. I like to sometimes go to a place where I'm all alone where I'm not going to get a phone call early that hurts my feelings, because once my feelings are hurt, I'm dead in the water. Francis Ford Coppola
11
By working in the morning, I find a sense of peace; it's isolated peace, but I can definitely be in touch with my feelings, and then I just start. Francis Ford Coppola
12
I had a number of very strong personalities in my family. My father was a concert flutist, the solo flute for Toscanini. Francis Ford Coppola
13
Anyone who's made film and knows about the cinema has a lifelong love affair with the experience. You never stop learning about film. Francis Ford Coppola
14
I believe that filmmaking - as, probably, is everything - is a game you should play with all your cards, and all your dice, and whatever else you've got. So, each time I make a movie, I give it everything I have. I think everyone should, and I think everyone should do everything they do that way. Francis Ford Coppola
15
Usually, the stuff that's your best idea or work is going to be attacked the most. Francis Ford Coppola
16
I gladly, I voluntarily gave up the kind of commercial film career I had going as soon as I had enough money to finance my own films. Francis Ford Coppola
17
You have to really be courageous about your instincts and your ideas. Otherwise you'll just knuckle under, and things that might have been memorable will be lost. Francis Ford Coppola
18
I think a sequel is a waste of money and time. I think movies should illuminate new stories. Francis Ford Coppola
19
People feel the worst film I made was 'Jack.' But to this day, when I get checks from old movies I've made, 'Jack' is one of the biggest ones. No one knows that. If people hate the movie, they hate the movie. I just wanted to work with Robin Williams. Francis Ford Coppola
20
Most Italians who came to this country are very patriotic. There was this exciting possibility that if you worked real hard, and you loved something, you could become successful. Francis Ford Coppola
21
I have more of a vivid imagination than I have talent. I cook up ideas. It's just a characteristic. Francis Ford Coppola
22
It takes no imagination to live within your means. Francis Ford Coppola
23
Art depends on luck and talent. Francis Ford Coppola
24
I don't think there's any artist of any value who doesn't doubt what they're doing. Francis Ford Coppola
25
As long as I can make lots of money in other businesses, I'll continue to subsidize my own work. Francis Ford Coppola
26
I was never sloppy with other people's money. Only my own. Because I figure, well, you can be. Francis Ford Coppola