The 50th AFI Life Achievement Award Dinner For Francis Ford Coppola Is One Of The Starriest And Most Heartfelt Tributes Of Them All
Well Coppola, finally on the 50th anniversary of the AFI Life Achievement Award dinners, got the most prestigious one of all for movie makers, and having been to numerous of these AFI events over the decades (Frank Capra's in 1982 was my first), this warm and very starry evening Saturday was among the very best, and certainly one of the best attended by other legends and past AFI honorees themselves.
More from Deadline
Francis Ford Coppola Felt Like He Returned 'To The Old Neighborhood' In AFI Life Achievement Tribute Speech — Watch
AFI Life Achievement Award Red Carpet: Elle Fanning, Ron Howard, George Lucas, Spike Lee & More Honor Francis Ford Coppola
Adam Driver Praises Francis Ford Coppola For "Not Letting The Money Dictate" 'Megalopolis' At AFI Life Achievement Tribute
No less than seven, count 'em, seven past AFI Life Achievement Award laureates were not only on hand in the Dolby Theatre, they all got on stage to sing his praises. Pacino, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg (the latter pair bookending Coppola at his long table in the middle of the room) were all there to pass the torch, but you have to wonder why it took until the 50th to give this man his due, arguably the godfather himself of his generation of filmmakers (and many of those who received this years ago). Well, it wasn't because the AFI didn't ask. I am told AFI had tried on many occasions to get him to agree. At last he did, and boy, what a night.
AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale welcomed everyone and started the evening with a remembrance of one of the first graduates of the AFI Conservatory, the late great David Lynch. But the day didn't start out well. The sudden rainstorm Saturday morning in parts of Southern California took a toll on Hollywood Boulevard and literally sent a river flooding the AFI red carpet that had already been set up for the event. Organizers, taken by surprise, flew into action, completely trashing the entire soaked carpet, and getting a new one in place before the first of many stars arrived. These included Spielberg, who has been in New York making a movie, but to show his respect for Coppola, didn't just send in a video greeting, but got a private plane, picked up De Niro and Spike Lee as well, and flew in earlier Saturday before immediately flying back so he can be back on set Monday morning.
American Film Institute founder (and creator of this event) George Stevens Jr. had tipped me off Friday evening at the TCM Classic Film Festival event honoring him, that Spielberg felt so strongly about being there in person, and joining with Lucas to present the award they both had gotten long ago, that he just had to do this. When he got up on stage at the end of the evening, he said to Coppola, 'We have come all the way up the river to find you buddy,' in a wry reference to one of the master's masterpieces, Apocalypse Now. 'Francis is a warrior for independent artists and always championing their causes,' he added before pronouncing The Godfather as 'the greatest American film ever made.'
But there was so much more before we got to that point. Freeman opened the show portion of the evening by telling the audience he was there despite never having been in a movie written, directed or produced by Coppola, who he noted was still ever so the independent filmmaker. 'He may have lost millions but tonight, f— the bankers!''
Throughout the night, there were not just film clips, but portions of an interview his daughter Sofia Coppola conducted with her father that took us through each step of his life and career from directing Fred Astaire in Finian's Rainbow in 1967 (where a young college intern named George Lucas would come by the set to learn) all the way to 2024's Megalopolis. Sofia couldn't be at the Dolby however since she is shooting her own new film in London.
The interesting thing is how few sent tapes. They were all there, including Ron Howard who starred in Lucas' American Grafitti, which Coppola produced in order to even get this low-budget ($700,000) movie made by the largely untested young director. The studio (Universal) wasn't thrilled with what they were seeing, 'So after a very early screening, studio executives said to Francis and George, 'You should be embarrassed by this movie. It's too long. We hate the way it looks. It seems unprofessional.' George was shocked, so Francis, with unblinking authority, pulled out a checkbook and said, 'Alright, listen. You don't want the picture? Okay, I will buy it back from you right now. I will buy it back from you today.' Well never mind he didn't have the money, it worked. And the film went on to make well over $100 million, which at that time made it the most profitable ROI (return on investment) in Hollywood history. So that's a producer and that's Francis Ford Coppola.'
Next up, the evening's first big standing ovation (after Coppola's as he was seated) went to De Niro and Pacino who made some brief remarks, including the aforementioned one from Pacino, and De Niro's gratitude for not getting cast as Sonny in The Godfather. A clip had been shown from De Niro's screen test and he would have been great, but Coppola thought he was not quite right for the role (James Caan got it). 'Thank you for not casting me in The Godfather, Francis, which meant I was available for The Godfather Part II!' he said of the role that won him his first Oscar.
RELATED:
Harrison Ford arrived to tell how he was a carpenter but determined to be an actor when he said he got lucky and landed the role in American Graffiti, and later a smaller one in The Conversation. 'Not the part I wanted but I got the part,' he smiled, saying he now felt part of the family. 'After that film, I built something for Francis because he hired me again as a carpenter. I'm not kidding. I was installing a library portico entrance for his offices, as one does, and George Lucas walks in and says (to Francis), 'I am looking for someone to play Hans Solo,' and I am covered in sawdust, wearing my tool belt, sweeping the floor. Well you know the rest… He created a world where the carpenter could be the guy. And by the way, thank you for Apocalypse Now, where I played a guy named Colonel Lucas. Subtle!'
Lee talked about the influence Coppola had on him from the days he was a student at NYU ('I couldn't get into AFI'), seeing the uncut version of The Cotton Club with Coppola, and announcing he still has his ticket stub from Apocalypse Now.
Also highlighted was Coppola's dream-like musical One From the Heart, one of his self-financed American Zoetrope swings for the fences, and early dances with bankruptcy, a movie now being reconsidered and watched again, even as a predecessor to the likes of La La Land. And then a look at The Outsiders, one of many films where Coppola rolled the dice with new talent including Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, and at the Dolby onstage, both Ralph Macchio and C. Thomas Howell. Macchio drew big laughs with a story about borrowing $5 from Coppola on the set but never paying it back, or for that matter everything he owed the director for his career, until this night when he told Coppola to look under the centerpiece in front of him at his table. There was a $5 dollar bill, which got a smile from Coppola, who promptly handed it to Lucas, who probably doesn't need it. In the audience was a librarian, Jo Ellen Misakian from Lone Star Elementary School in Fresno, California, who had sent Coppola a letter (that somehow got to him) with the enthusiasm of her class, who loved the book, suggesting he read S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders in hopes that he might make a movie out of it. 'Stay gold, Francis,' she said to him, repeating a key phrase from the book that urged Ponyboy to retain his youthful optimism and innocence, 'Stay gold.' It was one of the undisputed highlights of the night.
Another Outsiders star, Diane Lane, was next, and interestingly the only female participant onstage for the evening who talked about the four films she has made with Coppola, including how while making Outsiders, they all had such a good time, they decided to make another film on the spot. That movie was Rumble Fish.
After Roman Coppola paid tribute to his father for putting him to work on the visual effects for Bram Stoker's Dracula and starting his career, it was Dustin Hoffman's turn, who began by saying, 'Word has it you turned down a lot of these awards in the past.' He also said it took a while for Coppola to hire him. 'I waited until I was 86 for you to cast me in Megalopolis! It was worth the wait.'
Regarding that movie, it was star Adam Driver who showed up to tell the tale of the futuristic and controversial, but unquestionable risk-taking and wild ride of a cinematic journey Coppola had been trying to get made for over 40 years and finally did by financing it himself to the tune of $120 million. Driver said at one point Coppola addressed the cast and crew and said, 'We're not being brave enough.'
Of all the speakers, I thought Driver really summed up best just who this genuine maverick of a filmmaker is. 'Knowing Francis as I know him now, being brave is not such a surprising note if you consider the source. You can pick any section of Francis' work, open it up, and find bravery, whether it be fighting the studio over cuts of The Godfather; forming American Zoetrope; making Apocalypse Now, again with his own money; giving Ellie (his late wife Eleanor Coppola) a camera and saying 'shoot what you want'; running a studio that ended up bankrupting him; hiring Marlon Brando; defending Al Pacino; breaking all four of his Oscars by throwing them out of a window—I'm not sure that is especially brave but it certainly is passionate [ed note: he actually has five]; moving into the jungle and starting a hotel; spending $120 million on a piece of art and not letting the money dictate the content of the film,' Driver listed for the crowd. 'This is a principled life, and for a year in our culture where the importance of the arts is minimized and our industry is seemingly out in the open, that the only measure to judge a film's success is simply by how much money it makes, I hang on to individuals like Francis for inspiration who live though their convictions, through big moves, all in service of pushing the medium forward. Francis took $120 million dollars and created a singular gesture for what he thought film could be, and I think that's pretty great.'
RELATED:
The actual award to Coppola was preceded by an orchestra on stage with Josh Groban, who sang, all in Italian, a beautiful version of the immortal theme from The Godfather. Spielberg added to his remarks about seeing a five-hour cut of Apocalypse Now with other filmmakers invited to give their thoughts, and Lucas recounted the key lesson he learned from his American Graffiti producer. 'Don't be afraid of jumping off cliffs. I have lived by that my entire life,' he said while confirming Coppola was indeed the first cinema student to make it big and prove the worth of that education.
As for Coppola, he was brief but charming in his acceptance (after all, we had seen him talk about his career all night in that interview with Sofia). He talked about his childhood and remembrances of growing up before addressing this community of those who toil in the same fields he does. '(I see) all the beautiful faces are welcoming me back because I am, and will always be, nothing more than one of you.'
Stay gold indeed, Francis Ford Coppola.
The evening earned a record $2.5 million for AFI and will be broadcast on TNT on June 18 at 10 p.m. ET/PT with an encore on TCM on July 31 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Best of Deadline
Francis Ford Coppola's Career In Photos, From 'Apocalypse Now' To 'The Godfather'
Everything We Know About The 'Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping' Movie So Far
Everything We Know About Netflix's 'The Thursday Murder Club' So Far
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Atlantic
8 hours ago
- Atlantic
A Famed Director Tried to Build a Fan Base for His Movie. It Was Awkward.
Francis Ford Coppola had a plan—or seemed to have one, at least. When the famed director of The Godfather walked onto the stage of San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts Theatre after a screening of his latest film, 2024's Megalopolis, he told the audience that he intended 'to change the world tonight.' An assistant wheeled out a whiteboard listing the 10 topics Coppola wanted to discuss: time, work, money, politics, education, law, war, art, religion, and celebration. By the time the talk ended two hours later, however, the 86-year-old filmmaker had covered only five of the items; almost half of the audience had trickled out; and the world appeared regrettably unchanged. Billed as 'An Evening with Francis Ford Coppola,' the event earlier this month was the last stop in a six-city road tour meant to honor Megalopolis by indulging in an in-depth study of its themes. The whiteboard, the 10-pronged approach to fixing human society, the hours of unmoderated discussion—all of it was an apparent attempt to build the mythology of a film released less than a year ago that had already seemed to be forgotten. Movies have been resuscitated before: Now-beloved films such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Princess Bride, and The Big Lebowski have for decades been embraced by audiences after being overlooked during their initial releases. But as much as Megalopolis fits the vague outlines of notoriety that could one day make it a cult classic—Coppola's epic film, which envisioned America as a retro-futuristic version of the Roman empire, was critically derided, dramatically underperformed at the box office, and endured a shaky behind-the-scenes production that involved the director plopping down $120 million of his own money—its revival feels different. Indeed, the response to Coppola's cross-country tour came off less like the beginnings of an underground fan base, and more like a film community tolerating an auteur's exhaustive defense of his work. 'The Coppola thing's a bit unusual,' Jamie Sexton, a film professor studying cult cinema at Northumbria University, in England, told me. The director seems to be a one-man army who's attempting, Sexton said, 'to facilitate a cult following.' Of course, the notion of a 'cult film' has grown nebulous over time: Many movies that have been bestowed the title, such as Blade Runner and This Is Spinal Tap, gained widespread popularity anyway, and the proliferation of streaming services makes it easier for people to discover nearly any movie on their own. But rather than allow audiences to organically find Megalopolis, Coppola has made it hard to screen legally. (The film is currently unavailable to stream in North America.) Rather than wait for reevaluations of it to emerge over time, Coppola initiated the conversation from his end. Coppola, for his part, leaned into the weirdness of his endeavor. During the live events, he covered topics as varied as education reform, the benefits of jury duty, and the oppressiveness of time—only very loosely linking them all to Megalopolis. The director, who wore mismatched socks onstage, beseeched his audience to ask him anything. One attendee pressed him to discuss the allure of organic architecture. Another thrust a hand into the air for a two-part question: First, did Coppola have anything to share about a third cut of Apocalypse Now, and second, could Coppola please sign the custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle he'd designed to honor the director's filmography? (It was parked right outside!) Coppola answered most queries patiently, but always turned back to the guiding principles on his whiteboard. His efforts to reintroduce Megalopolis to the public demonstrate the challenge of transforming a flop into a cult classic. No formula exists for that process, but the building—and maintaining—of underground-hit status, Sexton told me, requires audiences to take full control of a work's legacy. Regardless of cinematic quality, such projects tend to be transgressive in some compelling manner, enough to inspire devotion: They're thematically controversial, stylistically challenging, or simply enjoyable in ways that fans want to passionately defend. 'There is a special flavor to the cult following when the art is not considered mainstream, because that fills you with a sense of almost conspiratorial-style comfort,' Amanda Montell, the author of Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism and a co-host of the podcast Sounds Like a Cult, told me. 'Like, I have access to something that the sheep do not.' Viewers grant these movies a rarefied status by continuously rallying behind them and pushing for them to be reconsidered by critics and mainstream audiences. When studios try to mobilize niche fandoms, however, by rereleasing much-memed movies, fast-tracking sequels, and coining portmanteaus, that interest seldom translates into sustainable, influential communities. The power to define a film's fate after its release rests with the consumers, not the creators. Even so, Coppola's decision to take the reins appears to have worked to some extent: Several stops on the tour sold out, and a handful of attendees the night I went shouted at the filmmaker to release Megalopolis on Blu-ray in North America. But none of it proves that Megalopolis has finally won audiences over. If anything, the continued fascination with the film illustrates the appeal of self -mythology—of watching a filmmaker define the personal stakes of his work, examine his career, and tie his own worldview so closely to a single project. Montell explained that Coppola's strategy seemed to involve 'Frankensteining' the practices that materialize around cult movies (hard-to-access screenings, dissections of their production) with the circuitous chatter that can surround cults of personality. By showing up to appreciate the flaws of the film—and of its maker's aspirations—the audience countered critical consensus and displayed unconventional taste. Some of that involves direct participation, which, for many cult films, can turn into rituals: During screenings of The Room, audiences toss plastic spoons at the screen. During The Rocky Horror Picture Show, they sing along. During Megalopolis, at least at the San Francisco showing, an especially passionate group in the audience cheered during a scene that had gone viral, chanting 'club' alongside the protagonist, the visionary inventor Cesar, played by Adam Driver. Spontaneous responses such as that may indicate the beginnings of a cult legacy. But for all of Coppola's insistence that his film's themes are hugely relevant to today's society, answering the question of whether a movie as strange and ambitious as Megalopolis will truly find a fervent audience, Sexton said, requires patience: 'For me, there has to be some kind of endurance beyond the buzz.' An upcoming making-of documentary will further test the film's potential longevity. Until then, what Coppola has done is willed an ephemeral following into being, for just six nights—and maybe, for him, for now, that's enough. After all, Sexton pointed out, 'he doesn't have to do this.'
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
BLACKPINK at Wembley Stadium review: The world's biggest girl group are at the top of their game
Olivia Rodrigo owning Glastonbury, Sabrina Carpenter playing two nights at Hyde Park, Charli XCX's Brat victory lap, 2025 has undoubtedly been the summer of the pop girlies. It's only right then that BLACKPINK, the biggest girl band in the world, get in on the action. The K-pop titans' Deadline world tour took over London's Wembley Stadium for the first of two shows on Friday night, following an 18-month hiatus where the four-piece worked on solo projects. Each member was given plenty of space to flex during the two-hour show. Jisoo performed her dreamy Your Love accompanied by confetti and chairography, Jennie was every bit the swaggering rockstar for her snarling viral hit Like Jennie. Lisa couldn't have been more different to her softly-spoken The White Lotus character during a trio of brilliant, high-energy tracks from debut solo album Alter Ego while Rosé went full '00s for the snotty pop-punk inspired Toxic and a surprisingly chaotic APT.. All four are clearly stars and looked very comfortable on their own in the spotlight but together, they're on a whole other level. Previous BLACKPINK tours have been incredibly choreographed events, performed with an eventual concert movie in mind. Deadline was a far more relaxed affair – well, as relaxed as a six-act stadium show with a curved runway, fireworks and an entire dance academy can really be. There was still plenty of polish and no one could accuse the group of phoning it in, but they spent as much energy interacting with the crowd and trying to make each other laugh as they did recreating their slick music videos. The whole thrilling gig was wonderfully playful. At one-point FKA Twigs joined Rosé backstage for a scone and a shot. Why? Why not. A live band gave earlier, more polite tracks WHISTLE and BOOMBAYAH an added bite while the obnoxiously OTT pop of Pink Venom and Pretty Savage were clearly written to make a stadium full of people dance. Their music has always been ambitious, taking the best bits of countless different genres to create perfectly-formed pop spectaculars, but there was a joyous, infectious energy that came with performing it in one of the biggest venues around. As the first K-pop group to headline Wembley Stadium, BLACKPINK made sure to have the most fun possible, but they also took every opportunity to soak up the 'surreal' and 'insane' achievement. 'It really is such an honour,' said Jennie, thanking the crowd for supporting the band over the past nine years. There have been rumours circulating online that BLACKPINK will go on a more permanent hiatus after this tour, but at no point during the show did it feel like things were winding down. 'I wanted to do a song that felt like a goodbye, just for the meantime,' Rosé said before the tender Dance All Night, deliberately hinting at a return, while the mini-movies that were played during the gig were a celebration of the girls coming back together. Despite their historic legacy it was the recently released Jump, an urgent mash-up of Spice Girls camaraderie and the energy of a sweaty rave, that got the biggest reaction of the night. It's such a banger, it was played twice. What more could you possibly want?
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Quentin Tarantino reveals 'crazy' reason he scrapped his final film 'The Movie Critic'
Quentin Tarantino may have backed out of his swan song, but it wasn't because of stage fright. The Oscar-winning filmmaker, who was slated to conclude his esteemed directing career with "The Movie Critic," opened up about the film's cancellation in an Aug. 15 interview on "The Church of Tarantino" podcast. "It's a little crazy to listen to podcasts and hear all these amateur psychiatrists psychoanalyze as if they (expletive) know what they're talking about," Tarantino, 62, said. "About what's going on with me, about how I'm so scared of my 10th film. ... 'Oh my God. I'm so fragile about my legacy.'" Tarantino, who previously said he planned to retire after his 10th film, told Deadline in 2023 that the film was set in California in 1977 and based on a real-life film critic who wrote "movie reviews for a porno rag." Brad Pitt, who won an Oscar for his role in Tarantino's 2019 film "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood," was reportedly in talks to star in the film. Tarantino said the film started as a limited, eight-episode series. While the "Pulp Fiction" director was satisfied with the show's script, he later decided to adapt it into a film format: "No one's waiting for this thing, per se. I mean, I can do it whenever I want. I mean, it's already written. So OK, let me just not start it right now." "Let me try writing it as a movie and let me see if it's better that way. ... And I was like, 'Oh, OK. No, I think this is going to be the movie.' And then it wasn't," Tarantino continued. "I pulled the plug on it. And the reason I pulled the plug is a little crazy." Throughout his nearly four-decade career, Tarantino has become an icon of cinema thanks to his colorful neo-noir style, which often includes graphic violence and frequent references to popular culture. Some of his best-known films are "Reservoir Dogs," "Pulp Fiction" the "Kill Bill" franchise, and "Inglourious Basterds." 'The Movie Critic': What Quentin Tarantino has said about Brad Pitt-led film Why Quentin Tarantino didn't move forward with 'The Movie Critic' When it comes to movie magic, Tarantino isn't one to repeat himself. The director told "Church of Tarantino" host Reverend Scott K. that he gave himself a "challenge" with the subject of "The Movie Critic," which fueled much of his creative interest in the film. "Can I take the most boring profession in the world and make it an interesting movie?" Tarantino said. "Who wants to see a movie called 'The Movie Critic'? ... If I can actually make a movie or a TV show about somebody who watches movies interesting, that is an accomplishment." Quentin Tarantino's movies, ranked: From 'Reservoir Dogs' to 'Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood' And while Tarantino felt he met that goal, he said the film's production process bore too many similarities to "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood," which is also set in a retro period of Los Angeles. "I wasn't really that excited about dramatizing what I wrote when I was in pre-production," Tarantino said. "There was nothing to figure out 'cause I already kind of knew, more or less, how to turn LA into an older time. So, it was too much like the last one." As for what the future holds, Tarantino shared that his upcoming projects include an untitled play and "The Adventures of Cliff Booth," a sequel to "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" written and co-produced by Tarantino, directed by David Fincher, and starring Pitt as the title character. "I won't be on the set every day and everything, but I'll be around if they need me to do something," said Tarantino, adding with a laugh: "It's a little more like I've given David a gigantic novel written in screenplay form, and it's his job." Contributing: Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Quentin Tarantino explains why he cancelled 'The Movie Critic'
