Francis Ford Coppola 'fine' after medical procedure
Director Francis Ford Coppola is recovering in hospital in Rome after a medical procedure. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP
Francis Ford Coppola, the acclaimed American director of The Godfather movies and Apocalypse Now, has undergone a non-emergency medical procedure by appointment at a hospital in Rome and is doing fine, his representative says.
"Mr. Coppola went in for a scheduled update procedure with acclaimed Dr. Andrea Natale, his doctor of more than 30 years, and is resting nicely," the representative said on Tuesday in response to Italian media reports that the director was in hospital.
"All is well."
The 86-year-old filmmaker was admitted on Tuesday to the Policlinico Tor Vergata, a public hospital in the Italian capital, news agency ANSA reported.
The US based representative declined to give any details about the nature of Coppola's medical procedure, but said: "There was not an emergency. He went to the hospital in a car."
Coppola posted a photograph of himself on Instagram appearing relaxed and smiling with a message reassuring fans, "I am well."
"Da Dada (what my kids call me) is fine, taking an opportunity while in Rome to do the update of my 30-year-old afib procedure with its inventor, a great Italian doctor - Dr. Andrea Natale," it said. He did not elaborate further.
His US representative specifically disputed as "not true" a report from the Italian website repubblica.it that Coppola had suffered atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat, before entering the operating room for what was to have been a long-planned surgical procedure.
A spokesperson for the hospital did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The Italian-American director, who has won five Academy Awards, four of them for his work on the first two films in The Godfather trilogy, widely considered by cinema buffs to rank among the greatest movies of all time.
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