Latest news with #TheGodfatherPartII
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Godfather trilogy director Francis Ford Coppola breaks silence after being ‘rushed to hospital' in Italy
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE Godfather trilogy director Francis Ford Coppola has broken his silence after he was reportedly rushed to hospital in Italy. The legendary American filmmaker, 86, shared a health update with fans following his shocking hospitalisation in Rome on Tuesday. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 6 Francis Ford Coppola has broken his silence after he was reportedly rushed to hospital in Italy 6 Coppola's most notable work includes Apocalypse Now and The Godfather trilogy 6 Coppola was reportedly admitted to public hospital Policlinico Tor Vergata after a screening of his film Megalopolis in Calabria. But the Hollywood giant has now taken to social media to reassure fans of his condition. On Tuesday night, he said on Instagram that he had visited hospital for a scheduled procedure with Dr. Andrea Natale - a renowned heart specialist who has treated him for over three decades. He also posted a photo of himself smiling and looking relaxed, along with text that read: "I am well. READ MORE CELEBRITY NEWS LEGEND'S BATTLE Legendary film director Francis Ford Coppola 'rushed to hospital' in Italy "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!" Reports suggested that the renowned director was admitted to hospital for a possible heart procedure tied to a mild cardiac arrhythmia. This would line up with Coppola's mention of updating his long-standing AFib treatment. But this speculation has not been officially confirmed. Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, and Giancarlo Esposito star in the Coppola's latest, decades-in-the-making film, which has stirred considerable controversy. He financed the $120million movie himself and premiered it at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Lionsgate abruptly pulls Francis Ford Coppola's MEGALOPOLIS trailer over 'fake reviews' as studio admits 'we screwed up' The passion project has proven something of a flop, broadly disappointing critics and audiences, and is the subject of an upcoming documentary called Megadoc. Coppola has spent considerable time in Italy this year, partly to scout locations for another new film he planned to shoot in the autumn. The director is considered one of the greatest filmmakers ever and has collected five Oscars in his career. Among his numerous successes in the film business, Coppola directed iconic films including The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather and its acclaimed sequel The Godfather Part II. Coppola's wife, Eleanor, died last spring. 6 Coppola guides Robert De Niro in a scene in The Godfather Part II, 1974 New york 6 Francis Ford Coppola in his younger years Born in Detroit, Michigan, to a father who was a flautist in the local orchestra, he is a second generation Italian immigrant. He spent most of his childhood in Queens, New York. His first success was with the 1968 film Finian's Rainbow, starring Petula Clark and Fred Astaire. But his breakthrough was with The Godfather in 1972, starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall. The film won three Oscars - including Best Picture - and was a box-office phenomenon, grossing $291million worldwide making it the highest grossing movie ever made at that point. Further cementing his legacy, Coppola followed that triumph up with a 1974 sequel The Godfather Part II which, despite only grossing $98m, was lauded by movie critics. With some experts even calling the four-hour opus superior to the original, it won an astonishing six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. Coppola's other monumental achievement is Vietnam war epic Apocalypse Now which cost a huge $31.5m to make in 1979. By comparison, Star Wars was made for just $11m two years earlier. Starring Brando and Martin Sheen, the film was thankfully a financial success grossing $150m worldwide. It was awarded the prestigious Palme d'Or at the '79 Cannes Film Festival. 6 Coppola during the filming of Apocalypse Now in the Philippines in 1976
San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Francis Ford Coppola hospitalized in Italy — what we know
Francis Ford Coppola was hospitalized in Italy ahead of a scheduled heart procedure, according to local media reports. The 86-year-old filmmaker is said to be resting comfortably after he suffered atrial fibrillation, or an irregular heartbeat, before entering the operating room at the Policlinico Tor Vergata in Calabria, Italy. 'However, before entering the operating room, he was hospitalized with a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, likely related to the physical stress accumulated during the long intercontinental flight,' La Repubblica reported. 'The arrhythmia was detected upon arrival at the hospital and required closer monitoring before proceeding with the surgery.' Coppola traveled to Italy to present a screening of his film 'Megalopolis' and was spending the summer there scouting locations for his next project. 'Mr. Coppola went in for a scheduled update procedure with acclaimed Dr. Andrea Natale, his doctor of over 30 years, and is resting nicely,' a spokesperson for the director said in a statement. 'All is well, and he appreciates everyone's concern.' His family is originally from Bernalda, in the Basilicata region, and he has often referred to Italy as his 'second home.' The director, who co-founded film company American Zoetrope in San Francisco with 'Star Wars' filmmaker George Lucas in 1969, has won five Academy Awards over the course of his career, including for 'The Godfather,' 'The Godfather Part II' and the biographical war film 'Patton.' The tour concluded on Friday, Aug. 1, with a screening and Q&A at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts where he revealed Lucas pushed him to make 'The Godfather.' 'He said, 'We can't turn it down, we have no money, the sheriff is going to chain our door because we haven't made the taxes on the thing,'' Coppola told the crowd. 'You have to do it, we have no other alternatives.' I said, 'You're right George.'' Coppola's wife, Eleanor — mother of Sofia Coppola and a filmmaker in her own right — died at their home in the Napa Valley town of Rutherford last year. She was 87 years old.
Sydney Morning Herald
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
It's about time someone said it: paparazzi are artists and heroes
They've probably been popping up on your feed all week, glorious street-side shots of Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep and, uh, Stanley Tucci in an endless array of fancy outfits from the set of The Devil Wears Prada 2. It feels as though the film was announced barely weeks ago, but already we're getting endless peeks into the Millennial equivalent of The Godfather Part II, and it's all due to one maligned group: paparazzi. Paparazzi are heroes, essential workers on the front lines of pop culture. Of course, no one ever thinks of them this way. Instead, they just get blamed for things like Britney Spears' nervous breakdown and killing Princess Diana. Paparazzi didn't kill Princess Diana, you did. Sure, not you specifically, but you in the collective sense. The value for the work paparazzi do only exists because the demand does. It's like blaming the employee at the tobacco shop for the vaping epidemic. Paparazzi don't even get credit for their iconic contributions to pop culture. Tell me who shot influential works of art like the famous 'Bimbo Summit' photo of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in the back of a car, or that picture of Kirsten Dunst eating salad while Jake Gyllenhaal looks on, disgusted. No one knows! The credit usually just goes to some vague agency with a name like Backgrid or X17. Meanwhile, 'Bimbo Summit' is on t-shirts and the photographer doesn't even see a cut. In fact, they're probably still in hiding from all the people who yell 'Princess Di killer' at them. And this is at a time when paparazzi aesthetics have become shorthand for internet cool. For their recent album I Quit, pop band Haim did an entire series of singles covers recreating famous paparazzi shots: Nicole Kidman, arms outstretched post-divorce from Tom Cruise; Scarlett Johansson and Jared Leto mid lip-lock; Keira Knightley and Jamie Dornan in boot cut jeans and scarves. All across Instagram, the selfie is dead but the pap pic – generally involving celebrities walking, on yachts, or frolicking on beaches – thrives. No one wants to praise a paparazzo, but everyone wants to jack their style. Paparazzi are ingenious like cartoon coyotes. Songwriter Benny Blanco once told me that, when he was recording Circus with Britney Spears, paparazzi took shifts hiding in the bushes outside the studio waiting for the pop star to pop up. In Jeff Weiss' entertaining new book Waiting For Britney, a gonzo memoir told from inside the bowels of mid-'00s tabloid culture, he recalls the time he and his photographer dressed like security bouncers and managed to sneak backstage at Britney's infamous MTV VMAs meltdown. When he describes his attempts at securing the first pics of Angelina Jolie sunbaking at Brad Pitt's cliffside mansion following Pitt's split from Jennifer Aniston, you'll finally understand what it means to be dedicated to one's work. The paparazzi have also often inspired their targets to create their best work, like Britney Spears' Piece of Me, Taylor Swift's Reputation and Lady Gaga's Paparazzi (obviously). Just last month, they rejuvenated the career of Justin Bieber, who slagged off some cameraman who was following him at the beach by yelling the now iconic phrase 'It's not clocking to you that I'm standing on business?', a tirade that reignited Bieber's muse and became the basis of his successful comeback album, Swag. Considering her increasingly contentious relationship with photographers, it's clear Chappell Roan 's next album is going to be the greatest masterpiece ever recorded. Even those with the barest understanding of celebrity culture understand the mutually beneficial relationship between paparazzi and publicity machines, that one hand feeds the other with that most significant currency of our era: attention. Paparazzi are the only attention-seekers I can get behind. Even their singular noun is cool: paparazzo, stemming from the Italian words 'papa' meaning 'dad' and 'razzo' meaning 'rocket'. Dad rocket. If this sounds wrong, just know my grandmother was Sicilian. Unlike Stanley Tucci, whose family is Calabrian. Look, I only ended on this weird fact so I could somehow tie this all back to The Devil Wears Prada 2, which I think I just did.
The Age
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
It's about time someone said it: paparazzi are artists and heroes
They've probably been popping up on your feed all week, glorious street-side shots of Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep and, uh, Stanley Tucci in an endless array of fancy outfits from the set of The Devil Wears Prada 2. It feels as though the film was announced barely weeks ago, but already we're getting endless peeks into the Millennial equivalent of The Godfather Part II, and it's all due to one maligned group: paparazzi. Paparazzi are heroes, essential workers on the front lines of pop culture. Of course, no one ever thinks of them this way. Instead, they just get blamed for things like Britney Spears' nervous breakdown and killing Princess Diana. Paparazzi didn't kill Princess Diana, you did. Sure, not you specifically, but you in the collective sense. The value for the work paparazzi do only exists because the demand does. It's like blaming the employee at the tobacco shop for the vaping epidemic. Paparazzi don't even get credit for their iconic contributions to pop culture. Tell me who shot influential works of art like the famous 'Bimbo Summit' photo of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in the back of a car, or that picture of Kirsten Dunst eating salad while Jake Gyllenhaal looks on, disgusted. No one knows! The credit usually just goes to some vague agency with a name like Backgrid or X17. Meanwhile, 'Bimbo Summit' is on t-shirts and the photographer doesn't even see a cut. In fact, they're probably still in hiding from all the people who yell 'Princess Di killer' at them. And this is at a time when paparazzi aesthetics have become shorthand for internet cool. For their recent album I Quit, pop band Haim did an entire series of singles covers recreating famous paparazzi shots: Nicole Kidman, arms outstretched post-divorce from Tom Cruise; Scarlett Johansson and Jared Leto mid lip-lock; Keira Knightley and Jamie Dornan in boot cut jeans and scarves. All across Instagram, the selfie is dead but the pap pic – generally involving celebrities walking, on yachts, or frolicking on beaches – thrives. No one wants to praise a paparazzo, but everyone wants to jack their style. Paparazzi are ingenious like cartoon coyotes. Songwriter Benny Blanco once told me that, when he was recording Circus with Britney Spears, paparazzi took shifts hiding in the bushes outside the studio waiting for the pop star to pop up. In Jeff Weiss' entertaining new book Waiting For Britney, a gonzo memoir told from inside the bowels of mid-'00s tabloid culture, he recalls the time he and his photographer dressed like security bouncers and managed to sneak backstage at Britney's infamous MTV VMAs meltdown. When he describes his attempts at securing the first pics of Angelina Jolie sunbaking at Brad Pitt's cliffside mansion following Pitt's split from Jennifer Aniston, you'll finally understand what it means to be dedicated to one's work. The paparazzi have also often inspired their targets to create their best work, like Britney Spears' Piece of Me, Taylor Swift's Reputation and Lady Gaga's Paparazzi (obviously). Just last month, they rejuvenated the career of Justin Bieber, who slagged off some cameraman who was following him at the beach by yelling the now iconic phrase 'It's not clocking to you that I'm standing on business?', a tirade that reignited Bieber's muse and became the basis of his successful comeback album, Swag. Considering her increasingly contentious relationship with photographers, it's clear Chappell Roan 's next album is going to be the greatest masterpiece ever recorded. Even those with the barest understanding of celebrity culture understand the mutually beneficial relationship between paparazzi and publicity machines, that one hand feeds the other with that most significant currency of our era: attention. Paparazzi are the only attention-seekers I can get behind. Even their singular noun is cool: paparazzo, stemming from the Italian words 'papa' meaning 'dad' and 'razzo' meaning 'rocket'. Dad rocket. If this sounds wrong, just know my grandmother was Sicilian. Unlike Stanley Tucci, whose family is Calabrian. Look, I only ended on this weird fact so I could somehow tie this all back to The Devil Wears Prada 2, which I think I just did.
Los Angeles Times
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Happy Gilmore, icon of conservative family values
Every recreational golfer of my generation has at least two things in common: We grew up revering Tiger Woods, and we know 'Happy Gilmore,' the 1996 Adam Sandler golf comedy, like the back of our hands. Which millennial, while lining up a putt on the green, hasn't told himself at some point to just 'tap it in — give it a little tappy, a tap tap taparoo'? Who among us, before hitting a challenging tee shot, hasn't at some point first closed his eyes and attempted to escape to his very own 'happy place'? And above all, which of us hasn't spent hours upon hours at the local driving range trying to master the craft that is protagonist Happy Gilmore's signature running golf swing? For all of us picking up the game once described by sports journalist John Feinstein as 'a good walk spoiled,' Sandler's character was a never-ending font of laughs and inspiration. Like so many others of my generation, then, I was very excited to watch 'Happy Gilmore 2,' just released on Netflix on July 25. The sequel, 29 years in the making, didn't have a script as instantly quotable as the original, nor was it as memorable. (Which film sequel, besides 'The Godfather Part II' or 'The Empire Strikes Back,' ever has been?) But 'Happy Gilmore 2' still surpassed expectations: It was at times a bit silly, but it was still rollicking fun, replete with nostalgic flashbacks and a bevy of pro golfer cameos. But it's also more than that. It would be a mistake to dismiss the two movies as purely frivolous fare — good just for a few laughs. Rather, Sandler, long known for leading a private, low-key lifestyle that eschews the Hollywood limelight, has a specific message for Happy's myriad fans: Family always comes first. In the original film, Happy, a hockey fanatic whose weak skating skills inhibited his pro hockey aspirations, reluctantly takes up golf for one reason: to earn enough money to save his beloved grandmother's home from a bank foreclosure and return her there from a hostile nursing home. Throughout the film, Happy emphasizes this as his sole motivation for biting his lips and suffering through what he calls 'golf sissy crap.' Happy doesn't particularly care about the game of golf. He's just doing it for Grandma. In the sequel, Happy, now considerably older and a father of five, has retired from golf and developed a bad drinking habit. A single father, he is struggling to make ends meet and provide for his daughter Vienna. Early in the film, Vienna's dance instructor recommends that Happy enroll her in an advanced four-year ballet school in Paris, which would cost $75,000 annually. Happy senses that Vienna's dream to dance ballet is similar to his old dream of playing hockey. With the encouragement of John Daly (one of many real-life pro golfers cast as themselves), he dusts off his old golf clubs and gives it a go again. Spoiler alert, without giving away too many of the specifics: The film has a happy ending for Happy's family. Clearly, this is not just about golf and laughs. Sandler, a onetime registered and politically active Republican, is conveying to his audience a traditional conservative message: A life well lived is not a solipsistic one that exalts the self, but an altruistic one that places the interests of others above all else. These 'others' are usually those closest to us — family members, older and younger generations alike, to whom we have obligations. You might notice that in both films, Happy plays golf only for others — not for himself. Happy, who once fought to save the house his grandfather built, now finds himself trying to do right by the next generation. It is these relationships — with those who came before us and those who come after us — that give our lives meaning and purpose. And in 'Happy Gilmore 2,' Sandler drives home that message in the most personal way possible: He casts his real-life wife and his two daughters — one as the aspiring ballerina. The foul-mouthed, trash-talking rebel of golf, Happy Gilmore, is onto something important. Perhaps more of Sandler's Hollywood colleagues ought to listen. They might learn something. Josh Hammer's latest book is 'Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.' This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. @josh_hammer
