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October 25 will mark 62 years since the release of the first film directed by Francis Ford Coppola: “Come on Out” (later retitled “Tonight for Sure”), a re-edited feature version of three different shorter nudie films he made while a film student at UCLA. It debuted in 1962, right in the middle of the Cuban missile crisis.

With “Megalopolis” opening, he likely has the longest feature film directorial career ever, ahead of Manoel de Oliveira (61 years), Jean-Luc Godard (58), Jerzy Skolimowsky (58), and Frederick Wiseman (56). Clint Eastwood, whose latest film “Juror #2” premieres next month, spans a mere 53 as a director.

To sustain a career that long necessitates a lot of success, which Coppola has had, led by “The Godfather.” But it has been a perilous journey, elongated (“Megalopolis” the most extreme) by his willingness to spend money to keep directing. Of note, his last studio-financed film was “The Rainmaker,” 27 years — and nearly half his career — ago.

Nobody in their right mind would go into the heart of darkness with Francis Ford Coppola. And by most accounts, a lot of the cast of Apocalypse Now wasn’t. But someone who really went for it was Laurence Fishburne, who famously landed his role at just 14, having lied about his age so he could go off and work on Apocalypse Now.

Fishburne – who played “Mr. Clean” in Apocalypse Now – remembered just how important it was for him to land that film, especially at such a young age. “It’s very difficult to describe what that whole situation was like, because, as you know, I was a young person. I was 14, I was 15, I was very impressionable. I was still developing and it was an impactful event in my life. It took two years. But I will say, looking back, the most important part of Apocalypse Now was really my...

Known for portraying Sonny Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, the late actor James Cann considered himself similar to his iconic character, asserting that it has been the reason he enjoyed playing roles in Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic film trilogy.

James Caan in Elf | Credit: NewLine Cinema

It could also be deemed as the reason why he did not hesitate when it came to negotiating the financial details with the legendary filmmaker upon being offered his 1979 film Apocalypse Now. The Oscar-nominated film was initially offered to Caan, as he later revealed in an interview. But he turned down the offer after failing to reach an agreement with Coppola regarding his compensation for the movie.

James Caan Turned Down Apocalypse Now Due to Financial Concerns

In a 1981 interview, James Cann highlighted the complexities that come with balancing artistic integrity and financial considerations, while reflecting on his collaboration with the acclaimed filmmaker...

Fred Roos, the longtime producing and casting collaborator of Francis Ford Coppola, has died at age 89.

Roos famously found Jack Nicholson and Harrison Ford, launching both actors’ respective careers, and even helped cast Carrie Fisher alongside Ford in “Star Wars.” He is credited for also boosting the careers of Kirsten Dunst, Diane Keaton, Laurence Fishburne, Frederic Forest, Diane Lane, Nicolas Cage, Richard Dreyfuss, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Jennifer Connelly, Billy Bob Thorton, Marshall Bell, and more.

Roos later served as the casting director for Coppola’s “The Godfather,” leading auteur Coppola to deem Roos “one of the great casting talents in the last 40 years of American movies” in a 2004 interview with the Chicago Tribune.

Roos produced follow-up film “The Godfather: Part II,” “Apocalypse Now,” and Coppola’s recent “Megalopolis,” for which he also helped cast the star-studded ensemble. In 1974, both Roos and Coppola earned two Oscar...

“Chances are you’ve never heard of Preston Thomas Tucker; dreamer, inventor, visionary — a man ahead of his time.”

Chances are you’ve never heard of the movie made about him either. Like the car he had created in his name, it came and went in nearly the same breath. And yet, also like the car, the film’s legacy and staying power lies in the strength of its parts, as well as the personal passion put into it by its maker, Francis Ford Coppola. In fact, it’s hard not to watch his 1988 film “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” and discern a link between Coppola and the film’s eponymous character. Played by a still boyish Jeff Bridges with a glint in his eye and a manic energy that veers between zealous enthusiasm and fevered paranoia, Tucker is a man entwined with his dreams. Much like Coppola, he is driven by family,...

Michael I. Levy, a veteran talent representative involved in the careers of such major stars and players as Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Duval, Bruce Lee, Marlon Brando and William Peter Blattey, died January 11 of complications from Covid pneumonia. He was 84.

His death was announced today by his family.

At the start of his career, Levy represented blacklisted film and TV writers including Waldo Salt, Ring Lardner Jr., and Dalton Trumbo. He would later participate in the careers of Milos Foreman, Michael Mann, Ingmar Bergman, John Huston, John Landis, Mario Puzo and Stan Lee of Marvel Comics as well as Marvel Comics itself.

Through his Michael I. Levy Enterprises, Levy packaged more than 100 films, TV series, and TV movies for major producing clients. In 1981, he became President and CEO of CBS Theatrical Film Group, contributing to the Fox-cbs video deal and the formation of Tri-Star Motion Pictures.

Throughout his career,...

Will the Hollywood studio become extinct?

One hundred years ago, Louis B. Mayer unfurled his grand idea to mobilize “all the stars in heaven” for his filmmaking adventure. His dream factory, once prolific, now seems adrift amid the economic debris of streamerville and linear TV.

The studio system still has its advocates, one of whom, Francis Coppola, attempted to re-invent the studio on three occasions. He’s still trying.

His intriguing, if bizarre adventure, is told in a gripping new book by Sam Wasson titled Path to Paradise, vividly chronicling how the director leveraged his two great movies into an assembly line of cinema.

Well, almost. Coppola’s effort to orchestrate the genius of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now into an enduring filmmaking enterprise was defeated by two realities: The eccentricity of his management style and the frailty of his infrastructure.

Zoetrope was to be owned and run by creatives...

Carlin Glynn, who won a Tony Award in 1979 for originating the role of madam Mona Stangley in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” died July 13 at age 83. Her daughter, “Fried Green Tomatoes” actress Mary Stuart Masterson, announced the news on Instagram.

“On Thursday, July 13, my mother, Carlin Glynn Masterson, passed away. I was with her. I will always be grateful for those last moments, no matter how hard,” Masterson wrote on Sunday. She told the New York Times on Thursday that her mother had been battling lung cancer and dementia.

She remembered her mother as “strong, smart, silly, intuitive, kind, generous, passionate and a deep listener” who was devoted to her late husband, Peter Materson and “the enormous circle of students and collaborators who were considered her chosen family.”

Masterson shared a photo of Glynn from her 80th birthday party, “before the worst of dementia and cancer took their toll.

Carlin Glynn, who won a Tony Award for her performance as the madam Mona Stangley in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and had strong supporting turns in the films Sixteen Candles and The Trip to Bountiful, has died. She was 83.

Glynn died July 13, her daughter, actress Mary Stuart Masterson (Fried Green Tomatoes, Benny & Joon), announced in an Instagram post. She died in upstate New York, and the cause was lung cancer.

“My mother, Carlin Glynn Masterson, passed away. I was with her. I will always be grateful for those last moments, no matter how hard,” she wrote. “Death is like birth in the oddest way. From my first breath to her last. This thread is as fragile as it is strong.

“She was the most graceful clumsy person you would ever meet. Strong, smart, silly, intuitive, kind, generous, passionate and a deep listener. She was devoted to my father...

Movies That Made Me veteran guest and screenwriter Dan Waters discusses his favorite year of cinema (1989) with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Phantom Carriage (1921)

Love At First Bite (1979)

Hudson Hawk (1991)

Demolition Man (1993)

Heathers (1989)

Warlock (1989)

The Matrix (1999)

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Jaws (1975)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Nashville (1975)

Born On The Fourth Of July (1989)

Dead Poets Society (1989)

Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

Field Of Dreams (1989)

My Left Foot (1989)

Crimes And Misdemeanors (1989)

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Drugstore Cowboy (1989)

Sex Lies And Videotape (1989)

Easy Rider (1969)

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

All That Jazz (1979)

Hair (1979)

Alien (1979)

Fight Club (1999)

Office Space (1999)

Magnolia (1999)

The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

American Pie (1999)

The Iron Giant (1999)

All About My Mother (1999)

Being John Malkovich (1999)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Pretty In Pink (1986)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Say Anything… (1989)

Miracle Mile (1989)

True Love (1989)

Powwow Highway (1989)

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

Southside With You...

In 1979, Stephen King was in New York for an appearance on a late-night talk show. Greeted by fans outside the studio, one man, claiming to be the author's "Number One Fan," wanted a polaroid photo with his idol instead. King was in a hurry so he relented to the request and signed the picture. The name the man gave was Mark Chapman.

Later, King couldn't say for certain whether it was the same Mark Chapman who shot John Lennon just a few hours after getting his autograph, but the incident unnerved the author. He already had a somewhat ambivalent towards his more ardent fans (via Washington Post):

"You look in their eyes, and it's like looking into vacant houses. They don't know why they want autographs. They just want them. And then you realize, not only is this house vacant, but it's haunted."

The brush with a fan who...

Over the course of his career, James Caan brought a series of tough guys, gangsters and military men to vivid life on screen. But few films captured the actor’s swaggering physicality better than “Rollerball,” the 1975 dystopian classic with Caan as the star attraction of a futuristic game that devolves into gladiatorial chaos. Norman Jewison, the film’s director, says that Caan, who died July 6 at 82, was the only performer at the time who combined athleticism and heart.

Jewison spoke with Variety about their experience making “Rollerball” and the ineffable quality that made Caan such a great actor.

When I was casting “Rollerball,” I was looking for an actor who was tough and athletic, and I couldn’t think of anyone else other than Jimmy, who could put on a pair of roller skates and hang on to a motorbike. I don’t think he’d ever roller-skated in his life,...

One of the Star Wars galaxy’s leaders is moving on to her next adventure. Lynne Hale, the longtime head of publicity and communications at Lucasfilm who worked closely with founder George Lucas, will retire at the end of 2021 after 35 years with the company.

Hale joined Lucasfilm in 1986 as the company’s sole publicist, working out of an office at Skywalker Ranch. She helped usher in a new era of Star Wars when she led her first major campaign, 1999’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and became known to fans during the leadup thanks to Lynne’s Diaries, a behind-the-scenes video series published on StarWars.com. She also oversaw the campaigns for prequel trilogy titles Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005).

“George took a chance on me early in my career and gave me the opportunity to not only learn from a visionary filmmaker, but also from...

“Friends, our business together is done,” Al Pacino’s mob family patriarch says in the official trailer for Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. And Francis Ford Coppola hopes the new conclusion to the mafia saga takes care of all family business. For the 30th anniversary of The Godfather: Part III, the director and screenwriter will release a new edit and restoration of the final film of The Godfather trilogy.

The Godfather: Part III was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Goodfellas, released that same year, only got six nominations. Neither won Best Picture. Before that The Godfather III had been one of the most anticipated films of all time, but wound up being one of the most maligned theatrical releases.

It has become shorthand to describe cinematic disappointment. Coppola had delivered Paramount Pictures two major motion picture achievements, which...

They say you Can’t Go Home Again, but Francis Coppola has pulled a real magic trick — his 1984 gangland musical ended up heavily compromised by outright racism producers that didn’t like the half of the story that favored a black show-biz drama. All the gangster action has been retained in this impressive Encore recut, but with twenty new minutes of performances and backstage intrigues. Gregory and Maurice Hines’ tap dances are extended, and musical numbers have been restored, with the terrific Lonette McKee getting special emphasis. The show was always good, and now it’s much better.

The Cotton Club Encore

Blu-ray + DVD + Digital

Lionsgate

1984-2019 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 139 min. (originally 119) / Street Date December 10, 2019 / 14.99

Starring: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Gregory Hines, Lonette McKee, Bob Hoskins, Maurice Hines, James Remar, Nicolas Cage, Allen Garfield, Fred Gwynne, Gwen Verdon, Julian Beck, John P. Ryan.

Cinematography: Stephen Goldblatt

Production Designer: Richard Sylbert

Film Editors: Robert Q. Lovett,...

Exclusive: A biographical series about President Richard Nixon is in the works for television. Lightbridge Entertainment has teamed with Oscar-winning writer Ron Bass (Rain Man) to adapt Evan Thomas’ New York Times bestselling biography Being Nixon: A Man Divided as a six-hour narrative limited series. Bass will pen the adaptation and serve as an Executive Producer on the series alongside Lightbridge Entertainment founder and CEO Terry Botwick.

Voted and named one of the top 10 nonfiction books of 2015, Being Nixon covers Nixon’s entire life. It is described as a portrait of an incredibly fascinating and consequential man who remains one of America’s most studied presidents, a brilliant, relentless foreign policy strategist and political savant whose career in American politics spanned nearly five decades and whose legacy forever bears the stains of Watergate.

The project is particularly timely given the impeachment inquiry and current scandals surrounding President Donald Trump, who...

Film editor Barry Malkin, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for his many collaborations with Francis Ford Coppola, died Thursday. He was 80.

Malkin began his career in 1963 as an apprentice to Dede Allen on Elia Kazan’s “America America.” He was first credited as an editor for his work on “The Patty Duke Show.” Through his friendship with editor and director Aram Avakian, Malkin was introduced to Francis Ford Coppola, and was hired to edit Coppola’s 1969 film “The Rain People.”

“The Rain People” began a long collaboration between the director and editor. Malkin would work either by himself or as part of the editing team on eight additional Coppola productions. Most significantly, Malkin worked on three “Godfather” projects: “The Godfather, Part II” alongside Richard Marks and Peter Zinner in 1974; “The Godfather Saga,” which edited “The Godfather” parts one and two into a chronological TV miniseries featuring scenes not included in the theatrical releases,...

Film editor Barry Malkin, who was nominated for two Oscars for Francis Ford Coppola films “The Godfather: Part III” and “The Cotton Club,” died Thursday. He was 80.

Malkin’s career in film editing last more than 40 years, and he is credited for working on more than 30 films in his lifetime. Most notably, he teamed up with Coppola on 11 of his feature films.

He first worked as an apprentice to Dede Allen, one of the pioneers of auteur film editing on Elia Kazan’s “America America” in 1963. He grew up in the same Queens neighborhood as Coppola, a fact the two realized when Malkin worked with the famed director on “The Rain People” in 1969. He came on board the “Godfather” saga with “Part II” in 1974, then went on to edit “Part III” and “The Godfather Trilogy,” a TV miniseries that combined the three films. He also served as film editor on Coppola’s “Rumble Fish,...

Francis Coppola’s get-out-of-debt directorial assignments may not be his most personal movies, but this one is satisfying just the same, with its marvelous, mellow ensemble cast. It’s a movie to admire, as it’s not easy to attract an audience to a show about the Army’s burial detail.

Gardens of Stone

Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1987 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 111 min. / Street Date January 21, 2019 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £17.33

Starring: James Caan, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones, D.B. Sweeney, Dean Stockwell, Mary Stuart Masterson, Dick Anthony Williams, Lonette McKee, Sam Bottoms, Elias Koteas, Laurence Fishburne, Casey Siemaszko, Peter Masterson, Carlin Glynn, Bill Graham.

Cinematography: Jordan Cronenweth

Film Editor: Barry Malkin

Original Music: Carmine Coppola

Written by Ronald Bass from the novel by Nicholas Proffitt

Produced by Francis Ford Coppola, Michael I. Levy

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Let’s make a feel-good movie about the Dead of War! I don...

Chicago – When Johnny comes marching home again, as the old song goes, we’ll give him a hearty welcome then. Most Americans truncate that to the phrase, “Thank You for Your Service,” which is the title of a new film featuring Miles Teller, who portrays Iraq War veteran Adam Schumann, and is the directorial debut of Jason Hall.

The film is about the lingering effects of being on a battlefield, and the lack of care given to the soldiers who have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd). Adam Schumann (Teller) comes home from the Iraq War to his wife and kids, along with a couple other buddies from his unit, Will and Solo (Joe Cole and Beulah Koale). As they try to assimilate back to normalcy, Will takes his own life. This triggers buried war traumas in Adam and Solo, and they lash out in different ways against the battle fatigue and families.

Elias Koteas knows well what it's like to go from job to job in movies, but he's learning what it takes to be a weekly series star.

A chameleon who has played often-edgy characters in a vast range of films -- from "Some Kind of Wonderful" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" to "Shutter Island" and "Let Me In" -- the Montreal-born actor is back in Canada making "Combat Hospital," a drama about a military medical unit in Afghanistan circa 2006. ABC debuts the show Tuesday, June 21, the same night it's set to premiere on Canada's Global network.

Koteas has done guest roles on such shows as "The Sopranos" and "House," and he tells Zap2it, "I'm all in" as he plays the colonel in charge of the "Combat Hospital" doctors. "It really is a lot of hard work. It's an endurance thing. You're so immersed in it, you don't really have time for anything else.

HollywoodNews.com: The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted last night to present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producer-director Francis Ford Coppola and Honorary Awards to historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director Jean-Luc Godard and actor Eli Wallach. All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 2nd Annual Governors Awards dinner on Saturday, November 13, at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center®.

“Each of these honorees has touched movie audiences worldwide and influenced the motion picture industry through their work,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “It will be an honor to celebrate their extraordinary achievements and contributions at the Governors Awards.”

Brownlow is widely regarded as the preeminent historian of the silent film era as well as a preservationist. Among his many silent film restoration projects are Abel Gance’s 1927 epic “Napoleon,” Rex Ingram’s “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse...

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted last night to present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producer-director Francis Ford Coppola and Honorary Awards to historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director Jean-Luc Godard and actor Eli Wallach. All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 2nd Annual Governors Awards dinner on Saturday, November 13, at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.

“Each of these honorees has touched movie audiences worldwide and influenced the motion picture industry through their work,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “It will be an honor to celebrate their extraordinary achievements and contributions at the Governors Awards.”

Brownlow is widely regarded as the preeminent historian of the silent film era as well as a preservationist. Among his many silent film restoration projects are Abel Gance’s 1927 epic “Napoleon,” Rex Ingram’s “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse...

Actors D.B. Sweeney and Cuba Gooding Jr. have launched a new initiative to support Us troops overseas called Letter From Hollywood.

The initiative aims to get messages of support from the entertainment industry to the troops stationed away from home.

“It’s been my very good fortune to meet so many of you, the men and women in uniform serving our country,” writes D.B. Sweeney, whose films include “The Cutting Edge,” “Gardens of Stone,” “Memphis Belle,” and “Eight Men Out.” "I’ve seen first hand the great work you do all around the world under dangerous and often very challenging conditions. I’m extremely grateful for the sacrifices you and your families make every day to keep America safe. I’ve come across many other people in show business who also support you. Quietly appreciate the admirable reasons you volunteered and the ideals you uphold. And that’s what Letter From Hollywood is all about.

American TV/film actor Sam Bottoms has died of a brain tumour, aged 53.

He passed away on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles, California.

Bottoms, with his older brothers Timothy and Joseph, and younger brother, Ben, made regular appearances in both movies and TV shows during the 1970s - notably Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now.

His first film credit was in 1971's The Last Picture Show, prompting a long line of commercial and TV stints including a role in 1981 mini-series East of Eden.

Bottoms' later film credits include Bronco Billy, directed by Clint Eastwood, Gardens of Stone, directed by Coppola, and most recently, 2003's Seabiscuit, alongside Tobey Maguire, in which he played an assistant trainer.

In addition to his three brothers, Bottoms is survived by his parents, James and Elizabeth Chapman Bottoms, his second wife, Laura Conde Bickford, a film producer; and two daughters from his first marriage, Clara and Io. Laura Bickford[/link]...