Francis Ford Coppola Quotes

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Francis Ford Coppola

Profession : Director

Birth : April 7, 1939

I wrote the script of Patton. I had this very bizarre opening where he stands up in front of an American flag and gives this speech. Ultimately, I was fired. When the script was done, they hired another writer and that script was forgotten.

Francis Ford Coppola

When I was about 9, I had polio, and people were very frightened for their children, so you tended to be isolated. I was paralyzed for a while, so I watched television.

Francis Ford Coppola

I just admire people like Woody Allen, who every year writes an original screenplay. It's astonishing. I always wished that I could do that.

Francis Ford Coppola

I probably have genius. But no talent.

Francis Ford Coppola

I remember teachers who really singled me out for their discouragement.

Francis Ford Coppola

When I was sixteen or seventeen, I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a playwright. But everything I wrote, I thought, was weak. And I can remember falling asleep in tears because I had no talent the way I wanted to have.

Francis Ford Coppola

I liked to work in a shop down in the basement and invent things and build gadgets.

Francis Ford Coppola

Most filmmakers can't afford to try something out that doesn't work.

Francis Ford Coppola

Listen, if there's one sure-fire rule that I have learned in this business, it's that I don't know anything about human nature.

Francis Ford Coppola

I'm no longer dependent on the movie business to make a living. So if I want to make movies as other old guys would play golf, I can.

Francis Ford Coppola

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

When that happens - when risk is taken and the filmmakers dive into the subject matter without a parachute - very often what you get it something with those qualities that make it age well with the public.

Francis Ford Coppola

My film is not a movie; it's not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam.

Francis Ford Coppola

The professional world was much more unpleasant than I thought. I was always wishing I could get back that enthusiasm I had when I was doing shows at college.

Francis Ford Coppola

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

To make great movies, there is an element of risk. You have to say, 'Well, I am going to make this film, and it is not really a sure thing.'

Francis Ford Coppola

I know that if a film is ready to emerge out of what I write, I'll be able to go off and make it without asking anyone's permission.

Francis Ford Coppola

Everything I do is personal. I have never made a movie that didn't have very strong personal resonance.

Francis Ford Coppola

I live near San Francisco in the most beautiful spot on earth and enjoy myself in many ways. Yes, I love to work, which for now is to think and read and write, so it's all a dream come true.

Francis Ford Coppola

I have much to learn from my daughter Sofia. Her minimalism exposes my limitations: I'm too instinctive and operatic, I put too much heart into my work, I get lost sometimes in bizarre things - it's my Italian heritage.

Francis Ford Coppola