- Title: Coppola talks about school days with Trump
- Date: 9th November 2016
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (NOVEMBER 9, 2016) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA SITS DOWN STOCKHOLM FILM FESTIVAL POSTER NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, SAYING: "You know most people when they die they think 'I wish I had done this, I wish I had done that, I wish I had done something else'. When I die, I'm going to say in the moment of death I'm going to say 'I got to make movies, I got to see my children make movies and I got to make the kind of personal movies that I wanted to do and I got to be in the wine business' and I'm going to be so busy thinking of all the things that I did that when I die, I won't notice it." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS CAMERA OPERATOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, SAYING: "It's interesting. All of our family - the Coppola generation now - every one of them is an artist and some of them acclaimed you know so you wonder how did that happen, they were just poor people who came from Italy and what happened that made these new generations come alive in this way so I'm trying to look at that and understand what was going on in relation to the culture in America at that time because that's a great time to look at America from - turn of the century to now." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, SAYING: "It's a cycle of plays or screen plays - that means more than one - and it deals with a family, very fictionalised of a family like mine, and it's beginning in the 19th century going all the way through contemporary time and it juxtaposes the story of this family with the phenomenon of television and it will be performed live in theatres. Hopefully in Stockholm you'll go the theatre at 8 o'clock and you will see it and it will look as a movie, but we will be doing it for you." COPPOLA SEEN ON CAMERA DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, SAYING: "When an artist comes new on the scene everyone is impressed 'oh there is a new person' but then he or she makes a success and people expect that to keep continuing which is sort of hard to do. Even like when I make those Godfather films I never wanted to make more than one. Then I made two and I said 'ok, that's it' and then I went into some bankruptcy or so and I needed some money. If you look at those kinds of movies, like a trilogy or tetralogy, the last one is always the weakest because you use up what made it interesting." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS COPPOLA LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, SAYING: "The American film directors of that generation remain friends and in touch with each other... George Lucas lives near where I live in Northern California so I get to see him more. Steven (Spielberg) of course is very busy and lives in Los Angeles and I don't see him so much and Marty (Martin Scorsese) is totally always busy so you don't get to see him so much and they all know each other are friends." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, ON TRUMP, SAYING: "Out of so many people who felt compelled to vote for Donald Trump maybe hopefully there is some wisdom in that. I do know him, in fact I went to the same military school that he did. I went for a year and a half and I ran away. He was sent there at thirteen so I guess if he was sort of a rich kid sent off to military school at thirteen there must have been a reason." COPPOLA AT NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, ON TRUMP, SAYING: "He's not really an ideologue, he's really very, my impression is that he's a really practical person and I think that's a good thing. (It would be) worse if he were some arch right-wing thinker which I don't think he is, but I know nothing." COPPOLA DRINKING WATER MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, SAYING IN REPLY TO QUESTION ON WHAT ADVICE HE WOULD GIVE TO YOUNG FILMMAKERS: "To you? Get married. Are you married?" (audio of man saying 'no') COPPOLA ON CAMERA DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, SAYING: "I was married when I was 22 and I had children so that when I was, you know, so called struggling but I didn't struggle because I was so motivated to take care of my family so I was successful. If you were a women I'd say 'don't get married'." NEWS CONFERENCE ENDS
- Embargoed: 24th November 2016 12:50
- Keywords: Francis Ford Coppola Stockholm Film Festival director Donald Trump
- Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- City: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- Country: Sweden
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA00157Q5TTZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Veteran film maker Francis Ford Coppola is in the Swedish capital to pick up the Stockholm Lifetime Achievement Award at the Stockholm Film Festival.
Attending a news conference only hours after the United States election result was announced, Coppola said he was surprised at the result which saw Donald Trump being elected the country's 45th president.
He also he and Trump had both attended the New York Military Academy.
"I do know him, in fact I went to the same military school that he did. I went for a year and a half and I ran away. He was sent there at thirteen so I guess if he was sort of a rich kid sent off to military school at thirteen there must have been a reason," he said.
Coppola also said Trump was a practical person and not an ideologue.
"He's not really an ideologue, he's really very, my impression is that he's a really practical person and I think that's a good thing. (It would be) worse if he were some arch right-wing thinker which I don't think he is, but I know nothing," he said.
Looking back at his career, the 77-year-old said he had no regrets.
"You know most people when they die they think 'I wish I had done this, I wish I had done that, I wish I had done something else'. When I die, I'm going to say in the moment of death I'm going to say 'I got to make movies, I got to see my children make movies and I got to make the kind of personal movies that I wanted to do and I got to be in the wine business' and I'm going to be so busy thinking of all the things that I did that when I die, I won't notice it," he told a news conference.
Coppola said his latest project was also his dream project and is a fictionalised version of his own family's story and begins in Italy.
It is a multi-generational saga beginning in the 19th century and will be shown as a live performance piece.
"It's a cycle of plays or screen plays - that means more than one - and it deals with a family, very fictionalised of a family like mine, and it's beginning in the 19th century going all the way through contemporary time and it juxtaposes the story of this family with the phenomenon of television and it will be performed live in theatres," he said.
The Oscar-winning director's career spans 50 years, highlighted by films such as "The Godfather" trilogy and "Apocalypse Now" and five Oscar wins.
Asked what would be his advice to young filmmakers, he had a short reply: "Get married".
"I was married when I was 22 and I had children so that when I was, you know, so called struggling but I didn't struggle because I was so motivated to take care of my family so I was successful," he elaborated.
But he also had a word of advice to young female directors: "If you were a women I'd say 'don't get married'".
Coppola will be awarded the Bronze Horse at a ceremony on the Wednesday evening (November 9). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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