Just as George Lucas is retreating from big budgets, his buddy Francis Ford Coppola is coming back. After a self-imposed hiatus from studio filmmaking, Coppola is stepping back into the realm of Hollywood movie-making. The 73 year old icon was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly about his upcoming box set of Blu-ray films and was asked about his next project.
“I have a secret investor that has infinite money. I learned what I learned from my three smaller films, and wanted to write a bigger film. I’ve been writing it. It’s so ambitious so I decided to go to L.A. and make a film out of a studio that has all the costume rentals, and where all the actors are. My story is set in New York. I have a first draft. I’m really ready for a casting phase. Movies are big in proportion to the period. It starts in the middle of the ‘20s, and there are sections in the ‘30s and the late ‘40s, and it goes until the late ‘60s.”
Coppola’s GODFATHER films successfully crossed multiple decades and featured a ton of characters, so I have no doubt he can handle a massive story. But, after his experimental films YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH, TETRO, and TWIXT, can Coppola handle a huge project like this? Despite being an iconic director, remember that his last big budget efforts included BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, JACK, and THE RAINMAKER. None of those were exactly classics.
It is likely too soon to get excited for this. Coppola did say it was just a first draft, but he does have an office at Paramount Pictures now, so we may be seeing more from him either as a director or producer.
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