The one actor Francis Ford Coppola always wanted to work with: “I would love to do a film with him”
Without a doubt, Francis Ford Coppola is one of the most important filmmakers in history. Even if he’d just made the first two Godfather movies, he’d still be seen as a visionary. Instead, we’ve also had the likes of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now.
He’s a living legend, no doubt about it, but, in a fragrant reminder of life’s awful duality, he’s also the most embarrassing man to have ever lived.
The drop in quality in the Oscar winner’s work has been frightening. How the same person directed both Marlon Brando in The Godfather and Robin Williams in Jack is nothing short of baffling. It’s not just the on-screen stuff that’s worrying.
Reports of Coppola behaving inappropriately with female extras dogged the release of Megalopolis, a film that really didn’t need any more bad press. Combine this with his recent comments about Hollywood is “too woke” these days, and it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to champion him in any way.
Speaking with Deseret News, Coppola evoked another name with a similarly spotty track record. When asked which actors he would like to work with, he pulled out a name that immediately struck fear into the hearts of mortal men. “Mel Gibson,” he replied. “I would love to do a film with him. But it’s just a matter of finding the right project.”
To give Coppola some credit, something I really hate to do, these comments were made in 1996. Gibson had displayed some of his self-diagnosed “self-destructive tendencies” by this point, like making unsavoury comments about the LGBTQ+ community to a Spanish newspaper in 1991. His biggest controversies, however, were still a few years away. You know the stuff I mean. The stuff that got him blacklisted from Hollywood for several years and has (correctly) followed him around ever since. That stuff.
As well as both resembling the problematic family member you’re forced to sit next to at Christmas, Coppola and Gibson actually have a lot in common. They’re both ‘Best Director’ winners at the Oscars, both have financed their own films when nobody else would, and both have put out some absolute dross over the past few years. Between Megalopolis and Flight Risk, it would be a minor miracle if either of them ever made a film again. Don’t rule it out, though. The world is a cruel place.
Unlike Coppola, who is currently in the Hollywood equivalent of the dog house, Gibson actually managed to get his career back on track. After years of sitting on the fringes, he made a huge comeback with Hacksaw Ridge in 2016. The film received rave reviews, Gibson scored a second ‘Best Director’ nod, and it seemed as if all had been forgiven. Then the Australian was announced as Donald Trump’s ‘Special Ambassador to Hollywood’, prompting everyone to remember why they’d been ignoring him in the first place.
Not to be flippant, but with Coppola set to turn 87 years old in 2026, time is running out for these two wrinkly wronguns to work together. However, should that never happen for one reason or another, I don’t think it will be any great loss.
