Francis Ford Coppola names his ultimate cinematic hero: “He just had this wonderful appetite to understand things”
When a titan of cinema, writer, director, producer, and all-around visionary names their ultimate hero, it’s worth paying attention. Although Francis Ford Coppola has the credentials to consider himself an equal to anyone to have worked in the movie industry past, present, or future, it turns out that even the five-time Academy Award winner has people he looks up to.
The Godfather alone was enough to secure legendary status for the filmmaker, but he wasn’t done there. He followed one of the greatest movies ever made with another one of the greatest movies ever made when he crafted Part II and then added The Conversation and Apocalypse Now to the collection to underline his status as an all-time great.
Despite the awards, the adoration, and the fact he’s made several of the best films ever, the director never lost his ability to see and respect genius in others. As a result, his hero list is short but absolutely apt. And it includes just one single name: an actor, an icon, an oft-misunderstood genius, and the star who did more than anyone else to permanently alter the landscape of screen acting.
Just like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and countless other leading lights of the ‘New Hollywood’ era, Coppola was enthralled by Marlon Brando. The legend’s career was sliding downwards before the role of Vito Corleone gave him a new lease of life to go along with his second wind and second Oscar, and they reunited again under more unprofessional circumstances when the method man got up to his usual tricks on the set of Apocalypse Now.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Coppola was asked if he had any heroes, and there was only one name at the forefront of his mind. “Marlon Brando,” he answered unequivocally. “He could talk for hours about termites, or about the early Chinese settlers in America, or how shortwave radios worked. He just had this wonderful appetite to understand things.”
Most people would celebrate Brando’s contributions to acting and the wider world of cinema, but not Coppola. Termites, Chinese settlers, and developments in radio technology may not be the first things that come to mind when revisiting the icon’s legacy, but neither is it particularly surprising, given his well-known eccentricities.
Brando was a singular talent when the cameras were rolling and a unique personality when they weren’t; his impact is undeniable. If living legends like Coppola, De Niro, Pacino, and Nicholson virtually worship the ground he walked on and hold him in the highest esteem as a friend, collaborator, inspiration, idol, and hero, then it’s hard to argue. They may have had their differences, but The Godfather and Apocalypse Now were proof enough that the actor and filmmaker could make magic together.
