Francis Ford Coppola Quotes

Most Italians who came to this country are very patriotic. There was this exciting possibility that if you worked real hard, and you loved something, you could become successful.

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

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.

We were raised in an Italian-American household, although we didn`t speak Italian in the house. We were very proud of being Italian, and had Italian music, ate Italian food.

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.

You`re in a profession in which absolutely everybody is telling you their opinion, which is different. That`s one of the reasons George Lucas never directed again.

You ought to love what you`re doing because, especially in a movie, over time you really will start to hate it.

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.

Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.

Art depends on luck and talent.

Happiness is happiness.

Most directors have one masterpiece by which they are known, or possibly two. Kurosawa has at least eight or nine. - on Akira Kurosawa

(On his film, Apocalypse Now (1979), at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival) "My movie is not about Vietnam... my movie is Vietnam."

If the movie works, nobody notices the mistakes... If the movie doesn`t work, the only thing people notice are mistakes.

You don't have to specialize - do everything that you love and then, at some time, the future will come together for you in some form.

Lots of people have criticized my movies, but nobody has ever identified the real problem: I`m a sloppy filmmaker.

What the studios want now is "risk-free" films but with any sort of art you have to take risks. Not taking risks in art is like not having sex and then expecting there to be children.

I had a little fantasy that goes like this: I`m getting to be an influential person in San Francisco; what if I and five other powerful guys with cigars got together in a smoke-filled room to decide who would be the next mayor of San Francisco? We`d do it because we`re good guys and we really want the city to be wonderful for everybody. Then I thought, what`s the difference between five good guys holding that kind of power and five bad guys? Just good intentions, and intentions can be corrupted.

I just feel that at a certain point you have to go back to the beginning again. The best thing for me at this point in my life is to become a student again and make movies with the eyes I had when I was enthusiastic about it in the first place.

The easiest way to make sure a movie is successful is to make a traditional movie very well. If you make a slightly unusual movie or (don`t) exactly follow the rules as everyone sees them, then you get in trouble or, like with Apocalypse, wait 20 years to hear that was really good.

If you don`t bet, you don`t have a chance to win.

In a sense, I think a movie is really a little like a question and when you make it, that`s when you get the answer.

I bring to my life a certain amount of mess.

The Godfather changed my life, for better or worse. It definitely made me have an older man`s film career when I was 29. So now I say, `If I had my older career when I was young, as an older man, maybe I can have a young film-maker`s career.`

When you lose your kid, it`s the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning for about seven or eight years. Then there`s the first morning when that`s not the first thing you think of. You get brave.

I probably have genius. But no talent.

Wall Streets got interested in film and communications, and these are the people who brought you the Big Mac. In the past twelve years, I can`t think of one classic they`ve made. (1996)

I think if there was a role that Robert De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don`t think Jack Nicholson would. Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he`s a little bit like Marlon Brando, except Brando went through some tough times. I guess they don`t want to do it anymore

All of a sudden, there are great Japanese films, or great Italian films, or great Australian films. It`s usually because there are a number of people that cross- pollinated each other.

Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.

Initially, the idea of a sequel seemed horrible to me. It sounded like a tacky spin-off, and I used to joke that the only way I`d do it was if they`d let me film `Abbott and Costello Meet the Godfather`- that would have been fun. Then I entertained some Russian film executives who were visiting San Francisco and they asked me if I was going to make `The Godfather Part II`. That was the first time I heard the phrase used; I guess you could say I stole the title from the Russians. In short, it seemed like such a terrible idea that I was intrigued by the thought of pulling it off. Simple as that.

Basically, both the Mafia and America feel they are benevolent organizations. And both the Mafia and America have their hands stained with blood from what it is necessary to do to protect their power and interests.

Art depends on luck and talent.

I don`t think there`s any artist of any value who doesn`t doubt what they`re doing.