241 Quotes by Francis Ford Coppola

I always knew what I thought the theme was, the core, in one word. In ‘The Godfather’ it was succession. In ‘The Conversation’ it was privacy. In ‘Apocalypse’ it was morality.

It’s ironic that at age 32, at probably the greatest moment of my career, with The Godfather having such an enormous success, I wasn’t even aware of it, because I was somewhere else under the deadline again.

I landed a job with Roger Corman. The job was to write the English dialogue for a Russian science fiction picture. I didn’t speak any Russian. He didn’t care whether I could understand what they were saying; he wanted me to make up dialogue.

I still think Ned Beatty should’ve played Don Corleone.

I wanted to be a film student again, as a man in my 60s. To go someplace alone and see what you can cook up, with non-existent budgets. I didn’t want to be surrounded by comforts and colleagues, which you have when when you’re a big time director. I wanted to write personal works.

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.

I was interested in the idea of succession – showing a father and a son both in their own time and drawing a contrast.

They needed someone to write a script of The Great Gatsby very quickly for the movie they were making. I took this job so I’d be sure to have some dough to support my family.

I’ve been failing for, like, ten or eleven years. When it turns, it’ll turn. Right now I’m just trying to squeeze through a very tight financial period, get the movie out, and put my things in order.