In the year 2000 another milestone occurred in the Coppola family. Jacqui de la Fontaine, considered a valuable member of the Coppola clan both for her own qualities and as the mother of Francis and Eleanor's only grandchild Gia, announced her engagement to Peter Getty, eldest son of Ann and Gordon Getty and an heir to the Getty fortune. Jacqui had been close to the Coppolas, and in the early years after Gio's death and Gia's birth, Jacqui and Gia were physically part of the Coppola family. Jacqui worked on The Godfather Part III as a wardrobe assistant, and Gia was in tow in Rome and Sicily in accordance with Francis's practice of bringing his family with him on extended productions. Little Gia can be seen waltzing with Al Pacino and Sofia in a dance originally intended only for Michael and Mary Corleone. Gia was on the set as her aunt had been as a little girl, and when she saw Sofia dancing she wanted to join in. Eleanor Coppola noted the incident in her diary. “Today Sofia did the scene where she waltzes with Al. It was so sweet, so reminiscent of Marlon waltzing with Tally.’…”During the shot, Gia ran on the dance floor and grabbed hold of Sofia's skirt. Francis let the cameras roll. I would wager that spontaneous moment will end up in the final cut.”1 Predictably, Gia was memorialized in the Godfather saga.
After The Godfather Part III, Jacqui was hired as a costume designer for several films during the 1990s. She was a hard-working, independent individual and built a life for herself and Gia in the Hollywood Hills home Eleanor and Francis had purchased for her and Gia. When the Coppolas were told of her impending marriage to Peter Getty they were genuinely thrilled. Getty seemed to embrace the now adolescent Gia, and this was comforting for the grandparents. The Napa Valley estate was chosen as the locale for the wedding, and Francis Coppola walked the bride down the aisle. An admiring Jacqui commented about this gesture. “He's not my real father, and he didn't have to, but he took real responsibility.”2 Coppola is nothing if not loyal and devoted to family. The wedding was elegant. Jacqui wore a $100,000 Oscar de la Renta gown and was escorted on the arm of Francis Coppola as the San Francisco Philharmonic orchestra played in the background. At the time, it seemed like a fairy tale romance for de la Fontaine.
Also that year Roman Coppola decided to try his hand as writer/director of a feature film. CQ was to be homage to several films that were part of the French nouvelle vague and the moviemaking scene during the late 1960s radical period in Paris. Roman was actually born in a suburb of Paris in 1965 when his father was there writing a screenplay version of Is Paris Burning? Roman could have chosen a serious subject but instead decided on a send-up to some of the genres of the period. The “CQ” translates to “seek you”—part of the film's theme about seeking love. The references most frequently cited in CQ are Barbarella, directed by Roger Vadim, starring his wife at the time, Jane Fonda, and David Holtzman's Diary, directed by James McBride. Barbarella is based on a French comic book series and is futuristic—the year is 2001 (the year CQ was made), like the film being made in CQ, called Dragonfly. David Holtzman's Diary is a faux cinéma vérité documentary about a filmmaker. In CQ there is a character making a documentary film within a film.
The movie's obvious strengths are in its visuals and adherence to the essentials of the genres. They are all presented in a lighthearted, playful manner with exacting detail, no doubt with the benefit of production designer Dean Tavalouris. Also referenced is Dino De Laurentiis, expertly caricatured by Giancarlo Giannini. Gérard Depardieu is superb as Dragonfly’s radical director. Sofia Coppola has a cameo as Gianinni's paramour, and Jason Schwartzman is smarmy as the replacement director. There is an obligatory chase scene complete with the bells and whistles of a futuristic car reminiscent of James Bond, and the color palette created by Robert Yeoman (Wes Anderson's cinematographer) is true to the period and the excesses of the film.
Apparently when Roman Coppola screened the film outside of competition at Cannes, it was poorly received. Before its general release it was re-edited. CQ did not catch on with the general audiences. It had a short run and was not profitable. Nevertheless, it was a learning experience for him. Roman observes, “If you're going to make a movie, especially a first-time movie, you make it about a world you're familiar with.”3 That rings true for a member of the Coppola clan.
In 2000 Francis Ford Coppola made the creative and energizing decision to revisit the film that had cost him three years of his professional life, had compromised his health, had jeopardized the stability of his marriage and livelihood, and had subjected him to ridicule and rancor from the Hollywood press. He decided to reevaluate Apocalypse Now. With distance he believed the viewing audience was prepared to absorb the film in what should have been its totality. In an Esquire magazine interview he had stated, “ten or fifteen years after Apocalypse Now, I was in England in a hotel, and I watched the beginning of it and ultimately ended up watching the whole movie. And it wasn't as weird as I thought. It had in a way, widened what people would tolerate in a movie.”4 Coppola discussed the idea with Kim Aubry, who was at Zoetrope overseeing the digital preservation of its film library. Aubry, vice president for post production and technology, explained, “Initially it was a research project to see if we could cut in some of the old scenes rather than just offering them as bonus extras. We went back to the old dailies and the whole thing snowballed.”5
In the spring of 2000, Coppola asked his trusted longtime colleague Walter Murch to re-edit Apocalypse Now. Coppola envisioned an expanded version of the film to be released as a 25th anniversary edition (of the cessation of the Vietnam conflict) with several scenes that had not made the final cut to appear in the revised edition. These kinds of reissues are generally known as the “director's cut” and show a fuller version than the released film. This version is closer to the director's original intention before time, money, and other constraints require shortening the final product. By 2000 the business of DVD reissues was growing in scope and often included alternate versions, outtakes, commentaries that ran simultaneous to the visual track, and interviews with members of the cast and crew. These special editions provided viewers with a new expanded experience related to a film they had seen in the movie theater or a fresh experience for a viewer who had never seen the film.
When Coppola approached Murch, it may have been this type of rerelease that he had in mind, but rather quickly Murch knew that a more complex and exciting redux would be in the offing. When Murch discussed the necessary ingredients to make a powerful new experience out of the 1979 Apocalypse Now, he believed it would be more restoration and reimagining than an expanded version with extras, and Coppola agreed. Coppola asked Kim Aubry to coproduce this new venture, knowing he could rely on Aubry's technological savvy and his knowledge from the 1979 film.
Much had changed with the passage of time. Vietnam and the United States had normalized relations in 1995. The country was no longer as viscerally divided about the painful conflict. Many other films had examined aspects of the Vietnam War: Platoon, Good Morning, Vietnam, In Country, Full Metal Jacket, and Born on the Fourth of July.
For a generation of filmgoers Apocalypse Now had entered the vernacular. “I love the smell of Napalm in the morning” might not have been as recognizable as “Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn,”6 but it was a familiar movie reference to a major slice of the population.
As often happens with concise ideas, the execution was not quite so simple. Murch almost immediately discovered that some of the deleted scenes Francis wanted reinstated had never been finalized. They would require sound work and reshoots, dubbing, and other technical massaging. As Murch delved into the assignment Coppola had given him, in order for it to meet Murch's technical standards the task grew increasingly complex. Rather than shut down or pull back, Murch forged ahead. In a business where challenges build exponentially, Murch is one in a million. He approaches each task with intellect, intuition, invention, generosity, and incredible dedication. Apocalypse Now Redux would be no different.
The team began assessing the status of the film materials. For the section of the film that had not seen the light of day, known as the French Plantation sequence, much finishing was required. Francis was particularly desirous of including this tableau. The plantation family was French, their home abutting the river. They were vestiges from French Indochina and France's long stronghold in the territory. The family represented a historical perspective regarding occupation of Vietnam and Indochina. The original motivation was to demonstrate that Vietnam was a country that historically had foreign intruders—French imperialism had a long and troublesome story in the region. Including a dinner-table discussion between this French family and an American military interloper underscores the superiority and proprietorship the French feel even at this late date while Americans are in active conflict. When the film was being cut in 1979, this back history seemed to weigh down an already long river trip and disrupt the rhythm and flow of the final journey. The notion had been to always stay on the river. Now, more than 20 years later, the plantation scene had a purpose. The audience was asked to take a longer view of America's presence in Vietnam to see more clearly the futility of U.S. intervention after many previous and futile intrusions. By allowing this interlude off-river, this anachronistic, intelligent, if aloof family unit provides a history lesson through Willard's eyes. And Willard has a brief interlude with young Roxanne, who invokes a feminine life-affirming flicker for Willard as he approaches his destiny. Aesthetically, Dean Tavalouris has created a cocoon-like enclave that encapsulates the group for a brief time. With intimate dream-like lighting and sharp sunlight in Willard's eyes, the moments at the plantation are an uneasy respite before the journey's final thrust. The acting is superb, especially that of Aurore Clément (wife of production designer Tavalouris).
To accomplish the incorporation of this sequence Murch first had to complete the scene, upgrading the prints to state-of-the-art 35mm Technicolor dye transfers. The visual result was saturated color and improved detailing of darker images. Vittorio Storaro was very pleased with the Technicolor dye transfer, which separated the primary colors and physically rubbed them onto the film. For sound, Murch did a remix using the most current digital sound mixing—Dolby sound. Because the decision had been made to recut and remix every scene that would appear in Redux, the ultimate challenge was to conform the entire narrative sonically and visually. As producer Aubry explains, “Apocalypse Now is mostly known for its seamless, very complex soundtrack with original impressionistic ambiences and unusual score. We had to find a way to ‘break in’ to this track ten or eleven times with new dialogue and new locations while never breaking the feeling of the old track.”7 Several of the actors made themselves available to redub their dialogue.
The nuances in the re-editing create a different rhythm to the film. There are additions that clarify some of the questions that existed in the original version. We are now able to see the burial of Clean and the Chief's reaction and obvious affection for him. Most significant is a more meaningful conclusion and expanded performance by Marlon Brando, which explains his inner turmoil. He reads news articles aloud to Willard; these TIME magazine columns claim that the war is going well and propagandize the American position in Southeast Asia. Brando is seen upright and in sunlight. He reads T.’S. Eliot's “The Hollow Men.” What is still in some respects an unsatisfying performance by Brando becomes more coherent with these additions.
The overall effect of Apocalypse Now Redux is to corroborate Coppola's belief that the film isn't about Vietnam, but that it is Vietnam. Redux, created more than two decades after the conflict, sharpens the calamity of that war. Coppola always believed Apocalypse Now was an antiwar film. Seen in the Redux context, it is clear that Coppola's intention was to reveal the impossibility that the Vietnam War was justified.
Apocalypse Now Redux premiered out of competition at Cannes in May 2001. In August it had a limited release and earned approximately $4.5 million. Both versions are on the record. DVD viewers can see either version or both in the dossier release. Reaction to Redux was mixed, but two prominent film critics were more than enthusiastic. Roger Ebert considers it one of the central events of his life as a moviegoer. David Thomson writing for the New York Times observes that Murch and Coppola have “finally trusted and freed the proper film”8 with the reflection of 22 years and an additional 53 minutes. In sum, the filmmaking experience of Apocalypse Now could be put to rest. As to Murch's influence, Coppola acknowledges Murch's unique value as a fellow filmmaker and close friend and colleague. On the cover of Murch's book In the Blink of an Eye, Coppola is quoted—“Nothing is as fascinating as spending hours listening to Walter's theories of life and cinema and his countless tidbits of wisdom, which he leaves behind him like Hansel and Gretel's trail of bread: guidance and nourishment.”9
Since directing The Rainmaker in 1997, Coppola had not stopped producing and executive producing. That same year Francis executive produced Buddy, directed by Caroline Thompson, who had been the screenwriter of The Secret Garden that Coppola had executive produced in 1993. Thompson also wrote Edward Scissorhands for the Tim Burton. Buddy was based on a true story about a wealthy woman and a gorilla she domesticates and cares for.
In 1998 fellow San Franciscan Wayne Wang, who had burst on the scene with Chan is Missing in the early 1980s, joined forces with Coppola to form the Chrome Dragon Company. Wang, a Hong Kong native, was attracted to a piece of material titled Lanai-Loa (sometimes known as Lanai-Loa—The Passage). This was a supernatural mystery that took place in Hawaii. The film was directed by Sherwood Hu. Coppola compatriots Fred Fuchs and Tom Luddy executive produced, and Wang and Coppola produced. Hu was at the start of his career. The film did not find much of an audience. This was the only Chrome Dragon production; no other projects emerged from this coventure.
In 1999 Coppola was a producer for The Florentine, directed by Nick Stagliano, an NYU Film School graduate. Coppola worked with Steven Weisman, who had been an assistant on Jack, had assisted Fuchs on The Secret Garden, and was assistant to the producer on Bram Stoker's Dracula. The film is set in a bar in a down-and-out Pennsylvania steel town. There are many recognizable actors from previous Coppola ventures: Chris Penn, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Burt Young (who worked with Talia Shire on the Rockys). Also in the cast was Jeremy Davies, who would appear in Roman Coppola's feature CQ. Stagliano continues as an independent filmmaker, directing the 2011 production of Good Day for It. Also in 1999 Coppola was one of several executive producers on Goosed, directed by Aleta Chappelle. Chappelle had been a casting director on The Godfather Part III.
In 1999 Tim Burton directed Sleepy Hollow, based on the Washington Irving legend. Coppola was one of two executive producers on the project. The other was Larry Franco, who had been a second assistant director on Apocalypse Now and had built a producing career to include The Hulk, Batman Begins, and Jurassic Park II. Coppola's executive producing career is always an interesting “follow-the-dots.”
After executive producing The Virgin Suicides for Sofia and CQ for Roman, in 2001 Coppola assisted a director he had reached out to for many years, Victor Salva, on his newest film, Jeepers Creepers. The history of Coppola's relationship with Salva began in the mid-1980s when the young filmmaker won the Sony/AFI award for fiction for the 1986 short Something in the Basement. In 1989 Salva wrote, produced, and directed his first feature, Clownhouse, a horror genre film. Francis Coppola contributed to the financing of the film, and Roman Coppola, having graduated from NYU, was assigned as executive producer. It was determined that while directing the film, Salva sodomized the 12-year-old lead actor. Salva was arrested and pled guilty to several counts of deviant behavior. He was sentenced to three years in prison and paroled after 15 months. Salva acknowledges his actions and takes full responsibility. He is a registered sex offender. Francis Coppola visited Salva in prison and encouraged him to focus on his abilities as an artist. When he was released, Coppola gave him $5,000 to help him get back on his feet.
Because of Salva's grievous offenses, not everyone in the industry believed he should have the opportunity to continue his artistic career. Coppola observes, “They're entitled to feel that way, but he has a real gift as a filmmaker. The punishment has been completed, and he should be a citizen again.”10
In 2001 Coppola was one of the executive producers of Jeepers Creepers, written and directed by Salva. The film was a financial success, and in 2003 Salva prepared a sequel, Jeepers Creepers II, on which Coppola was one of several executive producers. This film was also a major success.
Also in 2001 Coppola was an executive producer for Hal Hartley's No Such Thing. Hartley has been part of the independent film movement since 1988 when his first film, The Unbelievable Truth, appeared on the scene. That same year Coppola brought The Legend of Suriyothai, directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol (aka Yugala) to the United States under the Francis Ford Coppola Presents banner. He was continuing his tradition of bringing cinema from other countries to the United States for exposure. This Thai production was co–executive produced by Coppola and Aubry, Coppola's producer on the Apocalypse Now Redux project. This film was an epic production on a grand scale that was enormously popular in Thailand and was presented as an 8-hour television miniseries to Thai audiences.
The story is of Queen Suriyothai, who sacrifices herself during the Burmese-Siamese War of 1548 when she faces the Burmese army on her battle elephant to save the king. Coppola went to Thailand to work with the film's director on re-editing the production for presentation at a shorter length. The film's director attended UCLA film school with Coppola.
Pumpkin, directed by Anthony Abrams and Adam Larson Broder and starring a young Christina Ricci, was an atypical love story. This film, along with The Virgin Suicides, CQ, Jeepers Creepers, and No Such Thing, was executive produced by a trio including Coppola, Linda Reisman, and Willi Baer (aka Bär), all related to MGM. In 1998 Coppola was appointed to the MGM Board of Directors. In 2000 MGM and Zoetrope closed a 10-film arrangement for production and distribution.
Robert Duvall's Assassination Tango (2002) was executive produced by Coppola and Reisman. Duvall wrote and directed the film in which he, his wife, Luciana Pedraza, and Rubén Blades appear. Coppola was pleased to support his colleague's venture. In 2003 Coppola was executive producer for Sofia Coppola's second feature, Lost in Translation. In 2004 Coppola was one of four producers on Kinsey, written and directed by Bill Condon. It was then time to concentrate on preproduction for Sofia's Marie Antoinette. In 2010 Coppola executive produced Sofia Coppola's fourth film, Somewhere.
In many respects it had been a good decade for Francis Coppola. He was finally released from the chokehold of studio financing and control. Always known as a free-thinking rebel, he was now financially independent and could experience the liberation he held so dear. His wine and hospitality industry allowed him to support his family and make choices of personal value. He made two personal films that met his time-honored criteria. And he could see a future that had nothing to do with advancing age. He had things to do.