Francis Ford Coppola fans, here’s an offer you can’t refuse: the opportunity to see The Godfather on the big screen.
Texas-based national movie theater chain Cinemark will screen the 1972 classic in over 120 locations this week. As previously announced, The Godfather will screen this Wednesday at two separate show times, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Stephanie Rausser
It was one of the most memorable moments in the history of the Academy Awards—and one of the most controversial: Awarded the Best Actor Oscar for his instantly iconic performance as Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather in 1973, Marlon Brando sent an unknown 26-year-old Native American activist and aspiring actress named Sacheen Littlefeather up to the stage to refuse the statuette on his behalf. As the stunned audience erupted with a confused mix of boos and applause, Littlefeather explained that Brando was regretfully turning down the award to protest “the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry” and the ongoing siege of 200 American Indian Movement activists by armed authorities in Wounded Knee, S.D. “I beg at this time that I have not intruded upon this evening,” she concluded before leaving the stage, “and that we will, in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity.” READ FULL STORY »
Francis Ford Coppola is ready for a big picture comeback.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker, now 73, has made some of the most iconic movies of all time, from 1972 mob classic The Godfather to 1979 war epic Apocalypse Now. But as an equally humble student and lover of film, he’s recently made smaller movies with tiny budgets such as 2009’s Tetro, starring Vincent Gallo, and murder mystery Twixt, with Val Kilmer and Elle Fanning.
Coppola spoke to EW about five of his films – Apocalypse Now, the extended version Apocalypse Now Redux, Tetro, 1974’s The Conversation, and 1982’s One From the Heart — all being released as a Blu-ray box set through Lionsgate on Tuesday. With new offices next year in Los Angeles on the Paramount Pictures lot, he also revealed his plans, and mentioned a first draft script, for a new “ambitious” big budget movie set in New York, as well as what he expects of his “kid brother” director George Lucas following the Disney- Lucasfilm acquisition. With the 2007 documentary Fog City Mavericks capturing the creative, independent spark of Bay Area filmmakers such as Coppola and Lucas, a new era for both has begun.
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The dispute over the future of The Godfather franchise is moving to federal court in Manhattan as Paramount Pictures and heirs of the story’s author face off at a hearing Thursday. The son of The Godfather creator Mario Puzo wants a judge to end Paramount’s rights to make future Godfather films. Lawyers for Anthony Puzo said in court papers that the company breached its contract when it tried in December to stop publication of The Family Corleone, a Godfather sequel that was published in May.
Paramount, which is owned by Viacom Inc., sued the late author’s estate in March, seeking a declaration that it automatically owned book publishing rights in any book that was a sequel to The Godfather. Paramount said in court papers that in 1969, it purchased from Puzo all rights and copyright interests in The Godfather, including all “literary” rights and rights to use any characters created for the story in “other works.” Mario Puzo died in 1999. READ FULL STORY »
'The Godfather 2': Movies I watch and watch again
Maybe it’s because The Godfather 2 seems to be playing on cable TV in a loop for all eternity–but I realized the other day that I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard Michael Corleone say to his brother, “I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart.” Not that I mind: There’s a profound comfort in re-watching a movie you love, even though (or maybe because) the scenes have worn grooves in your consciousness. My list of most-watched titles includes Casablanca, Citizen Kane, All About Eve, the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup, and, for reasons I can’t fathom but just accept, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And Fellini’s Amarcord. Hmm, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. And Truly, Madly, Deeply, of course, even though some of my more austere critic friends roll their eyes when I say so. READ FULL STORY »