The Coppola family, including Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola, and even Nicolas Cage, have created a filmmaking dynasty. It all started with Francis Ford Coppola being born on April 7, 1939, in Detroit Michigan. The now infamous film director, writer, and producer was interested in storytelling from a young age. When afflicted with Polio at the age of nine, the oft-bedridden Coppola would create puppet shows for his amusement. At the age of 15, Coppola became interested in theater after reading Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Shortly thereafter, Coppola began experimenting with 8-mm films by editing home videos. In 1955, Coppola attended Hofstra College with a major in Theater Arts.

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It was here that Coppola became interested in directing after he was awarded a scholarship for playwriting. Throughout his time at College, Coppola earned several awards for theatrical direction and contributions to the art. He also headed up the university drama club The Green Wig, and a musical comedy group The Kaleidoscopians. After he earned his bachelor’s degree Coppola enrolled in UCLA Film School where he got his start directing erotic short films known as “nudie cuties”. Since then, he has made a reputation for himself as a highly decorated screenwriter, director, and producer. He has also recently announced his upcoming film Megalopolis, which has been in the works since the 70s. Here is how Coppola made filmmaking a family business.

Examining the Iconic Director’s Career

     Omni Zoetrope

During his time at UCLA Film School, Coppola began working for notable exploitation film director Roger Corman, who would infamously launch the career of not only Coppola but also fellow directors Martin Scorcese and Jonathan Demme. Coppola performed backup photography, directing and writing dialogue for overdubbing of re-edited films. After working as a contract writer with Seven Arts for a short time, Coppola wrote and directed You’re a Big Boy Now (1966), based on the David Benedictus novel of the same name. The film would also serve as Coppola’s master thesis. Having gained notoriety for his captivating coming-of-age tale, Coppola worked on a few more films such as Finian’s Rainbow, The Rain People, and THX 1138, before his breakthrough film The Godfather was released in 1972. The 70s marked a high point in Coppola’s filmmaking career.

The Godfather is considered one of Coppola’s best films and was one of the highest-grossing movies of the decade. The film earned Academy Award nominations for Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, the late James Caan, and Robert Duvall. Brando won for Best Actor while Coppola won for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 1974, The Conversation was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture and was in direct competition with The Godfather Part II, which would ultimately win. Coppola’s next film Apocalypse Now though famously plagued with bad luck earned eight Academy Award nominations and is generally regarded as a cinematic masterpiece.

Throughout the 80s and 90s, Coppola directed many films, including Rumble Fish, Peggy Sue Got Married, and The Godfather Part III, which were successful but not to the degree of his earlier works. His most notable films of that period were 1983’s The Outsiders, which featured a slew of fresh-faced actors on the verge of fame, 1992’s violent and erotic take on the classic Bram Stokers Dracula, and 1997’s legal drama The Rainmaker. His later works include Youth Without Youth, Twixt, and Distant Vision. His next project will be his long-promised passion project Megalopolis. In an interview with GQ, Coppola describes the film as a drama centered on “the fate of Rome as it haunts a modern world unable to solve its social problems in an epic story of political ambition, genius, and conflicting interests.”

Creating a Dynasty

     Paramount Classics

Sofia Coppola is a former actress and model turned screenwriter/director. Previous to her career as a filmmaker, Coppola designed her own fashion line Milk Fed and launched her boutique Heaven-27. She also hosted Hi-Octane, a short-lived pop culture TV series on Comedy Central with friend Zoe Cassavettes. In 1998, Coppola wrote, directed, and produced her first film. It was a comedy short film titled Lick the Star, which would ignite her passion for filmmaking. In 1999, she wrote and directed her breakthrough feature-length film The Virgin Suicides, which was produced by her father’s production company American Zoetrope. Shortly thereafter in 2003, Coppola wrote and directed the critically acclaimed hit Lost in Translation, which is widely regarded as one of the best movies of all time. It earned her an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Coppola also directed the visual extravaganza Marie Antoinette and touching drama Somewhere, and celebrated great success with her true-crime film The Bling Ring based on actual events, and the 2017 period piece Beguiled starring Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning.

Roman Coppola got his start helping his father on his 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, overseeing visual effects. He also provided second unit direction on many of his father’s films including Jack, The Rainmaker, and Youth Without Youth. Coppola later started his own production company The Directors Bureau and found success directing music videos for artists such as The Strokes, Moby, Daft Punk, Green Day, and Fatboy Slim. His feature film debut CQ premiered at Cannes in 2001; it is set in Paris in the late 60s and follows a young film editor as he tries to balance his personal and professional life. Since then, he has also directed The Darjeeling Limited and A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III, earning him the reputation of an established writer/director.

Talent Runs in the Family

     Searchlight Pictures

The Coppolas prove that talent does indeed run in the family. Several members of the Coppola gang are writers, directors, and actors. In addition to Coppola’s children, Sofia and Roman, who made a name for themselves as writers/directors, Coppola’s nephews Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman and sister Talia Shire are all actors, while his granddaughter Gia Coppola is a director and his wife Eleanor is a documentary filmmaker. The Coppolas have a reputation for nepotism within the industry, with Coppola regularly including his children in his movies from infancy. Both Sofia and Coppola were cast in several of their father’s films at a young age. Furthermore, Coppola also cast his sister Talia in The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II. Moreover, he cast Cage in three of his films, Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club, and Peggy Sue Got Married. The tradition would continue throughout the family when Sofia hired niece Gia to work in the costume department on her smash hit Lost in Translation, and Roman would cast cousin Schwartzman in several of his films.