{"id":22979,"date":"2024-04-13T16:04:18","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T20:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22979"},"modified":"2024-04-14T01:22:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T05:22:56","slug":"filmmaker-eleanor-coppola-dies-at-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=22979","title":{"rendered":"Filmmaker Eleanor Coppola Dies at 87; She Documented ‘Apocalypse Now’"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Eleanor Coppola<\/a>, a documentary filmmaker who was married to Francis Ford Coppola<\/a> for 61 years, died in the family home in Rutherford, California on April 12. She was 87.<\/p>\r\n

Eleanor Jessie Neil was born in Los Angeles in 1936 and studied design at UCLA before beginning her career in the film industry. She met her husband while working as assistant art director on the set of Dementia 13<\/strong><\/em>, Francis\u2019s directorial debut. Over the years, she chronicled the production of many of his movies. In 1991, she won an Emmy Award for her documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker\u2019s Apocalypse<\/a>,<\/strong><\/em> which presented a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of his epic about the Vietnam War. It was based on her earlier book Notes on the Making of ‘Apocalypse Now’<\/em>.

Published in 1979, the book documented the chaos surrounding the production of Apocalypse Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> on location in the Philippines. In it, Coppola also reflected on her role as \u201ca woman isolated from my friends, my affairs and my projects\u201d during their year in and around Manila. Commenting about her husband\u2019s extramarital affair, she wrote \u201cThere is part of me that has been waiting for Francis to leave me, or die, so that I can get my life the way I want it. I wonder if I have the guts to get it the way I want it with him in it.\u201d

Over the years, Eleanor Coppola contributed her creative talents to American Zoetrope, the family\u2019s production company. She also directed other documentaries about her husband\u2019s filmmaking process, including Francis Ford Coppola Directs John Grisham\u2019s The Rainmaker<\/em><\/strong> and The Making of Marie Antoinette<\/em><\/strong>.

In 2016, when she was 80, Eleanor wrote and directed her first feature Paris Can Wait<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, followed by Love is Love is Love<\/strong><\/em><\/a> in 2020. Both were romantic comedies. Speaking of the former film, she was quoted as saying, \u201cI\u2019m this housewife who suddenly decided she\u2019s going to write a film and actually direct it. It was terrifying, but part of the challenge was cutting through all of your fears and just going for it.\u201d

The versatile filmmaker also created photographs, drawings, and conceptual-art pieces that have been exhibited around the world. A retrospective of her artwork was mounted at the Sonoma Valley Art Museum in 2014.

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the family has given except I hope they\u2019ve set an example of a family encouraging each other in their creative process, whatever it may be,\u201d Eleanor Coppola told a reporter in 2017. \u201cIt happens in our family that everyone chose to sort of follow in the family business. We weren\u2019t asking them to or expecting them to, but they did. At one point, Sofia said: \u2018The nut does not fall far from the tree.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Her first memoir, Notes on a Life<\/em>, was published in 2008. In her yet-unpublished third memoir, Eleanor Coppola wrote: \u201cI appreciate how my unexpected life has stretched and pulled me in so many extraordinary ways and taken me in a multitude of directions beyond my wildest imaginings.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Eleanor Coppola is survived by her husband Francis, daughter Sofia, and son Roman. Their first-born son Gian-Carlo died at 22 in a 1986 boating accident.

Check out more of Edward’s articles<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eleanor Coppola, a documentary filmmaker who was married to Francis Ford Coppola for 61 years, died in the family home in Rutherford, California on April 12. She was 87. Eleanor Jessie Neil was born in Los Angeles in 1936 and studied design at UCLA before beginning her career in the film industry. She met her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[10407,21589,21585,21586,3784,21590,21588,21587],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEleanor Coppola Dies at 87<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Eleanor Coppola : She was a director and writer, known for Paris Can Wait, and Hearts of Darkness. 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