Eleanor Coppola, the longtime spouse of Francis Ford Coppola, mom of Sofia and Roman Coppola, and documentary filmmaker who grew to become a key participant within the New Hollywood motion, has died on the age of 87. The information was confirmed by the Related Press, which obtained an announcement from the household. She died Friday April 12 at house in Rutherford, California.
Born in Los Angeles in 1936, Coppola studied design at UCLA and started her profession working within the artwork division on movie units. Whereas serving as assistant artwork director on “Dementia 13,” she met Francis Ford Coppola, who was making his directorial debut on the impartial movie. The 2 had been married in 1963, starting a partnership in life and filmmaking that spanned the subsequent six a long time.
A longtime documentary filmmaker in her personal proper, Coppola is greatest recognized for chronicling the usually tumultuous behind-the-scenes drama on movie units. She accompanied her husband to the Philippines through the famously grueling “Apocalypse Now” shoot, which was tormented by harmful climate, well being issues, and different logistical and artistic points that induced the movie to go considerably over price range and delay its launch date by two years. She took meticulous notes in regards to the shoot, which she compiled into the guide “Notes on the Making of Apocalypse Now” and used to spearhead the documentary “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.” That movie, which hit theaters in 1991, is broadly considered among the finest documentaries ever made in regards to the filmmaking course of.
All through her life, she continued to play an lively position within the Coppola household’s movie and winemaking endeavors. She often served as a artistic consigliere on movies directed by Francis and their daughter Sofia, all of which had been produced via the household’s American Zoetrope manufacturing firm. She additionally directed the filmmaking documentaries “Francis Ford Coppola Directs ‘John Grisham’s The Rainmaker’” and “The Making of ‘Marie Antoinette.’”
In 2016, on the age of 80, she wrote and directed her first narrative function, “Paris Can Wait.” The European street journey comedy was effectively obtained by critics, and she or he adopted it up by directing her sophomore function “Love Is Love Is Love” in 2020.
Coppola is survived by her husband Francis and her daughter Sofia and son Roman.