Francis Ford Coppola (born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most celebrated and influential film directors. He epitomized the group of filmmakers known as the New Hollywood, which included George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Woody Allen and William Friedkin, who emerged in the early 1970s with unconventional ideas that challenged contemporary filmmaking. He co-authored the script for Patton, winning the Academy Award in 1970. His directorial fame escalated with the release of The Godfather in 1972. The film revolutionized movie-making in the gangster genre, garnering universal laurels from critics and public alike. It went on to win three Academy Awards, including his second, which he won for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it was instrumental in cementing his position as one of the prominent American film directors. Coppola followed it with an equally successful sequel The Godfather Part II, which became the first ever sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film received yet higher praises than its predecessor, and gave him three Academy Awards—for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture. In the same year was released The Conversation, which he directed, produced and wrote. The film went on to win the Palme d'Or at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. His next directorial venture was Apocalypse Now in 1979, and it was as notorious for its lengthy and troubled production as it was critically acclaimed for its vivid and stark depiction of the Vietnam War. It won his second Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. Although some of Coppola's ventures in the 1980s and early 1990s were critically lauded, Coppola's later work has not met the same level of critical and commercial success as his '70s films.

Filmography

• 2026Pinocchio: Unstrung — Thanks
• 2025Brother Verses Brother — Executive Producer
• 2024Megalopolis — Writer, Director, Producer
• 2024Shadow Brother Sunday — Executive Producer
• 2024The Last Showgirl — Thanks
• 2024The Preakness — Thanks
• 2021Freda — Executive Producer
• 2021Morceaux de Cannes
• 2016Paris Can Wait — Thanks
• 2014Henri Langlois vu par... — Self, Director
• 2014Palo Alto — The Judge (voice) (uncredited)
• 2013Locations: Looking for Rusty James — Technical Advisor
• 2013Oldboy — Thanks
• 2013The Bling Ring — Executive Producer
• 2012On the Road — Executive Producer
• 2011Twixt — Director, Producer, Songs, Writer
• 2010Somewhere — Executive Producer
• 2009Tetro — Director, Producer, Writer
• 2007Coda: Thirty Years Later — Self, Executive Producer
• 2007Youth Without Youth — Director, Producer, Writer
• 2006Marie Antoinette — Executive Producer
• 2006The Good Shepherd — Executive Producer
• 2004Forever Is a Long, Long Time — Executive Producer
• 2004Kinsey — Executive Producer
• 2004She Hate Me — Thanks
• 2003Assassination Tango — Executive Producer
• 2003Jeepers Creepers 2 — Executive Producer
• 2003Lost in Translation — Thanks, Executive Producer
• Platinum — Executive Producer
• 2003The Educational Archives: Sex & Drugs — Executive Producer
• 2002No Such Thing — Executive Producer
• 2002Pumpkin — Executive Producer
• 2001Another Day — Executive Producer
• 2001CQ — Executive Producer
• 2001Jeepers Creepers — Executive Producer
• 2001The Legend of Suriyothai — Executive Producer
• 2000Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — Executive Producer
• 2000The Virgin Suicides — Producer
• 1999Goosed — Executive Producer
• 1999Sleepy Hollow — Executive Producer
• 1999The Florentine — Producer
• 1999The Third Miracle — Executive Producer
• First Wave — Producer
• 1998Lani Loa: The Passage — Executive Producer
• Moby Dick — Executive Producer
• 1998Outrage — Executive Producer
• 1997Buddy — Executive Producer
• 1997Survival on the Mountain — Executive Producer
• The Odyssey — Executive Producer
• 1997The Rainmaker — Director, Screenplay, Producer
• 1996Dark Angel — Executive Producer
• 1996Jack — Director, Producer
• 1995Haunted — Executive Producer
• 1995Kidnapped — Executive Producer
• 1995My Family — Executive Producer
• 1995Tecumseh: The Last Warrior — Executive Producer
• 1995The Conversation — Producer
• 1995White Dwarf — Executive Producer
• 1994Don Juan DeMarco — Producer
• 1994Ironbound — Producer
• 1994Mary Shelley's Frankenstein — Producer
• 1994Traveling Light — Producer
• 1993In the Name of the Father — Thanks
• 1993The Junky's Christmas — Producer
• 1993The Secret Garden — Executive Producer
• 1992Bram Stoker's Dracula — Director, Producer
• 1992The Godfather Trilogy: 1901-1980 — Director, Producer, Screenplay
• 1992Wind — Executive Producer
• 1991Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse — Self, Executive Producer
• 1990The Godfather Family: A Look Inside — Self, Executive Producer
• 1990The Godfather Part III — Director, Producer, Screenplay, Songs
• The Outsiders — Producer
• 1989New York Stories — Writer, Director
• 1988Powaqqatsi — Presenter, Executive Producer
• 1988Tucker: The Man and His Dream — Director, Producer
• 1987Barfly — Presenter, Executive Producer
• 1987Faerie Tale Theatre: Rip Van Winkle — Director
• 1987Gardens of Stone — Director, Producer
• 1987Lionheart — Executive Producer
• 1987Tough Guys Don't Dance — Executive Producer
• 1986Captain EO — Director, Producer, Writer
• 1986Peggy Sue Got Married — Director, Producer
• 1985Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters — Executive Producer
• 1984The Cotton Club — Director, Screenplay, Producer, Story
• 1983Koyaanisqatsi — Executive Producer
• 1983Rumble Fish — Director, Screenplay, Executive Producer
• 1983The Black Stallion Returns — Executive Producer
• 1983The Outsiders — Director, Producer
• Faerie Tale Theatre — Director
• 1982Hammett — Executive Producer
• 1982One from the Heart — Director, Screenplay, Presenter
• 1982Parsifal — Executive Producer
• 1982The Escape Artist — Executive Producer
• 1982The Making of 'One from the Heart' — Self, Executive Producer
• 1981An All Round Maid — Producer
• 1980Jerry Brown: The Shape of Things to Come — Director, Executive Producer
• 1980Kagemusha — Executive Producer
• 1979Apocalypse Now — Director of TV Crew (uncredited), Producer, Writer, Original Music Composer
• 1979Perfumed Nightmare — Executive Producer
• 1979The Black Stallion — Executive Producer
• The South Bank Show
• Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television — Producer, Writer, Director, Screenplay, Creator
• 1974The Conversation — Director, Producer, Writer
• 1974The Godfather Part II — Producer, Director, Screenplay
• 1974The Great Gatsby — Screenplay
• 1973American Graffiti — Producer
• 1973The Way We Were — Additional Writing
• 1972The Godfather — Screenplay, Producer, Director
• 1972The People — Executive Producer
• 1971THX 1138 — Executive Producer
• 1970Patton — Screenstory, Screenplay
• 1969The Rain People — Director, Writer, Producer
• 1968Filmmaker — Self, Producer
• 1968Finian's Rainbow — Director
• 1966Is Paris Burning? — Screenplay
• 1966This Property Is Condemned — Screenplay
• 1966You're a Big Boy Now — Director, Writer
• 1963Dementia 13 — Director, Writer, Stunts
• 1963The Haunted Palace — Additional Dialogue, Writer
• 1963The Terror — Associate Producer
• 1963The Young Racers — (uncredited), Sound
• 1962The Bellboy and the Playgirls — Director, Writer
• 1962The Magic Voyage of Sinbad — Additional Writing
• 1962The Peeper — Director, Writer, Cinematography
• 1962Tonight for Sure — Director, Writer, Producer
• 1962War Hunt — Army Truck Driver (uncredited)
• 1959Battle Beyond the Sun — Associate Producer, Director
• 1956No Cigar — Director
• Apocalypse Retold! — Original Concept
• Close-Up on The Conversation
• Glimpses of the Moon — Director, Screenplay, Producer
• Thank You Mr. Brown — Executive Producer

Appearances as themselves (129)

• 2026Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean — Self
• 2026Tribeca 25 — Self
• 2026Vittorio De Sica: Staging Life — Self
• 2025Eleanor Coppola: Art is All Around Us — Self
• 2025Films to Die For — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2025Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• 2025Megadoc — Self
• 2025The Making of Hearts of Darkness — Self
• 2024Lumière, Le Cinéma! — Self
• 2024Martin Scorsese, the Italian-American Master — Self (archive) - director
• Beau geste — Self
• Faut Voir - L'Hebdo cinéma — Self - Guest
• 2023The Family — Self
• 2023Yellow Door: '90s Lo-fi Film Club — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• LIGHT & MAGIC — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Winona Ryder: The Ghosts She Called — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Dare la vita - Conversazione con Francis Ford Coppola — Self
• Directors on Directors — Self
• 2021Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Indiana Jones: The Search for the Lost Golden Age — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• Wim Wenders - Von Filmen und Träumen — Self
• 2020Wim Wenders, Desperado — Self
• 2019Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound — Self (archive footage)
• 2019Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back — Self
• 2019What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael — Self
• 2018American Dream: Detroit — Self - Interviewee
• 2018Francis Ford Coppola's Live Cinema — Self
• 2018Friedkin Uncut — Self
• 2018Godfather I — Self
• 2017Five Came Back — Self
• Five Came Back — Self
• 2017Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story — Self
• Marcians — Self
• 2017Spielberg — Self
• 2016Jaime Lerner - Uma História de Sonhos — Self
• 2016The Family Whistle — Self
• 2015Artistry/Technology — Self
• Jay Leno's Garage — Self
• 2015Listen to Me Marlon — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — Self
• 2014Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance — Self (archive footage)
• 2014Behind the Scenes of Palo Alto — Self
• 2014Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire — Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
• The Director's Chair — Self
• 2013Milius — Self
• 2013Seduced and Abandoned — Self
• 2013Trespassing Bergman — Self
• 2013Twixt: A Documentary — Self
• 2012The Godfather Legacy — Self
• 2010A Conversation with Martin Sheen — Self
• Sodankylä Forever — Self
• 2010The People vs. George Lucas — Self (archive footage)
• C à vous — Self - Guest
• 2009I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale — Self
• 2008Cannoli — Self
• 2008Emulsional Rescue: Revealing 'The Godfather' — Self
• 2008The Godfather: When the Shooting Stopped — Self
• 2008The Last Days of Marlon Brando — Self (archive Footage)
• 2008The Masterpiece That Almost Wasn't — Self
• 2007Brando — Self (archive footage)
• 2007Fog City Mavericks — Self
• 2007Francis Ford Coppola Directs 'John Grisham's the Rainmaker' — Self
• 2007In Camera: The Naïve Visual Effects of 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' — Self
• 2007Lights, Action, Music — Self
• 2007Method and Madness: Visualizing 'Dracula' — Self
• 2007The Blood Is the Life: The Making of 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' — Self (archive footage)
• 2007The Costumes Are the Sets: The Design of Eiko Ishioka — Self
• 2007The Making of Marie Antoinette — Self
• 2006The Godfather and the Mob — Self (archive footage)
• 2005Lucas, Coppola & Kurosawa — Self
• 2005Lucas, Coppola, and Kurosawa — Self
• 2005On Location in Tulsa: The Making of 'Rumble Fish' — Self (archive footage)
• 2005Saturday Night Live in the '80s: Lost and Found — Self
• 2005Staying Gold: A Look Back at 'The Outsiders' — Self
• 2004A Legacy of Filmmakers: The Early Years of American Zoetrope — Self
• 2004Artifact from the Future: The Making of 'THX 1138' — Self
• Leçon de Cinéma — Self
• 2004The Dream Studio — self
• 2004Tying the Knot — Self
• 2003A Decade Under the Influence — Self
• 2003Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood — Self
• 2003Whether You Like It or Not: The Story of Hedwig — Self
• 2002George Lucas: Creating an Empire — Self
• 2002On the Set of CQ — Self
• 2001Breaking the Silence: The Making of Hannibal — Self
• 2001R2-D2: Beneath the Dome — Self
• 2000The Making of The Virgin Suicides — Self
• 1999Coppola, un hombre y sus sueños — Self
• 1999Kurosawa: The Last Emperor — Self
• 1998The Making of 'American Graffiti' — Self
• 1997A Conversation with Martin Scorsese & Francis Ford Coppola — Self
• The Daily Show — Self
• Inside the Actors Studio — Self
• 1994It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein — Self
• 1994Marlon Brando: The Wild One — Self
• 1994The World of Jim Henson — Self
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien — Self - Guest
• 1992Blood Lines: Dracula - The Man, The Myth, The Movies — Self
• 1992Writing with Light: Vittorio Storaro — Self
• 1991Crazy About the Movies: Dennis Hopper — Self
• 1990Central Park — Self
• 1990Hollywood Mavericks — Self
• 1990Martin Scorsese Directs — Self
• 1987Death of a Porn Queen — Self (archive footage)
• Sacrée soirée — Self
• 1986The Making of Captain EO — Self
• 1985Inside Mishima — Self
• Late Night with David Letterman — Self - Guest
• 1982Reverse Angle: New York, March 1982 — Self
• 1981Inside the Coppola Personality — Self
• 1981Rendez-Vous Video Magazine — Self (segment "Coppola")
• The Kennedy Center Honors — Self - Honoree
• Please Turn the Page — Self
• 1976The Godfather Comes to Sixth St. — Self
• Arena — Self
• Les Rendez-vous du dimanche — Self
• Saturday Night Live — Self - Director
• 1975The Lion Roars Again — Self
• Dinah! — Self
• Spécial cinéma — Self
• 1971Bald: The Making of 'THX 1138' — Self
• Film '72 — Self
• Great Performances — Self
• 1971The Godfather: Behind the Scenes — Self
• 1968The New Cinema — Self
• 1968The World Premiere of 'Finian's Rainbow' — Self
• The Mike Douglas Show — Self
• The Oscars — Self
• Art Never Sleeps — Self