An A-list group of filmmakers and actors turned out in support of Francis Ford Coppola on Saturday night, as the legendary director received the 50th AFI Lifetime Achievement Award. At 86, Coppola joins an elite group of filmmakers who have received the honor that includes Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, and Mel Brooks. The ceremony was a celebration of Coppola’s career, the six decades over which he fundamentally reshaped American filmmaking.
The gala felt like a homecoming for Coppola, with Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Spike Lee, Harrison Ford, Diane Lane, and Ralph Macchio coming to kiss the ring. Gia and Roman Coppola were there to pay tribute to their family patriarch, though Sofia Coppola, Francis’s most famous offspring was not in attendance. Instead, she appeared via a video interview with her father that was interspersed throughout the ceremony. Francis joked with his daughter about the newspaper she published at his Zoetrope Studios, named the Dingbat News, which included a gossip column that often revealed behind-the-scenes secrets.
AFI Lifetime Achievement Award recipients Steven Spielberg and George Lucas presented Coppola with his award. “The Godfather, for me, is the greatest American film ever made,” Spielberg told Coppola. “You are peerless. You’ve taken what has come before and redefined the canon of American film, and you’ve inspired a generation of storytellers who want to make you proud of their work. And I always want to make you proud of my work,” he said before introducing Lucas to the stage. “You rounded up a bunch of young film students, and we moved to San Francisco, hoping to beat the system. And we did,” Lucas said. “We had no rules. We wrote them, with you holding the pen. Thank you for creating an era of filmmakers who loved the movies.”
Coppola was described as the Godfather of modern cinema—not just a director but a producer on Lucas’s American Graffiti, a mentor for Spielberg, and an advocate for actors like Pacino, De Niro, and Ford. Ford told the audience how he met Lucas while working as a carpenter for Coppola. There, he met Lucas, who was searching for the right Han Solo. Lucas was introduced to Ford, “covered in sawdust, wearing my tool belt, sweeping the floor. You might know the rest,” said Ford. “But I’m here tonight because of the community that Francis nurtured.”
Pacino and De Niro spoke about their experience working on The Godfather. “None of us were fired, but some of us got pretty close. I got the closest,” Pacino joked. “Francis fought for us all the time. It could have gotten him fired. Now, years later, here we all are to celebrate him.” De Niro thanked Coppola for not casting him in the original Godfather, allowing him to play Pacino’s father in The Godfather II. A prevalent theme of the night was Coppola’s determination to keep to his vision and support the actors that he cast in his films.
The lightest moment of the night came from Driver, who starred in Coppola’s most recent (and divisive) film, Megalopolis. Driver said the best piece of direction he ever received came from Coppola. “We’re not being brave enough,” Coppola told the Megalopolis cast and crew. “It was well documented that he was spending $120 million of his own money to make the film,” said Driver. “I’m mad enough if I spent $5 on a cup of coffee and it’s not hot enough—let alone $120 million and giving it to a bunch of actors, and on day one telling them to ‘be brave.’”
Driver praised Coppola for not letting the financials dictate the content of his films. “For a year when the importance of the arts is being minimized,” said Driver, “and our industry is only judging a film’s success by how much money it makes, I hang on to people like Francis for inspiration.”
When Coppola finally took the stage to accept his award, his remarks were brief and allegorical. He spoke about Hollywood as “the old neighborhood where I grew up. Everything around me is so familiar and yet, it’s all changed.” He thanked his family, some of whom were in the audience. “I am, and will always be, nothing more than one of you,” he said to his fellow filmmakers in the audience.
The usual studio heavy-hitters were in the audience as well. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos sat at the center table with director Spike Lee by his side. Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment Alan Bergman held court at a nearby table. The event also included a special remembrance of David Lynch, a graduate of AFI in 1970, who died in January. AFI President and CEO Bob Gazzale presented a video from Lynch that he filmed when the school celebrated its 40th anniversary. In his loud, reedy tone, Lynch declared he “loved AFI,” a statement was met by thunderous applause from the audience.
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award was a return to celebrating old Hollywood. Elle Fanning was the youngest celebrity in the room by decades. There was also no mention of the allegations surrounding Coppola’s behavior on the set of Megalopolis, or Coppola’s subsequent defamation lawsuit. (Coppola has denied claims of misconduct.) Instead, the night focused on his role as a mentor and groundbreaking filmmaker. Perhaps this event was not as buzzy as last year’s ceremony, which honored Nicole Kidman—but this year was a reminder that Coppola’s influence in the ’70s and ’80s helped shape indie cinema long before the term became commonplace in the industry. And of course, they served wine from Coppola’s winery at the dinner.
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