Hollywood legends met on Saturday evening to celebrate Francis Ford Coppola while he received the prestigious AFI Life Achievement Prize, the greatest honor awarded by the American Film Institute.
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas gave Coppola the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award.
Spielberg called Coppola “intrepid”. Spielberg, who met Coppola for the first time in 1967, said: “On the one hand, you are a warrior for independent artists, you always defend their causes, but also, and always, you are fearless in your openness to ideas, opinions and inspiration.”
He remembers looking at an early cup of “Apocalypse Now”, which lasts five hours, with other filmmakers. “At the end of the film, you asked us to tell you what we saw, how we felt. You all invited ourselves, so one by one, we told you where we were lost and where we were found, and I sat there, learning that you leave you open and search was, in fact, your superpower.”
Spielberg continued by saying: “The godfather”, for me, is the greatest American film ever made. Many artists
Maybe and take an arc of their work on a page, on a canvas, on a screen, but our applause for you Francis, comes from another type of public. When we are young, it is our parents that we want to make it proud, then it is our friends, and then they are our colleagues, and finally, they are our peers, but you, sir, are unqualified. “Spielberg said:” You took what preceded and redefined the barrel of the American film, and in doing so, you have inspired a generation of storytellers who want to make you proud of their work, proud of our work, and I always want to make you proud of my work. “
Lucas remembers his life link as a director “Apocalypse Now” – the two met for the first time when Lucas shaded Coppola on the set of his film “Finian’s Rainbow” in 1968. Lucas called Coppola his hero. Said Lucas: “When I was 22, he taught me, is not afraid to jump out of cliffs. And I lived with the rest of my life, even if I was not going to the upper level it does.”
Lucas and Spielberg then gave Coppola the AFI Life Achievement Prize. Coppola was moved by the tributes which had been granted.
In his speech, Coppola thought about memories with friends and family. “There are the empty grounds in which I have played, the most with new buildings that I do not recognize. So many friends and neighbors sending off my smiles, this kid who would not let me be in his team now and always launched the ball in his club, and so many others that I remember, all aging, but always the same boy. Hot summer and drink beer, but where is the old nickel distributor, which distributed the first cashew nut that I have ever tasted? »»
Coppola has finished saying: “Now, I understand here, this place that created me, my house, is not really a place at all, but you, friends, colleagues, teachers, game comrades, family, neighbors, all the beautiful faces welcome me, because I will always be nothing more than you.”
Coppola was visibly moved by tributes from Robert de Niro, Al Pacino, Adam Driver, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Dustin Hoffman, Ron Howard, C. Thomas Howell, Diane Lane, Spike Lee and Ralph Macchio.
The actors of “The Godfather” by Niro and Pacino went on stage to honor Coppola. “You have changed my life,” said Niro. Pacino echoes these feelings. He thanked Coppola for having “believed in me even more than I thought in me”.
Coppola cemented itself as one of our greatest authors thanks to its impressive movie release, including the consequences of “The Godfather”, “The Conversation”, “Apocalypse Now” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”.
Earlier in the evening, the tribute to the former Franklin J. Schaffner medal was posthumously paid to David Lynch. In a video recorded before his death, Lynch said: “AFI learns by experimenting and analyzing the history of cinema and learning by doing.” Lynch continued: “AFI helps you find your own unique cinema and champion your sounds that sounds. I love Affi. “
The annual event took place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, where the family of Coppola, his close friends and colleagues welcomed her illustrious career.
A special television of the gala, “the 50th Affi Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Francis Ford Coppola”, will be presented on TNT with a reminder broadcast on TCM on a later date.
Awarded for the first time in 1973, other winners of the AFI Life Achievement Award Award include Orson Welles, Bette Davis, Alfred Hitchcock, Gene Kelly, Sidney Poitier, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington and more. Last year, the AFI honored Nicole Kidman.
