Eleanor Coppola (born May 4, 1936) is an American documentary filmmaker, artist, and writer. She is the wife of director Francis Ford Coppola. She is most known for her 1991 documentary film Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse as well as other documentaries chronicling the films of her husband and children. Coppola currently lives on her family's winery in Napa Valley, California.
[on Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)] Even then when it came out, he [husband Francis Ford Coppola] was not happy because he felt like it made him look too out of control. But my reaction is, it really shows the creative process and the depth of anguish that it can be. I think now he's gotten over it. [2016]
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I grew up in the '40s and '50s, and a woman's role was to support her husband and make a nice home for him. I was frustrated that I didn't have much time to pursue my interests. Young women today have no concept of that. My daughter and her generation, and generations after that, they take for granted that they're going to do whatever is their calling. There's not going to be a question of their role or if they have to give it up because they're a wife and a mother. [2016]
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I'm this housewife who suddenly decided to write and direct a film. It was terrifying, but part of the challenge was cutting through all of your fears and just going for it. [2016]
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Fact
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At the age of 80 Eleanor Coppola made her narrative feature debut with Paris Can Wait (2016). She isn't the oldest person to direct a first feature: That distinction belongs to Japanese director Takeo Kimura, who was 90 when his narrative debut feature Yume no mani mani (2008) was released.
She visited Buenos Aires, Argentina, with her husband Francis Ford Coppola. [June 2007]
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Release of her book, "Notes On a Life". [2007]
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In the Godfather films, Diane Keaton plays an American Protestant who marries into a large Italian Catholic family. This is not unlike Eleanor herself, who married into the Coppola family. In fact, Keaton has said that her performance was inspired by Eleanor.