'Following the story of the man behind the movie, Don Coppola shows the insight behind the critically acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola and takes a look at both the impact of his movies and his life from a cinematic narrative. Created and illustrated by Amazing Ameziane, Don Coppola is the second instalment in the author’s Cine Trilogy, illustrating the behind-the-scenes stories of some of Hollywood’s biggest hits.'
There are certain films that everyone has heard about, and that a lot of people have heard the praises of, even if they've never seen them. The Godfather trilogy falls into this category. I don't know when I first heard about the movies, but I remember being ready to watch them and having been told repeatedly that they're some of the best films ever made. My partner has never seen them, but every time we mention about needing to watch them together at some point she's super excited for it because she's heard that they're amazing. And this kind of hype is pretty well earned, as they are indeed some of the best films put to screen, and deserve all the accolades that they get.
Amazing Ameziane began their Cine Trilogy, a set of three graphic novel biographies focused on great filmmakers, with Quentin Tarantino, a figure whose films can sometimes be divisive, but who most people will have at least one film of his in their list of great movies. Even before it was announced who else would be featured in this series it felt like something of a forgone conclusion that Francis Ford Coppola would have to be a part of it. Whilst I love Tarantino's films I'd put them on a different level to The Godfather and it's sequels. So it is perhaps fitting that Coppola goes second in this series, so that much like his iconic movies we can say that perhaps the sequel outshines the original.
The first book in the series, Quentin by Tarantino, uses some trickery and stylistic choices to tell its story, with an older Tarantino talking to his younger self at points, and an introduction with the titular director working as a barman telling stories about a strange bottle of alcohol. It fit the tone because it's the kind of unusual filmmaking that Tarantino is known for. Here, however, things take on a little bit more of a traditional structure, as the book follows Coppola through his life in chronological order, with little to no subversion or surprise taking place; and for me I think the book works better for it.
We get some insight into the directors early life, including some interesting details about his family and their connection to cinema and performance, with his grandfather having played an important part in the development of films behind the scenes. After a childhood bout of Polio, the young Coppola began exploring his creativity, and soon decided that filmmaking would be the way that he could bring his stories into the world. It's amazing to see how he started his journey, with cheaply produced movies with scantily clad women that feel very far removed from what I picture when thinking of him. The dive into his early career proves to be really interesting, and the connections he had with other well known figures in the industry came as a surprise to me.
It's somewhat inspiring to see such a world renowned and well respected creator having ups and downs in his career, making mistakes and having to fight against a system that seemed to be against his way of doing things. Studio executives not buying into the vision and fighting a creator the entire time is something of a trope in fiction, but it seems to have become one because it's just the way that things have played out for so many others. Coppola isn't the only person to receive that treatment in this book, with even the legendary George Lucas having had the same, and it really does show that sometimes greatness can not just be overlooked, but people can fail to respect it at all until it's directly profiting them.
A large bulk of the book deals with the making of the first two films in The Godfather series, and is likely one of the main draws to the book for many readers. These are the films that Coppola is best known for, the films that won him multiple awards and made him world famous, so of course we'd spend a great deal of time on them. The behind the scenes stories and small facts that Amazing Ameziane has managed to bring together for this book are fantastic, and you find yourself getting sucked into the making of the movie and wanting to learn every tiny detail about it. By the time the book moves on to other stages in Coppola's life you end up feeling a little disanointed because you were enjoying it so much. Thankfully, there's another epic saga he was involved in that we get to dive into after that.
Apocalypse Now is a film that you've likely heard a bad thing or two about; not the film itself, but the way the cast and crew talk about how it was made. For a film that's telling you war is hell it seems like making a film about war being hell is also hell, as the stories that we're told here are nothing short of astonishing. Military engagements with rebel forces in the same jungle as the shoot, actors being rushed to hospital, boats sinking, cast being drunk and on drugs, typhoons hitting and destroying sets, and recasts mid shoot seem to be the norm for Apocalypse Now, and it's a wonder that Coppola didn't go mad making it, let alone came out of the process with one of the most celebrated war movies ever made. Plus the most respected adaptation of Heart of Darkness too.
Things wrap up with some small segments of on both The Godfather III, and Dracula (the second of which I wanted to have much more on if I'm honest as I really do love the book) and some final thoughts from the director on the state of modern Hollywood that feel a little bit hypocritical in places (hating movies that adapt pre-existing material for example), but I also think Coppola has earned a bit of a right to be a grouchy older filmmaker who doesn't like what's being made today.
I find it hard to describe the two books that Amazing Ameziane has put together here. They're graphic novels, absolutely, but they're not really what you think of when hear that. They're part comic, part prose, with entire pages of text sometimes present, whilst others rely on pure visuals to tell the story. The book blends a regular biography with the comic book medium to create something that feels really unique to this experience. It also helps that Amazing Ameziane produces some really interesting pieces of art. There are pages where we have some fairly standard talking heads, with Coppola addressing the audience directly, whilst others will have images recreated from his films, often incorporated into the silhouette of the director, or merging into the real world in some way.
Ameziane isn't just trying to tell a story here, but seems to be crafting an experience. The early stages of Coppola's life are presented in black and white until we reach The Godfather as some artistic way of showing it wasn't until that point that Coppola had really made it as a director, and that his career had taken off. The art choices help to inform the story, and whilst things aren't too interpretive or weird in their presentation as Ameziane is telling a real story there's still a lot of thought and time gone into how to showcase that in interesting ways.
I enjoy biographies and history books, I have a love for learning things, especially when its in areas that interest me. And whilst I love The Godfather trilogy they and Dracula are the only films from Coppola's catalogue that I've ever seen so I wouldn't call myself a big fan of his work by any means. He's not a person I'd go out of my way to learn more about. So I was pleasantly surprised with how invested in this story I got. I loved all of the little stories and details that filled the pages, and could have read a book twice as long to get more of them. I also came away really wanting to watch The Godfather films over again, whilst also knowing that I need to watch Apocalypse Now, a film I've never seen. And I think that's a perfect experience to have with a book like this, one that makes you want to learn more, that gives you a new appreciation for the person being talked about, and one that makes you want to go and watch some great movies.
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