“He died sort of penniless, not realising that his film was going to be considered the masterpiece,” but he is one of Coppola's most admired directors
Francis Ford Coppola admires filmmaker who, like him, wasn’t afraid to invest his own money in his life's work.
Francis Ford Coppola is a filmmaker who has had an enormous influence on the shape of cinema and contributed to changes in film in the 1970s. There is no denying that he is a respected and influential figure. He is also someone who isn’t afraid to take risks, as he proved by financing his greatest work, Megalopolis.
However, Coppola isn’t the only filmmaker who has invested his own money in his work. Jacques Tati, admired by the director of Megalopolis, decided to do the same. During a conversation with Criterion, Francis Ford Coppola spoke about the filmmaker he admires, who he thinks deserves attention, talking about why he loves him so much, as well as his film Playtime (via Sensacine).
Jacques Tati was a wonderful filmmaker who believed in a film he wanted to make and used his entire fortune because the financing system of the time wouldn’t finance it. And it came out, and it was a big flop, and he died sort of penniless, not realising that this film he put everything up for, which was called Playtime, was going to be considered today the masterpiece that we consider it. I think [Tati is] the only filmmaker, other than present company, who took a big hunk of what wealth he had earned in his life and put it up to make a film that nobody else would make. And usually, when you do that, usually it withstands the test of time.
Playtime is a 1967 comedy that tells the story of Mr. Hulot, whose path crosses that of a young American woman visiting Paris. The two constantly bump into each other, unable to find their way around a city full of new technologies. The ambitious project cost Tati a lot, but he saw it through to the end, taking out large loans and personal overdrafts to cover ever-increasing production costs.
Following in Tati's footsteps, Coppola also sacrificed his own fortune to realize the enormous project of his dreams. The filmmaker spent $120 million of his own money. Megalopolis was released in theaters in 2024 and grossed $14.3 million. Unfortunately, the production wasn’t well received by audiences or critics.
As for Tati's Playtime, it is a highly acclaimed production that is recommended by most critics and viewers alike. Unfortunately, when the film was released in theaters, it wasn’t a commercial success in either France or the United States.
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Author: Edyta Jastrzebska
A graduate of journalism and social communication as well as cultural studies. She started at Gamepressure.com as one of the newspeople in the films department. Currently she oversees the Gamepressure movie&TV newsroom. She excels in the field of film and television, both in reality-based and fantasy themes. Keeps up with industry trends, but in her free time she prefers to watch less known titles. Has a complicated relationship with popular ones, which is why she only gets convinced about many of them when the hype around them subsides. Loves to spend her evenings not only watching movies, series, reading books and playing video games, but also playing text RPGs, which she has been into for several years.
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