Failure to act: Coppola disses Pacino, De Niro & Nicholson
[size=80]Thursday, October 18th 2007, 4:51 PM [/size]
Francis Ford Coppola disses Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson and Al Pacino in a surprising critique of three of America’s greatest actors.
No slouch himself, Coppola directed Pacino in “The Godfather” and Pacino and De Niro in “Godfather II,” and was uncredited when directing Nicholson in the Roger Corman horror flick “The Terror.”
But in the new GQ magazine, Coppola reveals that he’s disappointed in the three as they’ve gotten older — and richer.
“I met both Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come,” Coppola tells GQ’s Nate Penn. "They were young and insecure. Now Pacino is very rich, maybe because he never spends any money; he just puts it in his mattress. De Niro was deeply inspired by (Coppola’s studio American) Zoetrope and created an empire and is wealthy and powerful.
"Nicholson was — when I met him and worked with him — he was always kind of a joker. He’s got a little bit of a mean streak. He’s intelligent, always wired in with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios.
“I don’t know what any of them want anymore. I don’t know that they want the same things. Pacino always wanted to do theater … (He) will say, ‘Oh, I was raised next to a furnace in New York, and I’m never going to go to L.A.,’ but they all live off the fat of the land.”
Not one of the actors would comment (De Niro and Pacino were on the set of Jon Avnet 's crime drama “Righteous Kill”).
Some might ask Coppola how he has challenged himself lately. He admits he has been focused on his vineyard and on his resorts in Belize and Guatemala. He’s coming out with an art film, “Youth Without Youth,” for the first time in 10 years, a period when he has mostly executive-produced daughter Sofia 's pictures and, ironically, De Niro’s “The Good Shepherd” last year.
"I think if there was a role that De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don’t think Jack would. Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he’s a little bit like (Marlon) Brando, except Brando went through some tough times. I guess they don’t want to do it anymore.
“You know, even in those days, after ‘The Godfather,’ I didn’t feel that those actors were ready to say, ‘Let’s do something else really ambitious.’ A guy like (38-year-old “Before Night Falls” star) Javier Bardem is excited to do something good: ‘Let me do this’ or ‘I’ll put stuff in my mouth, change my appearance.’ I don’t feel that kind of passion to do a role and be great coming from those guys, because if it was there, they would do it.”
They all have lost their spirit…nicholson, De Niro, pacino, but also Coppola…
They didnt do shit compared to the standard they used to have…
Kinda sad to see, but they have become some old, rich, has been the greatest club. Its weird…I mean if you have all the money…you should have all the freedom to do what you want…projectwise…De Niro is kinda doing that with his directing. Too bad it sucks fucking balls.
There are not many great roles for old as hell actors. Give the guys a break! Their golden days have passed but their golden days were ten times better than most. So… STFU Coppola, lets see how bad your next flick sucks.
coppola is right and BTW his golden days were among the best thing that ever happened in film history. tell me how challenging “anger management” is to nicholson… coppola on another hand took as much risks as he could. he did rusty fucking james and it is a masterpiece. and the film bombed so hard he had to eat shit and do peggy sue to reimburse his debts. he put himself in danger all the time, at the same time nicholson (I have to say he is my favorite actor) was making a fool of himself doing this piece of shit batman. coppola stopped making film because he didn’t find any backers and now finances his own films. maybe he lost it and yes his films are not as good as they used to but he is like a shark: he keeps moving forward, and i like that.
Jack did The Departed, yes, and he was good in it. But then again, that’s the same role he’s been playing more of less since the Easy Rider days. He could do it blindfolded.
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Did you forget that Jack did The Departed?
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no i didn’t and he is great but i agree with hung fist as well. it’s not as if this role as cool as it is was a big challenge. i think that’s what coppola is talking about. there is a clause in every contract of nicholson saying that every day he must have 2hrs free so he can play golf which says a lot. he decided to enjoy life: money, party, girls but as far as art is concerned i don’t think he would write a new film for monte hellman any time soon ;D
you re so dead wrong rumble fish and apocalypse now are great and so are the conversation and tucker. now if you prefer Looking for richard or a bonx tale, be my guest
The only bad movies in that list is Jack. Which doesn’t really mean anything, since any well acclaimed director has made at least one or more dud in his career.
