Francis Ford Coppola spoke to Cameron Bailey, the director of the Toronto International Film Festival, in front of a sold-out audience at TIFF’s Bell Lightbox multiplex.

During the discussion, Coppola also took questions from audience members about working with A-list actors, his writing process, screenwriting and rumors about another Godfather movie.

Coppola and Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival, chat about Coppola’s career during an event at this year’s festival.

When Francis Ford Coppola was a young filmmaker, he wanted to make what he calls “little art films.”

“I think many of my colleagues felt the same way, but [we were] involved in quite a dance,” he told Bailey. “You’re always doing something that will make a lot of money so that you can wake up and make the films you want to do.”

Coppola, who directed The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, revealed that his earliest films — like The Rain People and The Conversation — were more like what he’d hoped to do over the course of his career. But then money and life got in the way.

“I had to get a job, and of course, the job was The Godfather,” he says. “That made me be something I didn’t know I was going to be. I became a big-shot director. If you take a young Long Island Italian guy and give him endless possibilities, then you’ll see what kind of crazy things I did in the course of my career.”

Coppola’s most recent films — Tetro, Twixt and Youth Without Youth — are much like his earliest pre-Godfather movies. That’s partially because Coppola was able to finance his most recent films himself. It’s a financial arrangement familiar to the award-winning director. He also financed 1979′s Apocalypse Now — notorious for its troubled production period — after studios refused to get involved.

“It could have been because there hadn’t been a so-called war film about [the Vietnam War], and studios were very cautious,” he says. “The script for Apocalypse was considered interesting … but nobody wanted to do it, so I thought, ‘Of course, I should do it.’ ”

Coppola mortgaged his properties to finance the film, which took much longer to finish than he had anticipated.

“We were supposed to be [on set] less than a year, but we ended up being there two years,” he says. “I was pretty scared.”

And Marlon Brando, who played Kurtz in the film, was scheduled to be on set in the Philippines for just three weeks. When he showed up, his physique was not exactly what Coppola had in mind.

“He had promised me that he was going to be a little thinner,” he says. “The issue was, if he was a runaway Green Beret officer — it sounds silly, but [I was thinking] what kind of uniform should he wear? They don’t make size XXXXXL … uniforms. So … I had to dress him somehow.”

Coppola suggested cutting Brando’s hair off so that Brando would at least resemble the character Kurtz in Joseph Conrad’s novel The Heart of Darkness. But Brando disagreed. For an entire week, the two men sat in a houseboat on set talking — but not filming — while Coppola struggled to figure out what to do.

“And on the Friday [of the first week Brando was on set], I walked in, and there was Brando sitting there with his head shaved, bald. And I said, ‘But Marlon, you said it wouldn’t work. You said you read Heart of Darkness and the idea for Kurtz that way wouldn’t work.’ And he said, ‘Well, I lied. I never read it. I read it last night.’ So he read it last night and came around to this image.”

Coppola decided to dress Brando in black pajamas, hoping to create the appearance of a gigantic person — instead of an overweight person — on-screen.

“That’s the way I got around the uniform issue,” he says.

Listen to a section of the In Conversation With Francis Ford Coppola provided by NPR www.npr.org

We all have our stories to tell, and one of the best mediums to spread the word is through Film. The Caribbean like most communities are constantly saturated with North American, Western and European images in their media. Not since the release of films such as Dance Hall Queen (Jamaica) has there been a significant impact on film and the film industry in the Caribbean.

Director,Producer - STORM with Producer - Michelle Serieux

In recent years, Trinidad and Jamaica has produced notable Caribbean soap operas, but as you can imagine there is a greater need for artistry and dialogue through films and television to give voices to other stories.

New Caribbean Cinema (NCC) is a collaboration of 8 young Film Makers (two of which I met at an industry event during tiff) from throughout the Caribbean who, combine their talents, perspectives and artistry to help each other produce feature length films and other projects. The movement which touts a New Wave, New Style and New Directors is a much needed revolution for Caribbean film and media industry. NCC has gone beyond most collaborations by not depending and waiting on government funding but by pooling the resources and talents of its members to produce and direct shorts in an effort to create a final featured length film.

I met two of the Producers/Directors of NCC, Storm Saulter (Jamaica) and Michelle Serieux (St. Lucia) who spoke candidly about the film industry or lack there of in the Caribbean and advocated the need for support by the public. Both directors were enthusiastic about their venture and the crowd response at the reception to their trailers and shorts were equally encouraging.

Visit the site below, view the Trailers/Shorts and Support New Caribbean Cinema

http://www.newcaribbeancinema.com/

About Author: Khamal Murray is a major in Bioethics & Health Studies at the University of Toronto, a published journalist, as well as the Editor/Writer with TheJuxtapositionApe Blog and a contributor to online News Mag Alternavox  & Science Mag LifeofALabRat.

Variety – (Sept 07) A flurry of developments tied to Toronto will be unveiled this week, on the heels of the Weinstein Co.’s Tuesday announcement that it is creating a new label to bring content to digital and traditional platforms simultaneously, hiring former Magnolia execs Tom Quinn and Jason Janego to head the initiative. The duo will attend Toronto with an eye toward acquiring films for the fledging label. Company expects to debut its first title under the new label in the first half of 2012.

“People are realizing that Toronto is a great place to start selling new films,” said FilmNation Entertainment topper Glen Basner. “Equity is coming back after being on (the) sidelines, and that’s a double-edged sword, as while it allows more movies to get made, it doesn’t necessarily mean more good movies. For now, the financial crisis made buyers much more conservative, but the cycle will change.”

As the major studios have dramatically cut back on their production slates, distribution pipelines have opened to indies proffering low- to midrange-budgeted films. Sundance, Berlin and Cannes already saw better-than-expected markets, and after the stunning successes of “Black Swan” and “The King’s Speech,” the summer B.O. tallies for Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” have bolstered the general sense that this is a good time to be an indie.

An eclectic mix of titles has emerged with elevated expectations for sales during Toronto: horror projects “You’re Next” and “The Awakening“; relationship dramas “360,” “Shame,” “Take This Waltz” and “Winnie“; police drama “Rampart“; enivronmental thriller “The Hunter“; and comedies “Peace, Love and Misunderstanding” and “Friends With Kids.”

Amber Entertainment and Haxan Films — the banner behind “The Blair Witch Project” — believe buyers can’t get enough horror, and rather than sell off foreign rights, they’ve fully financed “Lovely Molly,” formerly dubbed “The Possession.”

“It’s a calculated risk, but we think we’ll come out much better with an unencumbered film,” said Amber’s Jane Fleming. “We think that we can do far more on international sales than we saw in the estimates.”

To continue reading …http://bit.ly/qD5k15

Written by Dave McNary

Seth Worley director of Plot Device

This has been a busy week for Seth Worley. The Nashville-based filmmaker’s witty short film “Plot Device” has quickly gone viral, generating media buzz and putting him on Hollywood’s radar practically overnight.

It’s no surprise, either, because “Plot Device” makes for one helluva calling card: A visually scrumptious, ultra-high concept production, it follows a budding filmmaker (played by the director’s brother) who purchases a button online that sends him reeling from one Hollywood genre to the next. One minute, he’s surrounded by zombies; the next, he’s dodging gunfire and aliens (watch it below). 

Made for about $10,000, the short film has been played almost 15,000 times since it was uploaded to YouTube about 3 weeks ago.

Since then, the film has attracted the attention of movie studios and talent agencies in Hollywood who are interested in working with Worley. And he’s now reportedly heading west to meet with several agencies, from CAA to UTA and WME, and movie producers.  

So, is the short film really that impressive? Watch it and let me know your feedback.

Read a full Indiewire interview with Seth Worley – http://bit.ly/nezUav

This is more about what the New York Times wrote back in February.  New York Times asked a very important question – Has filmmakers somehow exhaust the subject “black experience”? Or has the cultural ground shifted and, with the economic crisis, made other kinds of stories (insert non-black experience here) feel more urgent?

So here we are five months in and only two black films released, one from Tyler Perry’s another from producer Tracey Edmonds. Many will remember Tracey Edmonds from films such as the indie “Hav Plenty”, or the American anthem “Soul Food” and “Light It Up” all very popular with a diverse audience. Her latest film “Jumping The Broom” is a broad African-American family comedy about two very different families that converge on Martha’s Vineyard one weekend for a wedding. As one entertainment critic pointed out – albeit a white wedding…

Lorretta Devine and Angela Bassett as mother of the loving couples in "Jumping The Broom"

After waking up from another one-night stand, up-and-coming corporate lawyer Sabrina Watson (Paula Patton) makes a promise to God: She’ll save her “cookies,” (which she’s apparently been distributing to the phine looking men of NYC), if the Almighty will simply find her Mr. Right. Sure enough, along comes Jason Taylor (Laz Alonso) — handsome well-fixed … the whole package. Six months later, they’re planning to exchange vows. This apparently came all too soon for the audience as it did for both respective families who haven’t met each other until two days prior to a wedding. The film stars some of Hollywood most recognizable actors which included Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, Mike Epps, Meagan Good and Romeo.

The film has some real comical moments that put a few actors right where we are familiar with their talents and range. Like for example Loretta Devine is simple a darling on screen even when she is a manipulative overbearing mother. One of her most memorable line towards Mrs. Watson (Angela Bassett) was simply “You better get off your high horse, ’cause baby, you black!” To which Mrs. Watson replied in French “I’m about to have this women drag out of my house”

Personally, I have always enjoyed wedding films – “My Best Friend’s Wedding”, “Wedding Crashers” and the classic “Philadelphia Story”. However I simply felt that the Jumping The Broom failed slightly in the script and some of its actors’ performances. A friend that I went to watch the film with commented on Paula Patton performance who is a strong lead for the film – she felt that she was flat one dimensional to which I agreed. Having seen what Patton can deliver in “Precious” she fails in her attempt to be a wholesome fiancée.

But I have to give script credit on two things. Since this was also produced by T.D Jakes who is of the religious faith which meant that the film would carry a wholesome message of love, acceptance and chastity. I also loved the respect for traditions which was embedded in the cultural significance of jumping the broom. The idea of jumping the broom was part of the African American phrase used as a slang expression to describe the act of getting married, rather than a formal union which would not be recognized by church or state during the time period of slavery.

Measure against other black films of the past this may not be smash hit but it’s a clear sign that Hollywood has not given up on black culture. Perhaps all they need to do is to mixed it up a bit; add a bit of the past with new developments. African American culture is not so black and white it’s quite diverse and our many accomplishments are varied from Oprah to Colin Powel. But before we give up on Hollywood remember it was Hollywood that gave us the image of the first Black President.

- “Jumping The Broom” …Hit Theatres Mothers Day – May 8th