Francis Ford Coppola Says Films Shouldn’t Be Judged Upon Release

If you’re interested in making movies you might want to listen up to the godfather of film Francis Ford Coppola.

The iconic director, who is responsible for some of our culture’s best films like The Godfather, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, and The Outsiders, is giving a bit of advice to critics that might see and review a director’s new release. According to Coppola a film shouldn’t be judged right away but it should be judged years after.

The director spoke with Empire in an in depth interview about his beliefs on films, and you might be surprised with what he has to say. According to the director films needs to marinate and have room to breathe in the minds of viewers before putting a stamp of approval on the work.

“I’m not sure I really totally grasp how the experience of making a film can be so awful and yet the reception not. Perhaps it’s because when you reach for something new, you may rub people the wrong way or the film might at first seem a mess, when in fact it points to a new way of seeing things.”

Coppola continued on that thought, by explaining his feelings on when a film should be considered a classic. In the case of his own initial thoughts on particular films, Coppola admits that his first reaction to a film were at times wrong.

“Films I thought, because of their original reception, were failures and yet went on in time to be regarded as classics [has surprised me]. Sometimes I think films shouldn’t even be judged until ten years have passed.”

Although Coppola says that one should digest a film after ten years, he does admit that in terms of the future of cinema there are a few directors in the industry that are doing great things by pushing cinema to new heights.

“Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, James Gray, Sofia [Coppola], David O. Russell, Steven Soderbergh, Tamara Jenkins, Sarah Polley – we are blessed by these new generations of filmmakers. I could name many more. In the end, though, I love a film I’ve never seen before.”

These days Francis Ford Coppola is focusing more on his winery that he expanded in the Napa Valley in 1975 after purchasing a vineyard in Rutherford, California. In 2011 Coppola bought the rights to Inglenook Winery.

In addition he also owns resorts, restaurants and cafes around the San Francisco area. Not too shabby!

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