Francis Ford Coppola couldn’t contain himself when it came to praising Ridley Scott as a fellow auteur.
Coppola took to Instagram to applaud Scott’s work ethic in his eighties, as well as voice his own enthusiasm for seeing “Napoleon.” The period piece stars Joaquin Phoenix as the French ruler.
“I first became aware of Ridley Scott with his film ‘The Duellists.’ I was impressed, and realizing he was my contemporary began following his work, which was prodigious to say the least,” Coppola wrote. “One after the other, different styles, themes — all ambitious and never stopping, absolutely great films like ‘Blade Runner,’ ‘Thelma & Louise,’ ‘Alien,’ and ‘Black Hawk Down.’ I realize he has been knighted for his extraordinary work, but he should be given a Dukedom for such outstanding quality output.”
Coppola continued, “I never really got to meet him, aside from a few phone calls arranging the bargain sale of the neon sets from my own ‘One From the Heart,’ which live on forever in his unforgettable ‘Blade Runner.’ Ridley’s ‘Matchstick Men’ featured another great performance from our own Nicolas Cage!”
The Oscar winner further captioned, “Sir Ridley is actually a couple of years older than me, yet his amazing productivity remains with films like ‘The Last Duel’ and an upcoming sequel to ‘Gladiator.’”
Coppola concluded, “There have been rare artists who astounded everyone with their best work while in their eighties, like Giuseppe Verdi, but we must take our hats off to Ridley. I am excited to see his new film in IMAX, ‘Napoleon,’ and have no doubt it is spectacular!”
The iconic “Godfather” director recently addressed one of his other contemporaries, Martin Scorsese, to celebrate his new film “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Coppola called Scorsese his “longtime friend” in another social media post.
“He is a wonderful person and the world’s greatest living filmmaker,” Coppola wrote of Scorsese. “His new film delivers on every level.”
As for Coppola’s own filmography, he recently wrapped production on self-funded “Megalopolis” with Adam Driver, Talia Shire, Shia LaBeouf, and Dustin Hoffman.
