Francis Ford Coppola Pleads for End to Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Calls Putin ‘Calculating’ but Not ‘Deranged’
variety.comWilson Chapman editorDuring his acceptance speech at Friday’s ICG Publicist’s Guild awards luncheon, legendary director Francis Ford Coppola made an impassioned plea for the Russian invasion of Ukraine to end.“I confess I met Putin, and I met Zelenskyy who is really a show business guy, his whole government, all of them are actors,” Coppola said during his acceptance speech. “And I know of what I speak when I say, if one word would just be said, one word with the force of meaning: Stop.
It would [be] stop, because believe me, anyone who knows this, the difference between NATO and the Russian forces is 25 times greater.
And, Putin is not an insane, deranged person. He is a calculating person and if someone said stop and meant that, he would stop.” Coppola was in attendance accepting the Guild’s lifetime achievement award.
During his speech, he briefly thanked his publicist of 10 years, Emily Paulo, calling her a “wonderful associate,” before admitting that he was going to throw out his speech to speak from his heart about the situation in Ukraine.
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