Remembering Eleanor Coppola, Whose Quiet Contribution To Cinema Will Live On
deadline.comFew followers of cinema could dispute the influence of Francis Ford Coppola, the director of such cinematic masterworks as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.
But when Eleanor Coppola, who sadly passed away yesterday, set her camera on the action behind the scenes of Apocalypse Now, she would lay the foundation for a film that I believe has had just as much impact on the landscape of cinema in the 30+ years since its release.
If Francis’s influence is bold and loud, Eleanor’s is quiet and subtle, but it is no less powerful. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, which was released in 1991 and was also directed by Fax Bahr and the late George Hickenlooper, has taught generations of aspiring filmmakers to trust in a process that at times can feel fraught and doomed to peril.
For the truth is that every film production is its own journey up the river. For every great work that successfully makes it into an arthouse or multiplex, there are a thousand more that get scuttled on the rocks they encounter on that journey.
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