Though Francis Ford Coppola is known best as the filmmaker behind iconic movies such as “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” and “The Outsiders,” he’s also known as a guy who loves to tinker. In fact, it’s not uncommon to hear that he’s releasing another new cut of one of his films. Honestly, it’s tough to keep track of which cut is which when you look at his work. The man just loves to get back in the editing room and play around with his work. But that’s not a trait that he has passed along to his daughter, Sofia.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Sofia Coppola talked about her father’s penchant for re-cutting his films long after they’re released. While Francis Ford Coppola doesn’t see a problem with his art evolving over time, the younger Coppola feels as if her work is a time capsule of how she was feeling during the creation of each. That is to say, she has no interest in tinkering.
“My dad loves to recut his movies, and he’s always saying, ‘You can do that!’” Coppola said. “I don’t have any desire to. I feel like they are what they are, even with their baby fat and awkwardness, that’s what I was thinking about at that time.”
There are largely two schools of thought when it comes to re-editing films. Some fans love the idea of the artist being able to have complete control over their work and going back to make it exactly as they intended. Then there are folks who prefer to keep the versions of the film they fell in love with intact. Look at what happened when George Lucas went back and made the Special Editions of the original “Star Wars” trilogy. People would kill to have pristine copies of the original cuts of those films available, but they’re just not. Then again, in terms of what Francis Ford Coppola has done, many times his reworked versions are actually better. So, there really is no right answer.
Regardless, Sofia Coppola isn’t going to do that with any of her work. So, if you’re worried the Coppola genes include a desire to re-edit films, fear not.
