SiS Newsletter - September 2010 - A. es.: Francis Ford Coppola
Article Index
Francis Ford Coppola
Movie Director
An American by birth and Italian at heart, Francis Ford Coppola now has his sights set on Latin America and is learning Spanish. This cinematic giant, best known for directing “The Godfather” trilogy and “Apocalypse Now,” will find that the language comes in handy now that he has a production firm in Argentina and hotels in Guatemala and Belize and is preparing to start shooting “Tetro,” a film about an Argentine family in which Spaniards Javier Bardem and Maribel Verdú have starring roles.
Do you read in Spanish?
That’s my hope, but at the moment I’m learning. I strongly support the idea of the United States being part of an American entity larger than one single country.
And in terms of literature?
The most exciting literature of the past eight decades has come out of Latin America. My hope is that (people) in the U.S. realize how wonderful American culture is as a whole and feel comfortable with bilingualism.
Who is your favorite author?
(Jorge Luis) Borges, (Julio) Cortázar and Mario Vargas Llosa. But the Latin American literary tradition is vast and precedes all of them.
Have you considered bringing any of their books to the big screen?
I would say that Borges was the inspiration for my last film, “Youth Without Youth,” a story by (Romanian author) Mircea Eliade but with a lot of Borgesian overtones.
Why Argentina?
“Tetro” is a very personal story centered around an artistic and eccentric Argentine family of Italian origin. A story and a country with people that reminded me of the most bohemian type of romanticism.
Amigos del español
Sofia Vergara
Who was Griselda Blanco? For many years, this woman was only the ‘Black Widow’ or the ‘Cocaine Godmother’ two of the nicknames that the few people who knew her were using to identify her.
Sofía Coppola
A teenager and a rock star fall in love and get married in Director Sofia Coppola’s biographical drama, ‘Priscilla’. Literature has even found its way into her on-screen work.
Xolo Maridueña
The new DC action movie, 'Blue Beetle', is the first to feature a Latino superhero as the protagonist. The film tells the story of Jaime Reyes, a recent university graduate, who returns home to Ciudad Palmera when he comes into contact with a Beetle
