Director

I like simplicity; I don't need luxury.

You're in a profession in which absolutely everybody is telling you their opinion, which is different. That's one of the reasons George Lucas never directed again.

The most adventurous thing I've done is learn how to fly a helicopter in the Philippines. One night we landed on a beach and slept on it.

I associate my motion picture career more with being unhappy and scared, or being under the gun, than with anything pleasant.

I don't go on set with an army of people because the most expensive elements of a movie production are the plane tickets, the hotel rooms, food and gasoline. If you're willing to discover new colleagues in the place that you are, you can save a ton of money.

A number of images put together a certain way become something quite above and beyond what any of them are individually.

It's ironic that at age 32, at probably the greatest moment of my career, with The Godfather having such an enormous success, I wasn't even aware of it, because I was somewhere else under the deadline again.

We support each other in the Coppola family. We love the idea of everyone getting his place in the sun.

I had to get a job, and of course, the job was 'The Godfather.' That made me be something I didn't know I was going to be. I became a big-shot director.

I had a number of very strong personalities in my family. My father was a concert flutist, the solo flute for Toscanini.

We were raised in an Italian-American household, although we didn't speak Italian in the house. We were very proud of being Italian, and had Italian music, ate Italian food.

I've been offered lots of movies. There's always some actor who's doing a project and would like to have me do it. But you look at the project and think, 'Gee, there are a lot of good directors who could do that.' I'd like to do something only I can do.

All of a sudden, there are great Japanese films, or great Italian films, or great Australian films. It's usually because there are a number of people that cross-pollinated each other.

As long as I can make lots of money in other businesses, I'll continue to subsidize my own work.

I liked to work in a shop down in the basement and invent things and build gadgets.

The internet in hotels should be free - and I really resent it when they charge you five dollars for a bottle of water beside your bed.

Anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.

By working in the morning, I find a sense of peace; it's isolated peace, but I can definitely be in touch with my feelings, and then I just start.

Being a former theater student, of course, there is a part of me that is fascinated with stage crafts and what you can do with illusions and working within the confines of the studio.

Listen, if there's one sure-fire rule that I have learned in this business, it's that I don't know anything about human nature.