Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola taken to hospital in Italy for planned procedure

Francis Ford Coppola has been taken to an Italian hospital for a planned medical procedure, The Independent has learned.

The legendary 86-year-old director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now had been in Calabria to present a screening of his controversial latest film Megalopolis.

Coppola, whose wife Eleanor died last April at the age of 87, recently completed a tour of U.S. theaters where he has been screening Megalopolis in person.

The film, which stars Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, and Shia LaBeouf, is a futuristic fable that draws parallels between modern day America and the fall of Rome. Critics were divided over the movie when it was released last September.

Earlier this year, Coppola told GQ that he preferred to tour the film himself rather than release it on streaming or DVD. Asked why he hadn’t approved a home release, Coppola responded: “Because the film is still being shown in theaters. I don’t want anyone to own it.”

He continued: “After the election, people are selling out screenings of Megalopolis—the way it was intended to be seen. Being that it was so prophetic or prescient to say America is like Rome—it’s going to maybe lose its republic—now people are rushing to see it in theaters.

“We sold out three screenings in Boston recently, in Detroit, and people are really lining up.

“It’s just like what happened with Apocalypse Now. Apocalypse Now was a big flop, it got terrible reviews, everyone said it was the worst movie ever made. And yet people never stopped going to see it. The same thing is now happening with Megalopolis.”

In a three-star review for The Independent, Geoffrey McNab wrote: “Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola’s self-funded $120m (£94m) epic, certainly isn’t another Godfather or Apocalypse Now, but it’s at least bursting with ideas.

“The filmmaker spent decades trying to get Megalopolis off the ground. What if it was no good? And what to make of the many claims of chaos on its set? Ultimately, this isn’t the car crash it could have been. It is, though, deeply flawed and very eccentric...

“Box office prospects for Megalopolis look wretched, though it will be no surprise at all if the film achieves cult status by dint of its wondrous oddity.”