Sofia Coppola and The Godfather Part III Disaster

January 1990 the film industry is a buzz with the news that the Godfather Part three is in production with Francis Ford Copa the director of Parts 1 and two returning to complete the trilogy after Decades of waiting audiences finally get to see what fate awaits Michael Corleone Pacino is back Katon is back Winona Ryder one of Hollywood's most exciting young actresses is set to Star as Michael's daughter Mary and wait a minute hold on um they've only been shooting The Godfather 3 for 7 weeks a mystery illness has forced or known a rider the sizzling young actress who wowed share when they filmed mermaids to drop out of Francis koba's latest mob epic and Sophia Copa will reportedly replace her Sophia who if it's become a joke at this point that The Godfather is so good and so beloved and every film bro is obsessed with it ooh are you guys is watching The Godfather it's also become a joke that The Godfather Part three is very obviously the worst of the trilogy the credits from the second Godfather are better than Godfather 3 alien autopsy illegal alien autopsy Godfather 3 good version that reputation has lingered in part because Sophia Copa replaced Winona Ryder as Mary cor Leone a performance that has become so notorious in the years since the film's premiere in December 19 990 that it's been described by Entertainment Weekly as one of the nastiest Hollywood controversies in years by the New York Times as one of the most glaring cases of nepotism in film history and by the telegraph as one of the worst creative decisions in film history those are strong harsh terms how could a performance possibly warrant such a backlash was Francis C cop's decision to cast his daughter actually one of the worst in film history what was his rationale for casting her in the first place in this video I take a look back at this whole debacle and attempt to break down what happened why Sophia was tapped as a replacement what critics hated and why she deserves a lot more sympathy than she initially got before we get started I want to give a huge thanks to movie for sponsoring this video movie is the Cur to streaming service dedicated to elevating great Cinema from around the globe and you can get a whole month free at movie.com Be Kind Rewind who's your father I'll give you a hint he's Italian from the minute she was born Sophia cop's life has been entwined with the Godfather Trilogy not just because her father directed it but because she made her feature film debut as Michael rezy the baby who's baptized as Corleone Hitman assassinate Michael's rivals in the original 1972 film she appeared again at age three in The Godfather Part Two as child on boat lingering in the background as little veto makes his way to the United States Sophia wasn't the only Copa to make an appearance in the original films francis's sister Talia Shire plays Connie Corleone his father Carmine of prominent loust contributed original music to the score his sons Roman and Gio make several Cameo appearances as do his mother and his uncle for Francis for Copa including his family members in his films not just a fun gag you could talk about later it was a philosophy family is cop's context wrote Peter Boer in Vanity Fair it's the environment he feels comfortable in and therefore the environment he creates even in his work he finds magic in the idea of family and comfort in its noisy reality in the women the children the family and The Business of filmmaking always intermingled when he traveled for work they traveled Ellen or copel wife and mother explained we kind of made a pack that if our marriage was going to survive in this industry that if Francis was going to be gone more than 2 weeks we would take the whole family so the whole family went to Italy for Godfather went to New York went to the Philippines went everywhere gradually the blending of work and family became increasingly common both for francis's narrative works and Eleanor's documentary work capturing footage behind the scenes on March 1st I came to the Philippines with Francis and our three children go2 Roman 10 and Sophia 4 sorry just need to knowe how funny it is that this little girl is in a Sesame Street shirt and also drawing what looks like a scene from Apocalypse Now Gio and Roman sometimes stepped in front of the camera but were also receiving extensive training behind the camera Sophia the youngest was there to fill in whenever Francis needed a little girl to play a role Ro which was more often than you might think and so around 10 years old Sophia at this point nicknamed and credited as Domino began her child actor era throughout the 1980s she appeared in speaking roles in a handful of her father's films beginning with 1983's The Outsiders an adaptation of an SE Hinton novel you likely read in eth grade about a teen who goes into hiding after killing a member of a rival gang Sophia's Cameo is brief as a random kid asking for change at a Dairy Queen you sure uh could you please go away we're busy here could you go away die go away get out of here next came rumblefish another adaptation of an SE Hinton novel which follows a disaffected young man named Rusty James who idolizes his brother and aspires to become a respected gang leader like him Sophia often lists this film as one of her favorites an example of a film about young people that still aspires to be artistically interesting and and ambitious it's also perhaps her best work as an actor she plays the little sister of Rusty James's girlfriend who has a bit of a crush on him and and likes to hang around the couple and tease them even or especially when she clearly isn't wanted you're always with girls get back inside squirt I want to listen to your conversation okay wise guy she's genuinely quite adorable in this role showing personality without going over the top ious without being so annoying as to alienate the audience Donna ask now or shall I telephone for the Polie after rumblefish Sophia stepped into Tim Burton's Franken weenie to play the neighbor of a little boy who brings his dog back to life an homage to the original 1931 Universal film Frank and weeny is Burton firing on all cylinders a truly stylistically audacious short that still maintains an innocence and sense of childlike fun fun although her character is less defined than in rumblefish Sophia steps into the role of scream Queen well enough and finally gets to aote in a big way proba you're not working hard [Music] enough her next role was in another Copa production Peggy suit got married which is kind of like girl Back to the Future Kathleen Turner gets magically transported from 1986 to 1960 when she's a senior in high school and still dating the boy who eventually becomes her ex-husband played by Copa cousin Nick Cage Sophia plays yet another little sister here still glamoring to be involved in the drama of the older characters she's almost a juvenile delinquent no out why are here she's a bit older more stiff and less expressive than in her previous roles teenagers are weird weird and you're the weirdest but isn't required to do too much so it doesn't negatively affect the film in a measurable way her last credited acting role before The Godfather Part 3 is an episode of fairy tale theater which you might know as this show hello I'm Shel Duval hello I'm Shelly Duval hello I'm Shelly Duval he plays a little girl who thinks weener head Waldo played by Hoy Mandel should compete for the title of funniest person in the kingdom what about the I think is a person like you and me she appears in some brief non-speaking cameos in some of francis's later films like here in Tucker the maned his dream but really that's it I wanted to run through these performances to note a couple of things that will be relevant later first that Sophia typically maxed out at a few minutes of screen time per film these roles were never integral to the plot nor did they require heavy lifting in terms of character work and although she typically filled in as The Sassy but likable enough little sister she doesn't have the natural Entertainer overeager energy that a lot of child actors have instead performing her dialogue in a steady and low-key tone Sophia did have one last opportunity to act however the project New York stories in 1988 Woody Allen approached Francis to participate in an anthology film project consisting of three short films that take place in New York City each directed by a different filmmaker Martin Scorsese contributed a story about an artist who is possessive of his Muse Allan wrote a comedic fantasy about a man whose mother looms over the city observing him and then there was Francis Francis a filmmaker known for working with epic scale was not a natural choice for a short film but as Michael Schumacher writes in his biography of Copa the main reason for Copa is taking on the project was the opportunity it gave him to work with his 17-year-old daughter Sophia Sophia showed creative potential and Copa was eager to help her develop it much the way he had encouraged his sons and helped nurture their budding careers some context for this in May 1986 koba's oldest son Gio tragically passed away in a boating accident Schumacher writes for Francis Copa the loss went far beyond a parent's Ultimate Nightmare of losing a child he'd lost a colleague and one of his closest friends Gio had been his father's right-hand man serving as associate producer on The Outsiders and rumblefish serving as second unit director on Captain EO he was in every way on the road to becoming a filmmaker in his own right and he was loved and respected by his friends and peers this loss marked a turning point not only in francis's personal life but also in the way he approached his career a family man through and through the lost turned his eye toward relatively smaller projects and stability so when a project came up that seemed like a good opportunity to spend time with Sophia he took it she would not only design the costumes and the opening credit sequence but also work directly with Francis on the screenplay they checked into a room at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and dove into the story together passing drafts back and forth and occasionally heading out to the casino whenever they got riters block or Cabin Fever the result was life without Zoe life without Zoe follows a 12-year-old girl who lives in a luxury hotel Often by herself while her dad a famous flst travels the world giving concerts Hector's our family Butler and my guardian angel he takes care of me when my parents are traveling which is most of the time and this is Ari um my babysitter's boyfriend because my parents are never home so these are my replacement parents by pure chance Zoe comes into the possession of a princess's stolen jewelry and schemes to deliver it to her all while hanging out with her friends reconnecting with family throwing parties and working at her school newspaper the accepted narrative regarding New York stories is that francis's contribution is the worst of the three and honestly I'm not going to argue against that however I think it's reputation deserves some recalibrating when people tend to discuss life without Zoe they to judge it for what we naturally want or expect it to be mature film making by a great aour and not for what it was in reality a man bonding with his teenage daughter by making a film that would appeal to her creative interests after the sudden tragic death of his son I can imagine for example someone sitting down expecting a film by the Apocalypse Now guy seeing this credit sequence and immediately becoming confused and dismissive it reads like its primary authorial force is a teen girl in fact I think it's more accurate to say that life without Zoe is not a Francis Ford Copa project but a Sophia Copa project because although it is directed by him it Bears all of the stylistic and thematic Hallmarks that have since become known as characteristically Sophia young female friendships are centered Chanel features heavily a connection she maintains to this day there's pop rock background music excessive displays of wealth then of course there's the concept of a young woman hanging out in a hotel with a famous older man which is something she's Revisited Time and Time and Time Again truly watching this film feels like finding Easter eggs for her later career I [Music] mean even the New York Times review of the film literally Compares Zoe's privileged extravagant life to Marie antoinet in other words New York stories is not an example of an autor's decline but an example of an ur's first attempt it would just take another decade for that to become clear now in addition to all of her other roles behind the camera Francis had wanted Sophia to act in life without Zoe as well but she refused saying she was too insecure and too close to the part in an interview she also cited a keen awareness of how her Casting would be perceived saying I was afraid people were going to say oh yeah there's francis's daughter that's the only reason she's in the film New York stories was released February 26th 1989 less than a year before her self-consciousness about stepping in front of the camera as francis's daughter would become a much much bigger issue why are you doing this why am I doing this one thing I've kind of glossed over thus far is the fact that the 1980s were not a very kind decade to Francis for Copa at the box office he had founded American zoat Trope as an alternative to the major Hollywood Studios a studio where he hoped to enable true artists to take giant swings and indulge their creative fantasies sometimes Copa gambled big on a project like Apocalypse Now and it worked out sometimes he gambled big on a project like one from the heart and it didn't for more on this I highly recommend Sam wasson's book the path to Paradise none of the films he made throughout the 1980s achieved the critical Acclaim that his films in the 1970s did most of them lost money at the box office his credibility had eroded to the point that he told the New York Times I'm very embarrassed about my career over the last 10 years I want to be considered a vital American filmmaker and have the country be proud of me but I'm aware that my career has been very troubled and controversial he was also in massive financial trouble personally owing creditors $6 to7 million and embroiled in a lengthy legal battle over a loan taken out to pay for one from the Heart by July 1992 Copa would file for bankruptcy protection for the second time in just 3 years so when Paramount approached him to make a third Godfather installment he took offer very seriously The Godfather films had not only won nine Academy Awards including two for best picture but had grossed over a billion dollars worldwide another Godfather film could kill two birds with one stone Revitalize francis's reputation and get him out of debt Paramount had offered him this opportunity before in fact the studio had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years making various attempts to get a third film off the ground pitching the idea to different directors and commissioning scripts that took the corleon to South America for drug deals and all kinds of other Adventures but no one knew the Godfather like Francis only he they believed could complete the trilogy with a film that measured up to the first two Francis accepted but understood that the stakes were enormous if the Godfather 3 were a big financial success it would solve his problems in one Fell Swoop and if not he told Vanity Fair I'm back to the poverty level The Godfather Part three begins with Michael Corleone finally attempting to make good on a promise heed made decades ago to get the corleon out of organized crime and into legitimate business which he hopes to do by bailing out the Vatican Bank in exchange for shares in a real estate company Vincent his nephew arrives at the family party hoping to convince Michael to take him under his wing as his successor he succeeds by showing bravery and loyalty to Micha Michael when he is challenged by a local rival Joey Zaza meanwhile he and Michael's daughter Mary fall in love yes they are cousins although Michael intends to leave organized crime behind his Rivals plot his assassination forcing him to respond which he does through Vincent impressed he appoints Vincent his successor on the condition that he end his relationship with Mary which he does still the assassination plot moves forward with the Assassin accidentally killing Mary instead of Michael on the steps of the Opera House in pmo one thing to note if you're looking to rent or stream The Godfather Part 3 in 2024 the version that is available is a different version than the one people would have seen in the 9s Copa frequently re-edits and re-releases his films to readjust things he didn't love the first go around actually the week I wrote this video his latest re-editing effort the infamous one from the heart hit theaters anyway the plot differences between the versions are mostly negligible but the changes do affect the film in interesting ways and if you want to know more about the differences between the versions I suggest watching eyebrow Cinema's video on the topic anyway with the script completed most of the original cast set to return and exciting additions like Andy Garcia as Vincent and when know a writer as Mary set to join everything seemed like it was good to go until it wasn't with hits like Beetlejuice and Heathers already under her belt Winona Ryder was one of the hottest young actresses in Hollywood but being one of the most in demand actresses meant that her schedule was crowded she finished filming mermaids flew to Rome with then boyfriend Johnny Depp just one day before she was meant to start filming The Godfather upon arrival she immediately fell ill Depp phoned the producers from their hotel room and informed them that she could couldn't get out of bed producer Fred Roose quickly dispatched a doctor who examined her and advised the producer to send her home she was suffering from severe exhaustion bordering on a nervous collapse of course the producers tried to make accommodations there must be something anything they could do to keep Winona in the picture was there any medication could she sleep it off but no Winona Ryder would have to drop out she and Depp boarded a plane to California they would have to find another Mary Copa and Roose scrambled Paramount had the production on a very tight schedule hoping to release the film for the holiday season who could they get last minute to fill in a role as crucial as Mary would they have to pause production to find the right person originally Copa had wanted Julia Roberts to play Mary already an Academy Award nominated actress for 1989 Steel Magnolia he considered her ideal but she was booked some solid and had to decline the role before they'd even offered it to Winona Madonna had actively campaigned and tested for the role and Copa actually really loved her take on the part but thought she was too old to play Mary according to schacher at one point during the scramble they even considered flying her out and making Necessary changes to the script to account for her age they might be able to get Annabella skora who had been in true love or Laura San Jomo who had been in Sex Lies and videotape but Copa didn't really seem enthusiastic about any of those options he wanted Sophia December 28th 1989 Sophia Copa was on winter break from art school so she flew out to Rome to spend time with her family who were in production on The Godfather Part 3 she stepped into the shower when the phone rang elanar answered I was surprised to hear the voice of the assistant director calling in the middle of a shooting day she wrote in her diary excerpts of which were later published in Vogue he's a jovial guy but he sounded unusually serious a little Panic flashed across my heart he said very quickly that the production doctor had just returned from seeing Winona ryer who was too sick to work and was being sent home Francis had decided to cast Sophia in her part he asked if Sophia could come to the studio immediately because a scene with her character was scheduled to shoot in a few hours and they needed her for a costume fitting I told Sophia as L as I could but tears were welling up in my eyes she was very excited at first then as it sank in she became anxious I said I was sure her father would never have cast her if he didn't believe she could do it I could see how worried she was about letting him down as Sophia later recalled I could hear it was something weird just in their voices and my mom hung up and said Okay Sophia we've got to get you to chinita right away you're going to be marry I was like excuse me are you sure I just want to take a shower this decision was instantly controversial on set and off Paramount Executives immediately attempted to intervene not only did they have little confidence in an untrained actor taking on such a key role in the film but also they were pissed that such a big role would go to an unknown who had no box office appeal whatsoever elanar remembered a heated exchange between Francis and Paramount Executives over the phone about Sophia the studio even sent Executives to try to get Pacino to persuade Francis to change his mind Francis rebelled and asserted his authority barring any Paramount Executives from visiting the set and sending two of his producers back to the us as punishment for Mis handling the writer situation the cast wasn't happy either it would make their job harder to work with an inexperienced actress Talia Shire who was returning as Connie tried to talk Francis out of the decision arguing aring Sophia wasn't ready for something like The Godfather or the intense level of scrutiny she would be exposed to as francis's daughter ultimately Copa brought in his lawyers to reaffirm that he had been given total creative control in his contract no amount of executive interference or onset complaining would persuade him if he didn't want to be persuaded so given the stakes we've established his decision suggests an extraordinary level of trust in Sophia so what might have been going through his head why did he think this was a good idea first Francis had explicitly modeled Mary on Sophia she was around Sophia's age the daughter of a big Italian family the daughter of a powerful man he later told Vanity Fair obviously part of the kind of daughter I wanted for Michael was my own daughter because I was thinking oh if I were Michael and I had this nice daughter she'd be sort of like Sophia she'd be cute she'd be beautiful but she wouldn't be like a movie star beautiful she'd be Italian so in her face you could see Sicily second Sophia already had a familiarity with the script because whenona Rider had been so busy prior to production she never actually participated in any rehearsals with the rest of the cast Sophia substituted in for her during table reads according to Andy Garcia Sophia was there and she sat in and read the part even back then so when Sophia was C I was like let's go I'm all in third as we've already established Copa placed a high value on working with family especially on the Godfather films which he believed were enriched by his family's actual bonds and experiences as an Italian American family I reached out wherever I could to for those things that I knew were definite because I had lived that way and as the movies were made one after another more and more The Godfather became just kind of the biggest home movie in history and and my attitude was why not have tally play the part because maybe it'll be good for her why not have my father get his break so he can write the music and uh why not put my little baby in the baptism scene at least I'll have always a a memory of that it'll be like a home movie I'll always be able to see what my kids look like he personalized it in a way that he could understand so that it would uh so it has a warmth it has a Romanticism about it uh that's uh it's trademark almost you know his personal life was carried over into the film and and and vice versa sort of overlapped dance with your daughter dance with your daughter in a sense casting Sophia was a reflex or a force of habit he'd done it so many times before but the decision also lent itself to deeper meanings and interpretations from the early 1970s analogies frequently appeared in the Press linking Francis as the patriarch of a close-knit Italian American family building a film Empire to Michael with the release of The Godfather 3 more and more parallels were drawn between the personal and professional lives of Michael and Francis as critics made the Fairly obvious observation that Francis had dramatized a father's ultimate tragedy as the loss of his child Peter Boyer of Vanity Fair who chronicled much of this debacle in real time interviewed Copa on set and noted a revealing stream of consciousness a word Journey from Geo to tragedy to Michael Corleone this Godfather had to be a tragedy and Michael Corleone had to suffer it because Copa did Talia Shire believed that for Francis having Sophia around was security he's now focused on Sophia and protecting her which gives him a solid base he's not thinking of all the other insanities it's like a diversionary thing she told Boer she made the connection more explicit for Entertainment Weekly Sophia was just so innocent ENT and ridiculous situation it was very much what the character Mary was dealing with the controversial Father Michael Corleone and her desire to bring her innocence to help him forget his sins but then of course the cost of that is herself and yet Perhaps the most compelling reason Francis cast Sophia was far less psychologically complex by casting her he could maintain the strict production timeline set by Paramount because Sophia was cast and literally on set hours later Francis didn't lose a single day of shooting to Ryder's sudden departure in that sense his choice was extraordinarily pragmatic at the same time it undoubtedly put Sophia in a very very difficult position clearly there was a difference between Mary and the bratty little sister characters she'd played in the past Mary is not tangential to the plot she's integral to it she must demonstrate refined emotions convey loss show romantic interest strike a delicate balance between loving her family and feeling disgusted for what she learns about its history to make matters worse Sophia would be acting next to some of the industry's Living Legends sometimes literally sandwiched between Al Pacino and Diane Keaton which had the potential to unfairly emphasize her lack of training it really is the teach your infant how to swim by throwing them in the pool approach to acting in addition to Mary being more sophisticated than her previous roles Mary was also sexually mature a daunting thing for many actresses to perform for the first time let alone to perform it for the first time with a 34-year-old man while your dad is filming you at the beginning I remember going to D Katon and and saying like oh my I have to do this kissing scene with Andy in front of my dad blah blah blah and she said like I was like really scared to do it I just did not want to do it and I she said oh no they're fun they're really fun to do like love scenes because you get to like do all the things you're not supposed to do which you can't really do so then then it was fun to Entertainment Weekly she gave a less positive spoon I was pretty crazy that day when I had to kiss Andy at 7:00 in the morning she said I wasn't feeling very romantic and also the script supervisor who known since I was 12 was standing a foot away saying okay saliva under his left ear Sophia I mean all this flirting and kissing I'm doing with Andy I'm doing in front of my father of all people adequately performing the role brought enough pressure but Sophia was also keenly aware of the controversy her Casting had caused she knew that the other actors were not happy and that Paramount had actively been pressing her father to change his mind and these weren't hypothetical abstract concerns she could read all about it in the news sometimes with quotes from her own parents elanar documented the behind the-scenes Whispers And toll it took on Sophia detailing how depressed she had become reading in the news about how her castmates didn't actually want her there how from day to day she wavered from courageous and excited to tired and miserable she wrote a number of people on the production think Sophia is too young at 18 and too inexperienced for the apart and have made their opinions known several times she has burst into tears well-meaning people tell me that I am permitting a form of child abuse that she's not ready not trained for what is being asked of her and that in the end she will be fodder for critics bad reviews that could scar her for years they also tell me that Francis can't afford to take a chance that could weaken his work at this point in his career Francis similarly told Vanity Fair that his sound designer approached him with with tears in his eyes and said Francis get her out of it she doesn't want it she's in tears over there and so I go over to her and sure enough she's crying I said to Sophia you know this is going to be very hard but if you want to do it you can do it and what I suggest is you just take 10 minutes and you go in and you give it your best shot so she went down and she did it and it was moving and everything and that night she told me [ __ ] them she said I'll show them I'll do it and when I saw that she had the strength to keep trying I mean what do I have to lose if she kept trying and succeeded fine if she kept trying and it didn't work out I'd have to fire her and replace her anyway Sophia's determination was admirable but as production continued new layers of metaphors only continued to build art imitated life when the film came out the bullets that Sophia got were meant for me just as in the story ironically dad so within what producer Fred Roose described as a 12-hour window when Ona riter dropped out of the Godfather Part three Sophia Copa was selected to replace her and with no actual acting training whatsoever arrived on set to act alongside some of the greatest actors of their generation in one of the most highly anticipated films in decades I think it's fair to say that Sophia Copa was not set up to succeed and I'm sorry to say succeed she did not the film generally received mixed reviews overall but the earliest reviews reserved their fiercest criticisms for Sophia ranging from light taunting to straight up blaming her for the fact that the movie underwhelmed audiences in the Washington Post she was called hopelessly amateurish the camera sees what her father cannot and an untrained young woman never completely comfortable and extremely awkward in the intimate moments without her The Godfather Part three would very nearly match the first two parts of the corleon Saga she's not an adequate actress a fact that is glaringly clear every time she opens her mouth the New York Post Jamie Bernard went a little further declaring Copa has virtually ruined his movie by casting her some reviews were tinged with such giddy contemp that they're kind of uncomfortable to read she had less experience than say buttered popcorn sold in theater lobbies she conveyed no emotion deeper than a teenager's Joy at finding new earrings in the mall for a time I was diverted by the puzzle of Sophia K's performance wrote One critic is Mary Corleone a barbituate addict or is Sophia C devoid of acting ability broadly speaking the criticisms broke down into into a few categories the success of the dramatic beats in the film relies on the audience buying into certain interpersonal relationships you have to really believe Vincent Loves Mary for example so that when he chooses his position as Michael's successor over his relationship with her you feel the weight of that loss for both of them ideally you then root for Mary as she begs her father to resend his ultimatum but because Sophia could not convincingly deliver her end of those relationships she weakened the triangle between Mary Vincent and Michael as Janet Maslin wrote In The New York Times Mary is meant to affect several of the other principles in heart-stopping ways but her flat uneasy performance seriously damaged Mary's impact as the Lynch pin of this story in that vein many critics specifically felt that the Romantic storyline did not work well the Intrigue in Rome is a little melodramatic to say the least but so is the spirit of course of this entire Saga a bigger problem is the casting of Sophia Copa who is out of her acting League here she's supposed to be Andy Garcia's love interest but no sparks fly he's more like her babysitter I don't think it's explained why he really comes onto her unless this guy is the most venal Craven guy but look who he's playing around with he's playing around with the Godfather's daughter babysitter is probably the right word here because remember that Andy Garcia was 34 at the time of filming and Sophia was 18 but the problem wasn't necessarily the discrepancy in their age or their vastly different experience levels the problem to many critics was that Sophia wasn't sexy enough as you can imagine things got very personal very quickly for example as a woman whom aend would kill for Sophia Copa is to put it kindly unpersuasive Gary Arnold of the Washington Times wrote with her oversized facial features and oddly curling upper lip Sophia Copa requires some getting used to as an image let alone a performer one critic went so far as to call her a homely young woman just to inject these people are all [ __ ] crazy on the other end of the spectrum were the critics who fetishized her performance or her very ethnic Italian looking ripe adolescent sexiness she's interesting to look at and brings a pointedly Italian inflection to the film with her beasting lips not to mention beasting nose another strand of criticism centered on her voice which lacked expressiveness this I think gets to a broader conversation because the thing is Sophia is rather monotone and her voice comes up a lot still to this day in coverage of her actors mention all the time how quiet she is journalists remark on how she mumbles or speaks in a kind of vocal soft focus or has a gentle malef fluous voice that immediately reminds you of her work Rachel Sim brings up the volume of her voice twice in her most recent profile in the New Yorker in other words she is monotone but in her defense I think that's just what naturalism sounds like for her her pattern of speech hasn't changed since she was acting as a child it's just that you can't get away with that in something as unabashedly operatic as the godfa father all of this being said I think it's extremely important to say that while critics of Sophia's performance were very vocal there were important critics who stuck up for her more than history likes to remember and believed that her unstudied approach added vulnerability and openness to her performance Pauline kale of all people was sympathetic in the New Yorker writing that Sophia has a lovely and unusual presence she gives the film a breath of life and I grew to like her Roger eert was also a staunch Advocate and penned several articles defending her Casting there's no way to predict what kind of performance he might have obtained from aona writer the experienced and talented young actress who was originally set to play this role but I think Sophia Copa brings a quality of her own to Mary Corleone a certain upfront vulnerability and simplicity that I think are appropriate and right for the role some critics have suggested that Sophia Copa lacks the EXT ordinary Beauty and irresistible sex appeal necessary for this role but actually that's not what Mary Corleone is like at all she is an average and unexceptional child in a family that she clearly only has a dim understanding of I personally do think Sophia Copa is distractingly bad in this film and that many of the criticisms regarding her weakening of the triangle and lacking expressiveness or mature sensuality are valid however it's the tone and eagerness of the writing that I think nudges some of these critiques into ugly territory how they seem to Delight in teasing this teenage girl who hadn't asked for the role and had no real preparation for it rather than pointing out how irresponsible it was to put her in that situation in the first place context that would have been readily available by the time the film was released the situation un deniably reeks of the careless mockery that befell many young women in the Press throughout the 1990s as one sympathetic writer put it Neo fites like Sophia Copa tend to bring out the cad in male critics actors usually Escape such catty comments as these things usually go once something becomes a thing it can spiral out of control and incur much more backlash and vitriol than necessary report SS of laughter and Applause at her death scenes appeared in the papers she won two razis worst supporting actress and worst new star over fellow nominee Donald Trump by the way worst of all rumors began to spread that exaggerated the extent to which Sophia had become a liability for the production one rumor purported that she was forced to dub over most of her dialogue to disguise her Valley Girl accent it was true that during production she worked with addiction teacher to train herself for example to put a te on the end of Vincent and things like that but the claims her performance was all re-recorded or even re-recorded by another actress were grossly exaggerated the film's dialogue editor denied it another rumor claims that Francis had re-edited the film after critics saw it to minimize her screen time again the film editors had to deny this yet another rumor went even further stating that Copa had sent letters to critics asking them to re-evaluate the film after these edits again a Copa spokeswoman denies they exist at a survey of leading critics failed to find a single recipient I think francis's point about the metaphor is Right Sophia took a bullet that in reality was meant for Francis and the film more broadly The Godfather Part 3 is the worst of the trilogy and not because of Sophia copel as acting ability ities I mean it clearly didn't help but the film has fundamental issues that more animated line deliveries simply wouldn't fix I had a hard time even summarizing the film for this video because the plot is so convoluted and at times difficult to follow casting George Hamilton as a pseudo replacement for Robert Duval is baffling I'm sure a lot of people like the helicopter assassination but really it's quite unbelievable and lacks the subtlety and personal vindictiveness that made the violence in the first two so impactful too few critics noted how underwritten Vincent was as a successor to Michael Pauline kale mentioned it writing where are the scenes in which Michael would recognize that Vincent has the steal and cunning to hold power Michael seems to turn his Empire over to a loyal bodyguard while Owen gber at Entertainment Weekly bluntly stated that there's no way he can become as resonant a central character as this series demands would have done well to make him a little smarter and while the performance of Mary has been picked to the Bone the writing of Mary went completely overlooked is she this irresistible Vixen the kind of girl that can get a man to fall for his own cousin who also happens to be the daughter of a notoriously dangerous Mafia Don is she a childlike figure completely devoid of knowledge about the family business like oooo did you really kill your brother dad she's kind of both Mary seems to land in the middle of a few archetypes not in a way that makes her feel like an individual but in a way that just feels IL defined jumbled and difficult to play the confusion for me can also be seen in who Copa was initially most interested in casting these women are all very different actors to me although wiona does seem the most capable of blending that naive innocence and cool girl attitude in Tru truth the thing that the film suffers from the most is its own expectations it seems unlikely that lightning would strike the same place twice much less three times and that burden both for the director and the film seems impossible to overcome The Godfather 3 is not a perfect film it is the worst of the trilogy but it's not terrible the truth is that anything that didn't exceed or match the first two was likely to underwhelm home and apparently someone had to Bear the weight of that disappointment Sophia was the easiest option they just like my father come on stay with the family go on thankfully The Godfather Part three did not flop at the box office easily earning back its budget and then some but it did see a significant drop off in attendance and you'll never guess who was blamed for that the film received seven Academy Award nominations including best picture and best director but it went home empty-handed the copas have acknowledged but played down this ordeal in years since Francis has admitted his regrets I felt that I did this to her he told vulture of course Sophia went on to have a wonderful career of her own but it must have hurt her terribly to be told you ruined your father's picture when in fact she hadn't in my opinion at any rate the whole subject of The Godfather 3 was painful for me for Sophia the blow was cushioned by the fact that she hadn't really wanted wanted to be an actress in the first place she told the New York Times in 2000 it was definitely painful if it had been my dream to be an actress and that's what I'd been training to do I think it would have hurt so much more but I didn't have all my hopes wrapped up in it at the same time I have to wonder if the backlash delayed what we now know in retrospect was coming her serious foray as a filmmaker behind the camera throughout the next four years she tried anything and everything creative and entered what she and Francis have affectionately called her diletant era she'd been to Art School studied painting tried photography started a fashion line called milkfed she appeared in music videos by the likes of Sonic Youth and Madonna one quick anecdote about Madonna that I really liked while researching this critic Rex Reed was mcing the New York film critic Circle awards ceremony the year The Godfather Part 3 came out and apparently made a crack about Sophia which Madonna loudly booed from from the audience which I think is just really cool didn't get the role but stands by her puts her in a music video nice work anyway Sophia even had a short-lived television show on Comedy Central with Zoe cassavetes called high octane only four episodes ever actually aired but they're all on YouTube and I highly recommend watching them each one features sketches and interviews with celebrity guests like Martin sesi and Naomi Campbell who's our next guest Anna s who who's that Designer what kind of a designer a fashion designer they're such a silly blend of that Genex cool irreverence with serious Cultural Literacy they're casual but really excited about what artists have to say what are the five movies everyone should see I think yeah there about four or five I can talk about uh there's so many different V variations on themes if people limit me to 10 I've got to go to 100 but it took a while for Sophia to return to film she later said in an interview I didn't know that film was what I wanted to do it is hard to want to be a director when your father is this huge figure I think I mean I don't know I just know that I didn't even think about it perhaps because I was trying to avoid what would have been an intimidating decision it wasn't until she finally pulled the trigger and made a short film like the star that she actually realized what she wanted to do that film combined all of her creative interests that she actually knew from her years of EXP experience on set how to make a movie Her directorial feature debut 2000's The Virgin Suicides of course came next and received enthusiastic reviews at the Sundance Film Festival the rest is history at this point but what I think is important to remember about this moment is that unlike most filmmakers making their debut at Sundance Sophia already had a narrative attached to her name because of her father Yes but also because of the Godfather Part three that is the last last time most film critics would have thought about her it is the reason why a lot of her press coverage from this time describes her as a young woman who up until now had been most famous for being a bad actress the success of The Virgin Suicides then was not just the announcement of a promising young filmmaker but the Triumph or Redemption of Sophia Copa the quiet 28-year-old daughter of high power director Francis Ford Copa is is best known for being a bad actress but it looks like that's about to change Sophia Copa is back older wiser and doing something she really wants to do as Todd Kennedy points out in his article off with Hollywood's head Sophia Copa as feminine aour critics have and probably always will be obsessed with her status as the daughter of a major American filmmaker it really is a no win PR problem whether she succeed succeeds or fails people will say she's just a privileged girl who's only gotten where she is because of Daddy and sure don't we have a right to be frustrated I mean how many of us have Ambitions that we feel could be achieved if we just had the access to the right resources still I personally think this is a slightly silly accusation to lob at someone who clearly has developed her own thematic concerns and stylistic language she's not some kid who was like M I guess I'll DJ I've always thought of the family as a circus family with Francis out on the high wire doing his act and the rest of us down below holding the ropes and now it's Sophia's turn and she's going out on the wire and the rest of us have all gathered around her to uh be there for a supporter the copas have made film making a guiding philosophy and way of life this is why francis's upcoming film megalopolis has taken decades to make because he'd rather pay pay for it himself then make what he considers a lesser version of his ambition for whatever a major Studio would Dain to offer in funding undoubtedly she was given a leg up but at least she's made something out of it I have wondered though what we would think of The Godfather Part three if Sophia had never become a filmmaker if she had drifted off Into Obscurity would I be as eager to revisit this controversy I'm not sure but probably not although no one really deserves that kind of public treatment it's the end of this Arc that makes it feel so extreme and frankly dare I spay inspirational in a weird way Sophia Copa isn't someone who's going to give a long- winded Soliloquy about what it was like to experience all of this I mean understandably I would never speak to the Press again if I were her but I do admire the strength it takes to rebound from a situation so vicious what a lesson to take things in stride have no fear and try anyway of Sude what that experience how did that translate want to hear that yeah uh he asks uh considering uh her role in Godfather 3 what did that experience bring to this uh project I'm less afraid of the [Applause] critics of course if you're following Sophia cop's career today you might have seen her most recent film Priscilla so many great films came out in 20123 and I'd like to suggest one you might have missed Aki C maki's fallen leaves a modern day finished romance in which two lonely Souls meet by chance in a local karaoke bar this Timeless tender comedy when the jury prize at can this year and you can watch it right now on movie movie is a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great Cinema from all around the globe from Iconic directors to emerging aurs there's always something new to discover with movie each and every film is hand selected by a wonderfully talented team of curators you can C the best of cinema at your fingertips streaming anytime anywhere and that means not only do they have incredible Classics from decades past like The Blair Witch Project dogville and city of women the movie also helps distribute current releases like decision to leave passages and fallen leaves with such a diverse library on demand one that's ever changing and includes new films from throughout the year movie truly makes being a copile easy and exciting in thankfully because movie is sponsoring this video you can check out all of the films I just mentioned right now for free all you have to do is click the link in my description below go to movie.com beind rewind for a whole month free a world of Cinema can be at your fingertips get your month free at movie.com beind rewind today how old are you Sophia five you're 5 years old mhm and and Sophia's going to talk a little bit now Sophia you know who I want you to talk to I want you to talk to a makeb believe person can you who's the make belie person her name is Sophia and she's a big lady now she's a grownup lady and so you talk to the grownup you talk to you where when you're a big lady okay okay go ahead hello I'm a little fishy you know and I swim in the water and I have two brothers that are fishes one is name is j one is named Roman and my name is Sophia

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Length: 54min 58sec (3298 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 01 2024