Francis Ford Coppola Hospitalized in Rome
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary Hollywood director, has been hospitalized in Rome, Italy for heart surgery. Dr. Andrea Natale, who has overseen this procedure for over thirty years, was in charge.
The Godfather director reassured fans on Instagram that there is no cause for concern: “Da Dada (that’s what the kids call me) is doing well. I took the opportunity while I was in Rome to have an atrial fibrillation procedure updated by its inventor, the great Italian doctor—Dr. Andrea Natale! I’m fine!”
Atrial fibrillation procedures help restore the heart’s rhythm using small electric shocks or medication, and surgery is recommended depending on the severity of the heart condition.
Coppola recently concluded a six-city U.S. screening tour for Megalopolis. He told the San Francisco Gate that, although he is 86 years old and has recently lost his wife Eleanor Coppola, he has always maintained a steady perspective on death: “But my attitude toward death is always to live in such a way that, when I approach the end, I won’t say, ‘I wish I had done this or that.’ Instead, I’ll say, ‘I was able to do it.’”
This summer, Coppola traveled to Italy and told Italian publications that he was scouting locations for a new project: “I’m here in Calabria to check out several locations for a new project that is very important to me—a new film that will focus on the beauties of Calabria.”
About the project, he said: “The Calabria region is mostly known for the mafia, but that’s not what interests me. My film, instead, will focus solely on the beauty of this region.”
