Francis Ford Coppola was hospitalized in Rome for mild heart arrhythmia shortly after the conclusion of his U.S. tour for his film “Megalopolis,” local Italian media reported Tuesday.
The legendary director and six-time Oscar winner attended a scheduled visit with his heart doctor of more than 30 years while in Rome. Before the procedure, doctors reportedly noticed a the arrhythmia, leading them to keep Coppola for observation, ANSA reported, according to Reuters.
Last Friday, Coppola attended the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco for a screening and discussion about “Megalopolis.” The film was a decades-long passion project for the acclaimed director of “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now,” an ambitious feature that relied on Coppola’s self-financing.
Coppola toured with the film, which released in Sept. 2024, in six U.S. cities from late July to early August. Stops included Chicago, Denver and Dallas, as well as screenings in New York and New Jersey. California marked Coppola’s final visit on the tour.
The director’s wife, Eleanor Coppola, died just months before “Megalopolis” released in theaters. The director spoke to his wife’s passing while at the Palace of Fine Arts, according to SFGate.
“I lost my wife a year ago, around this time,” Coppola said. “But my attitude for death is that I always lived my life so that when I was at the moment approaching death, I wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, I wish I had done this and I wish I had done that.’ Instead, I say to myself, ‘I got to do this.’”
The Mirror first reported this news.
