Francis Ford Coppola didn’t go to hospital in an ambulance. He walked in. Or rather, he arrived in a car for a scheduled medical procedure with a doctor he’s trusted for over three decades.
“Mr. Coppola went in for a scheduled update procedure with acclaimed Dr. Andrea Natale, his doctor of over 30 years, and is resting nicely,” said his US-based representative. “All is well.” That calm message came as Italian news outlets buzzed with reports that the 86-year-old director had been hospitalised.
According to ANSA, he was admitted on Tuesday to Policlinico Tor Vergata in Rome. But despite headlines hinting at something more dramatic, it wasn’t an emergency.
No drama, just a check-up
In fact, Coppola himself took to Instagram to reassure fans, posting a smiling photo and writing:
“Da Dada (what my kids call me) is fine, taking an opportunity while in Rome to do the update of my 30-year-old afib procedure with its inventor, a great Italian doctor – Dr. Andrea Natale.”
When the Italian site Repubblica.it claimed he’d suffered atrial fibrillation, his team flatly denied it. “Not true,” said his rep.
There was no medical emergency, no panic, no last-minute decision. Just a scheduled update, handled with the kind of calm that only someone who's lived through far worse can really summon.
Francis Ford Coppola: A life marked by loss and legacy
Earlier this year, Coppola lost his wife Eleanor. She died in April 2024 at the age of 87. The two had been married since 1963. Over sixty years of partnership, art, family, and loss.
They had three children. Their eldest son, Gian-Carlo, died in a boating accident in 1986 when he was just 22. Their daughter Sofia, now 54, is an Oscar-winning filmmaker herself. Roman, 60, has also worked behind the camera. Creativity runs deep in the Coppola family.
In a recent talk at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, Coppola spoke about death with clear-eyed grace:
“I lost my wife a year ago, around this time. 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.’ I got to see my daughter win an Oscar. I got to see my father win an Oscar.”
Then he added something quietly unforgettable:
“I’m going to be so busy saying all the things I got to do that when I die, I’m not going to notice it. You know how your electric toothbrush just shuts off when you least expect it? That’s what death is like.”
Megalopolis: A gamble and a statement
Coppola has never been one to play it safe. His most recent film, Megalopolis, cost $120 million and he paid for it himself. It’s a heady, ambitious sci-fi vision about a futuristic version of New York called New Rome. A visionary architect tries to turn the crumbling city into a utopia.
The film had been a dream of his since the late 1980s. After decades of false starts and abandoned attempts, it finally premiered at Cannes in 2024. Reactions were mixed. The box office numbers were brutal—just $14.3 million in returns, meaning Coppola lost over $75 million.
Still, it hasn’t stopped him from taking the film on the road. In recent months, he’s shown Megalopolis at screenings across the US, from New York to Oregon. In July, he even presented it at the Magna Graecia Film Festival in southern Italy.
“Many thanks to the San Francisco @palaceoffinearts for allowing MEGALOPOLIS to serve as a forum concerning the future of humanity,” he wrote on Instagram.
He’s not done. Not even close. In an August 2024 interview with Rolling Stone, Coppola shared that he’s already developing two new films.
“One is a regular sort of movie that I’d like someone to finance and make in England, because I don’t have a big history with my wife in England. Everywhere else I go, I’m reminded of her all the time.”
The second is more personal.
“It’s called Distant Vision, which is the story of three generations of an Italian American family like mine, but fictionalised, during which the phenomenon of television was invented. I would finance it with whatever Megalopolis does. I’ll want to do another roll of the dice with that one.”
Five Oscars. Three for The Godfather Part II alone. A childhood polio survivor. The father of an Oscar-winning director. The uncle of Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman. The grandfather of Romy Mars, who’s now making waves in music and online.
At 86, Coppola is still dreaming, still writing, still making films. He’s in pain, clearly—his wife of over six decades is gone. But instead of retreating, he’s doubling down. Looking ahead. Starting over.
And for now, resting. Quietly, in Rome.
“Mr. Coppola went in for a scheduled update procedure with acclaimed Dr. Andrea Natale, his doctor of over 30 years, and is resting nicely,” said his US-based representative. “All is well.” That calm message came as Italian news outlets buzzed with reports that the 86-year-old director had been hospitalised.
According to ANSA, he was admitted on Tuesday to Policlinico Tor Vergata in Rome. But despite headlines hinting at something more dramatic, it wasn’t an emergency.
No drama, just a check-up
In fact, Coppola himself took to Instagram to reassure fans, posting a smiling photo and writing:
“Da Dada (what my kids call me) is fine, taking an opportunity while in Rome to do the update of my 30-year-old afib procedure with its inventor, a great Italian doctor – Dr. Andrea Natale.”
When the Italian site Repubblica.it claimed he’d suffered atrial fibrillation, his team flatly denied it. “Not true,” said his rep.
There was no medical emergency, no panic, no last-minute decision. Just a scheduled update, handled with the kind of calm that only someone who's lived through far worse can really summon.
Francis Ford Coppola: A life marked by loss and legacy
Earlier this year, Coppola lost his wife Eleanor. She died in April 2024 at the age of 87. The two had been married since 1963. Over sixty years of partnership, art, family, and loss.
They had three children. Their eldest son, Gian-Carlo, died in a boating accident in 1986 when he was just 22. Their daughter Sofia, now 54, is an Oscar-winning filmmaker herself. Roman, 60, has also worked behind the camera. Creativity runs deep in the Coppola family.
In a recent talk at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, Coppola spoke about death with clear-eyed grace:
“I lost my wife a year ago, around this time. 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.’ I got to see my daughter win an Oscar. I got to see my father win an Oscar.”
Then he added something quietly unforgettable:
“I’m going to be so busy saying all the things I got to do that when I die, I’m not going to notice it. You know how your electric toothbrush just shuts off when you least expect it? That’s what death is like.”
Megalopolis: A gamble and a statement
Coppola has never been one to play it safe. His most recent film, Megalopolis, cost $120 million and he paid for it himself. It’s a heady, ambitious sci-fi vision about a futuristic version of New York called New Rome. A visionary architect tries to turn the crumbling city into a utopia.
The film had been a dream of his since the late 1980s. After decades of false starts and abandoned attempts, it finally premiered at Cannes in 2024. Reactions were mixed. The box office numbers were brutal—just $14.3 million in returns, meaning Coppola lost over $75 million.
Still, it hasn’t stopped him from taking the film on the road. In recent months, he’s shown Megalopolis at screenings across the US, from New York to Oregon. In July, he even presented it at the Magna Graecia Film Festival in southern Italy.
“Many thanks to the San Francisco @palaceoffinearts for allowing MEGALOPOLIS to serve as a forum concerning the future of humanity,” he wrote on Instagram.
He’s not done. Not even close. In an August 2024 interview with Rolling Stone, Coppola shared that he’s already developing two new films.
“One is a regular sort of movie that I’d like someone to finance and make in England, because I don’t have a big history with my wife in England. Everywhere else I go, I’m reminded of her all the time.”
The second is more personal.
“It’s called Distant Vision, which is the story of three generations of an Italian American family like mine, but fictionalised, during which the phenomenon of television was invented. I would finance it with whatever Megalopolis does. I’ll want to do another roll of the dice with that one.”
Five Oscars. Three for The Godfather Part II alone. A childhood polio survivor. The father of an Oscar-winning director. The uncle of Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman. The grandfather of Romy Mars, who’s now making waves in music and online.
At 86, Coppola is still dreaming, still writing, still making films. He’s in pain, clearly—his wife of over six decades is gone. But instead of retreating, he’s doubling down. Looking ahead. Starting over.
And for now, resting. Quietly, in Rome.
You may also like
If you also have two voter cards, you can cancel them sitting at home. Know the step-by-step points.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis Plans Elephant Madhuri's Return; Vantara Supports Rehabilitation Efforts In Kolhapur
How do we get compensation from the government in case of death due to a cloudburst? Know the rules and laws.
GMB star 'very sad' as she suddenly quits for BBC Question Time job
Ayushman Bharat Scheme Update: What to Do If a Hospital Refuses Treatment Despite a Valid Ayushman Card
