Francis Ford Coppola English pronunciation: /ˈkoʊpələ/ Italian pronunciation: [ˈkɔppola], (born April 7, 1939) is an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors, Coppola epitomized a group of filmmakers known as the "New Hollywood". Emerging in the early 1970s with unconventional ideas that challenged contemporary film-making, the group included Martin Scorsese