FilmJerk Favorites

A group of unique directors and the essential works that you've got to see.

||| Francis Ford Coppola |||
Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola is an amazing talent whose inspiration and influence spans many generations. Virtually the link between the studio system of yesteryear and the independent minded filmmaker of the modern age, Coppola became the first major film director to emerge from a university degree program in filmmaking, thus legitimizing a now common route for many future filmmakers.

This Academy Award winner continues to enjoy an enormous critical and popular success due in large part to Coppola’s ability to break down an epic saga of crime and the struggle for power into the basic story of a father and his sons, punctuating the prevalent theme throughout Coppola’s oeuvre: the importance of family in today’s world. His personal portrait mixed tender moments with harsh brutality and redefined the genre of gangster films.

This intense, yet unassuming thriller has an impact that touches the viewer on a personal level and raises the question of privacy and security in a world of technology – thirty years ago! Coppola’s then virtually unknown cast is a roster of inevitable superstars, including Gene Hackman, Harrison Ford, and Robert Duvall. This Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Sound lost out to Coppola’s other great effort of the year, The Godfather: Part II.

Coppola's masterful Vietnam War-updating of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" was the first major motion picture about the infamous “conflict”. This colossal epic was shot on location in the Philippines over the course of more than a year and contains some of the most extraordinary combat footage ever filmed. Unforgettable battle sequences and sterling performances from every cast member (including Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, Scott Glenn, and Martin Sheen) mark this Academy Award-winning drama as a must-see for any true film fanatic.

Recommended by CarrieSpecht

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Jada Pinkett-Smith signs "The Human Contract"

By EdwardHavens

September 14th, 2007

One of the most exciting but woefully under-used actresses in Hollywood, Jada Pinkett-Smith has decided what she really wants to do is write and direct her own films.

Jada Pinkett-Smith signs

While Ms. Pinkett-Smith's superstar husband Will Smith and his producing partner James Lassiter are part of the team helping to get this film made, through their Overbrook Entertainment shingle, Mr. Smith will not be starring in the film as Julian Wright, a charming and mega-successful businessman who hides a secret from the rest of the world which tears his soul apart every day. With his personal life in shambles, Julian will find himself willing to travel down the rabbit hole, as it were, when he meets Michael Reed, a gorgeous stranger who entices Julian to forget his rigid corporate world and try a more bohemian lifestyle, a decision that will not only affect his own life but those of his boss and co-workers, as well as inspire his half-sister Rita to re-examine her life with her abusive husband.

No studio or distributor is currently signed on to the project, which will begin shooting in Los Angeles on November 12th.


"The Human Contract" Scorecard
Director: Jada Pinkett-Smith
Producers: Mike Jackson, Miguel Melendez, Dawn Thomas
Executive Producers: David Dinenberg, David Grasso, James Lassiter,, Kevin Reidy, Will Smith
Screenwriter: Jada Pinkett-Smith
Production Start Date: November 12, 2007
Production Locations: Los Angeles
US Distributor: None at this writing
Scheduled US Release Date: Unscheduled at this writing