Coppola picks his favorite Sofia films; names his favorite movie of his own (it’s not what you think)

If you could sit down with Francis Ford Coppola – one of the greatest titans and entrepreneurs in movie history – what would you ask him? His best advice for a young filmmaker? His favorite movies? Perhaps his go-to ice cream flavor? Well, the director had all that and more to share during a recent Instagram AMA session; yes, Coppola has Instagram, and yes, you can ask him anything.

First and foremost, during the AMA, Coppola was asked what his favorite movies of his daughter Sofia’s were, in which he rattled off her debut, 1999’s Virgin Suicides, 2003’s Lost in Translation, 2006’s Marie Antoinette, and 2010’s Somewhere. That’s half of her filmography – Francis is such a dad! As for his own pictures, Coppola didn’t cite The Godfather or Apocalypse Now or Jack but rather 1983’s Rumble Fish, his second S.E. Hinton movie after The Outsiders (also out in ‘83). As for other directors’ works, he chose Eraserhead and The Elephant Man as his favorite of David Lynch’s.

Francis Ford Coppola also used his AMA time to give some advice on filmmaking, such as informing aspiring directors to do the research and write about what they love. Coppola is certainly taking his own advice, finally moving forward with his long-gestating passion project Megalopolis, which has a massive cast that includes Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, and so, so many more. Coppola even had thoughts on the casting process as a whole, saying, “I never make detailed notes, because the type of person who “sticks in your mind” has that unique ingredient, which also sticks in the audience’s mind.”

While Coppola didn’t appear to stick around all that long for his AMA session, it is pretty amazing to see the 84-year-old embracing social media and his fanbase (now, if we can just get him on Letterboxd). After all, how else would we know that the maestro loves him some pistachio ice cream?

Coppola hasn’t released a movie since 2011’s Twixt, only adding to the anticipation of Megalopolis. Coppola described the film as such: “It’s a love story…A woman is divided between loyalties to two men. But not only two men. Each man comes with a philosophical principle. One is her father who raised her, who taught her Latin on his lap and is devoted to a much more classical view of society, the Marcus Aurelius kind of view…The other one, who is the lover, is the enemy of the father but is dedicated to a much more progressive ‘Let’s leap into the future, let’s leap over all of this garbage that has contaminated humanity for 10,000 years. Let’s find what we really are, which are an enlightened, friendly, joyous species.’”

If you could ask Francis Ford Coppola anything, what would it be? Give us your burning question below!