Francis Ford Coppola 'hospitalised in Italy' after attending film festival

Director Francis Ford Coppola has reportedly been hospitalised in Italy. The Godfather director, 86, was in the country for the Magna Grecia Festival in Calabria to present his controversial movie, Megalopolis, which stars Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, and Giancarlo Esposito.

It was reported that the movie director entered the hospital this morning for scheduled heart surgery but after arriving, he reportedly experienced a mild cardiac arrhythmia and was placed under observation before surgery.

It is understood that Coppola is currently resting nicely after going in for a scheduled update procedure with his doctor of over 30 years.

He spent a lot of the summer in Italy scouting locations for his new film, which is said to start filming this autumn, as reported by ANSA.

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While at the film festival, he said to the crowd: "Young people tell me the world is a mess, but I tell them there's no problem that humanity can't solve. We must build a great new future, and do it together for the sake of our children. And tonight, we're taking a leap into the future."

The legendary director has close ties to the country after his grandfather, Agostino, emigrated from Bernalda in the early 1900s. In 1989, Francis became an honoray citizen of the town he spends a lot of his time.

The Mirror have reached out to his reps for comment.

Earlier this month, the Apocalypse Now director appeared at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts to take part in a Q&A session following a screening of Megalopolis.

The decades-in-the-making project, which received mixed reviews, stars Adam Driver as a rich and tortured visionary trying to build a utopian city while rowing with a conservative mayor. The film cost a whopping $120million but grossed just over $14million worldwide.

However, Coppola wasn't bothered by the box office results and said: "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. 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. 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.”

The director has received Oscars for Patton, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. He also won a BAFTA for Apocalypse Now, a Golden Globe for The Godfather and Apocalypse Now and collected many more accolades throughout his career.

He's also known for The Cotton Club, Peggy Sue Got Married, Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Outsiders and The Rainmaker. His wife, Eleanor Coppola, died died aged 87 in April last year.

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