AP News, October 18th, 2007
Everyone wants to work with Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson — except Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola — who directed Pacino and De Niro in "The Godfather" trilogy — says the trio of Oscar-winning actors have become apathetic.
"I don't feel that kind of passion to do a role and be great coming from those guys, because if it was there, they would do it! I mean, they're all in a position to do it," the 68-year-old filmmaker tells GQ magazine in its November issue, on newsstands Tuesday.
"Pacino always wanted to do theater. He wanted to do `Peer Gynt.' He wanted to do Shakespeare. Pacino will say, `Oh, I was raised next to a furnace in New York, and I'm never going to L.A.,' but they all live off the fat of the land," Coppola says.
He calls De Niro "wealthy and powerful" — and more ambitious than Nicholson.
"I think if there was a role that De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don't think Jack would," he says. "Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he's a little bit like (Marlon) Brando, except Brando went through some tough times."
Nicholson — a front-row regular at the Oscars and at Los Angeles Laker games — "was always kind of a joker" and a Hollywood schmooze, says Coppola.
"He's got a little bit of a mean streak," he says. "He's intelligent, always wired in with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios."
Adds Coppola: "I don't know what any of them want anymore."
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