It can’t be simple to play the part of Francis Ford Coppola. Not only is he one of the finest directors ever, but any movie fan is probably familiar with the way the renowned director conducts himself in general. In the new miniseries “The Offer,” which is about the creation of “The Godfather,” it is a challenging role for a number of reasons.
Dan Fogler, who played the maestro in the series, seemed to be at ease early on while production. The actor, who has directed before, was sufficiently connected to the director. Fogler felt fine playing Francis Ford Coppola despite all the evident pressure. The actor recently spoke to us about studying Coppola, portraying his mannerisms, and his deep admiration for the man.
It felt like I was playing someone that was very close to me
It’s a big ask to play this character.
Coppola is rumoured to be nearly six feet tall, speaking of tall. He’s about 5’11” “or anything. They didn’t really offer me much assistance, guy, despite the fact that I did my damnedest to appear tall.
I don’t believe anyone will criticise you for it, [laughs].
I see, excellent. I believe that Coppola might view it and say, “Wait a second. He’s shorter than I am.” I believe that could have…
Do you ever wonder what would happen if he saw this?
Absolutely. I pleaded with you to let him be this way from day one. I really wanted to do it right, and I’m hoping that one day he’ll see it and give us the thumbs up. I made an effort to capture his soul. Listening to him, I couldn’t help but think that he reminded me a lot of someone from my family. He reminded me a lot of my father, who I grew up listening to in New York, in many ways. I made an effort to personalise it and give him some of my own experiences. That gave me some kind of anchor for myself.
There are many things by Coppola that you can read or hear, including his commentary and the Godfather notebooks. How do you begin?
To examine the Godfather diary, according to [director] Dexter [Fletcher]. It’s a must-see if you’re a fan of “The Godfather.” Coppola utilised the novel as a real basis for the writing because it contains all of his thoughts and fears written in the margins.
I watched a documentary made by George Lucas titled “The Making of the Rain People.” It was quite enlightening to see Francis, in all of his neurosis, producing a modestly successful film. It’s basically a never-ending therapy session, but at the time, shortly before “The Godfather,” it was a beautiful little insight into his psyche.
There is, as you stated, a lot of footage. I attempted to personalise it. Many people approached me and exclaimed, “Man, you’re him!” So I thought, “Ah, I see. So I’ll just take ownership of that.” It’s hard to deny that I do somewhat resemble him. I had the impression that I was portraying a person close to me.
You don’t portray him as the renowned Francis Coppola either; rather, you portray him as a nervous man attempting to make a movie.
He keeps that anxiety with him the entire time “Hearts of Darkness,” yeah man. You can still see that. He has already received academy prizes, and now he is pursuing this project while taking enormous financial risks. In several scenes, he can be heard asking himself, “What am I even doing?” He keeps challenging himself. It’s incredibly admirable to see him acting so modestly.
I discovered that for him to do his greatest work, he practically needs to be in the middle of a whirlwind. It is a huge circus, and he has to whip everyone up. And then he makes diamonds out of that concern. Yes, that lesson was beneficial.
He kind of flails, you know?
What about his demeanour and method of walking around? Anything particular you became attached to?
I wanted to be certain that my clothing didn’t fit all that well. I aimed to gain more weight. When you first met him, I wanted to be the heaviest I could be. He eventually stops eating to focus on creating the movie, which causes him to gradually lose weight. As a result, when you first encounter him, he is only eating and drinking and moping around in director jail since he is unable to pursue his goals. Let’s resist getting too cosy with our attire.
There are Italians, you know, and if you visit and remain there for a while, you’ll get what is referred to as “a very relaxed arm.” You know, one of your arms kind of hangs by your side as you become really relaxed, and you gesture with your hip. That was a lot of information, and he has two arms that are relaxed. It creates a stroll that is almost Hitchcockian, which was cool. You know, he kind of flails?
I’ve noticed that he frequently touches the crease in his hair, especially when giving a speech or doing something else, as if he wants to make sure it’s there. I therefore incorporated that into his performance. You know, there’s a bunch of video of him just losing it on the phone. I adore his gesticulations.
How long had you had to get ready and research him?
I’d say we spent around three weeks doing a little bit, like a deep dive. I got the job. The rehearsal that followed was fantastic. Dexter was awesome, dude. That resembled a theatre rehearsal in every way. We all congregated and produced essays describing our characters and backstories.
Francis was a truly interesting person, and I loved how much he relished life. When I was watching the John Belushi documentary, I came across the section about “The Blues Brothers” and the afterparties they used to have after SNL in this tiny bar where they would play music till the early hours of the morning. Do you recall the name of their bartender?
Coppola?
Yeah. Doesn’t that provide you with a brief look into his character and the types of individuals he like to associate with? And to be there was probably the coolest thing you could do. He is at the centre of it. distributing drinks, man.
I want to be Kubrick
There are certain Coppola films that are generally adored, but do you have any favourites that aren’t as well-known as “The Godfather” or “Apocalypse Now”?
I felt the creations he built were incredibly cool “The Outsiders afterwards, with all those guys, you know. That, in my opinion, was extremely great. Gary Oldman is fantastic as Dracula. Holy sh*t. It’s a performance, that. That movie is fairly crazy, I mean! However, the film contains several lovely scenes. I think of him as my favourite Dracula. Come on then. There must be something there.
Do you know what else I dug up? I enjoyed discovering “Dementia 13,” Coppola’s debut horror film, when I was doing my first film, “Hysterical Psycho,” which is sort of a funky horror film. You may detect a tiny glimmer of greatness in some of the pictures he employed. I really like viewing that early material; it was cool.
That’s also a really good horror film.
Yes, indeed. He did make the first noise. He handled all aspects of filmmaking. I found that to be cool. He might have completed it by himself. He could have said, “Fine, I’ll fire it myself,” had they all left.
How did your last day on the Coppola set differ from your first?
You do think, “Oh, I hope I’m getting it,” on the first day. Dexter was a fantastic captain, though. He’s saying, “Man, you got it. mate, you got it. You’re doing it.” Then I said, “All right!”
I feel like he gave me a lot of confidence. I skipped all of the daily news. I normally watch the daily news, but I missed it. I just had to rely on people who knew Coppola, who were watching my performance and they were like, “You’re doing it, kid.”
By the end I was so proud of what we had accomplished. Looking back at everything, all the iconic moments, all of the moments from the film that we recreated as a backdrop…. My God, it was, I’m just thrilled to be a part of it. I got a lot of confidence going into the next thing.
That’s great.
I hope I get to play more directors! I want to be Kubrick. There’s a movie out there about the making of whether he was involved with the filming of the moon landing, which would be interesting.
The first three episodes of “The Offer ” are now available on Paramount+.
