I just came across a wonderful interview with Francis Ford Coppola at The 99 Percent. He’s mostly talking about filmmakers, but some of his advice and insights apply equally to artists working in any medium.


A few of my favorite excerpts:

ON RISK

“An essential element of any art is risk. If you don’t take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful, that hasn’t been seen before? I always like to say that cinema without risk is like having no sex and expecting to have a baby. You have to take a risk.”

“The only risk is to waste your life, so that when you die, you say, ‘Oh, I wish I had done this.’”

ON IMITATING OTHER ARTISTS’ WORK

“We want you to take from us. We want you, at first, to steal from us, because you can’t steal. You will take what we give you and you will put it in your own voice and that’s how you will find your voice. And that’s how you begin. And then one day someone will steal from you.”

“Don’t worry about whether it’s appropriate to borrow or to take or do something like someone you admire because that’s only the first step and you have to take the first step.”

ON TRUTH IN ART

“…when you get into a habit of not lying when you are writing, directing, or making a film, that will carry your personal conviction into your work. And, in a society where you say you are very free but you’re not entirely free, you have to try. There is something we know that’s connected with beauty and truth. There is something ancient. We know that art is about beauty, and therefore it has to be about truth.”

Check out the full interview with Francis Ford at The 99 Percent

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