Francis Ford Coppola and Stanley Kubrick

Readers,

First in line are the 2 american directors of our group. Hope you all enjoy what we have to say.

Stanley Kubrick and Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola and Kubrick shared the same nationality and both were references for their respective decades as they were clearly the ones that rose above their peers during their time.

Fearless and Risk takers:

Kubrick, as Coppola, was fearless and showed this by doing things no one ever did before. Coppola was fearless too. He decided to make films even when he wouldn’t know if the studio would approve it. He wanted to try things that had never been never done before. None of them was afraid to take risks, they mentioned a similar statement that shows that you can´t do the best thing you imagine if you don´t take that risk. Both of them thought that a small budget stimulates you to have bigger ideas. This kind of characteristics seems the key for the success of both directors and it can be seen as a leadership characteristic as it was evident for their crew the kind of director they were and made them buy into the projects.

Temper:

Coppola was a type of grandfather figure for actors and his crew. He was warm, inviting presence on the set, someone who you could always approach to talk. As some people say he tries to be everything for everyone. Kubrick, on the other hand was more of a cold, closed director who was all about work, details and perfection.

Persistence and Passion:

Both directors were persistent with their ideals and passionate with their goals and objectives. If they imagine something, they do whatever possible to accomplish it. Both of them got the protagonists of their movies that they want; we can see the example of Coppola with Marlon Brandon.

As leaders:

Kubrick was always on point about his scripts and was communicative enough to let his actors know what he needed out of them and he reached the pinnacle of movie making so in a sense, he was able to manage a crew and make something perfect. Coppola was more of a candid, personal director who was not as closed as Kubrick but still described by some as sometimes distant. Coppola had contact with every member of his crew and was more frequently involved on scenes, more like the current image of the film director. Both of them gave to their crew the confidence and freedom to be the owners of the character and act as they considered better becoming the character itself, feeling it. We can see two different styles of leaders that accomplished a lot and really made their print on an era.

Styles of filmmaking:

Kubrick has been controlled and precise with every detailed considered for while Coppola was opened to suggestions and sometimes didn’t have a clear idea on how the movie would unfold, he was more about improvising while Kubrick was more of a perfectionist.