Francis Ford Coppola waged war with studio heads throughout the making of “The Godfather.” Production on his 1979 Vietnam War epic, “Apocalypse Now,” was so troubled — there was a typhoon and a near-fatal heart attack — that it was chronicled in a documentary.

Francis Ford Coppola self-funded his new epic "Megalopolis" by leveraging his wine business. He may not recoup his investment at the box office.

Great artists need not be great their entire careers—a fact borne out by Francis Ford Coppola, whose 1970s run (The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now) is arguably the finest ever,