Entertainment
Eleanor Coppola, matriarch of a filmmaking family, dies at 87
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Eleanor Coppola, who documented the making of some of husband Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic films, including the infamously tortured production of Apocalypse Now, and who raised a family of filmmakers, has died. She was 87.
Coppola died Friday surrounded by family at home in Rutherford, California, her family announced in a statement. No cause of death was given.
Eleanor, who grew up in Orange County, California, met Francis while working as an assistant art director on his directorial debut, the Roger Corman-produced 1963 horror film Dementia 13. (She had studied design at UCLA.) Within months of dating, Eleanor became pregnant, and the couple were wed in Las Vegas in February 1963.
Their firstborn, Gian-Carlo, quickly became a regular presence in his father’s films, as did their subsequent children, Roman (born in 1965) and Sofia (born in 1971). After acting in their father’s films and growing up on sets, all would go into the movies.
‘I don’t know what the family has given except I hope they’ve set an example of a family encouraging each other in their creative process whatever it may be,’ Eleanor told The Associated Press in 2017. ‘It happens in our family that everyone chose to sort of follow in the family business. We weren’t asking them to or expecting them to, but they did. At one point Sofia said, ‘The nut does not fall far from the tree.”
Gian-Carlo, who’s seen in the background of many of his father’s films and had begun doing second-unit photography, died at the age of 22 in a 1986 boating accident. He was killed while riding in a boat piloted by Griffin O’Neal, son of Ryan O’Neal, who was found guilty of negligence.
FILE – Francis Ford Coppola and his wife, Eleanor, pose July 16, 1991, in Los Angeles.
Roman directed several movies of his own and regularly collaborates with Wes Anderson. He’s president of his father’s San Francisco-based film company, American Zoetrope.
Sofia became one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of her generation as the writer-director of films including Lost in Translation and the 2023 release Priscilla. Sofia dedicated that film to her mother.
In joining the family business, the Coppola children weren’t just following in their father’s footsteps but their mother’s, too. Beginning on 1979’s Apocalypse Now, Eleanor frequently documented the behind-the-scenes life of Francis’ films. The Philippines-set shoot of Apocalypse Now lasted 238 days. A typhoon destroyed sets. Martin Sheen had a heart attack. A member of the construction crew died.
Eleanor documented much of the chaos in what would become one of the most famous making-of films about moviemaking, 1991’s Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.
‘I was just trying to keep myself occupied with something to do because we were out there for so long,’ Eleanor told CNN in 1991. ‘They wanted five minutes for a TV promotional or something and I thought sooner or later I could get five minutes of film and then it went on to 15 minutes.’
‘I just kept shooting, but I had no idea … the evolution of myself that I saw with my camera,’ continued Eleanor, who ended up shooting 60 hours worth of footage. ‘So, it was a surprise for both of us and a life-changing experience.’
Eleanor also published Notes: On the Making of ‘Apocalypse Now’ in 1979. While the film focused on the film set tumult, the book charted some of Eleanor’s inner turmoil, including the challenges of being married to a larger-than-life figure. She wrote of being a ‘woman isolated from my friends, my affairs and my projects’ during their year in Manilla. She also frankly discusses Francis having an extramarital affair.
‘There is part of me that has been waiting for Francis to leave me, or die, so that I can get my life the way I want it,’ wrote Eleanor. ‘I wonder if I have the guts to get it the way I want it with him in it.’
They remained together, though, throughout her life. And Eleanor continued to seek out creative outlets for herself. She documented several more of her husband’s films, as well as Roman’s CQ and Sofia’s Marie Antoinette. She wrote a memoir in 2008, Notes on a Life.
In 2016, at the age of 80, Eleanor made her narrative debut in Paris Can Wait, a romantic comedy starring Diane Lane. She followed that up with Love Is Love Is Love in 2020. Eleanor had initially set out only to write the screenplay to Paris Can Wait.
‘One morning at the breakfast table my husband said, ‘Well you should direct it.’ I was totally startled,’ Eleanor told The AP. ‘But I said ‘Well, I never wrote a script before and I’ve never directed, why not?’ I was kind of saying ‘Why not’ to everything.’
Eleanor died just as Francis is preparing a long-planned, self-financed epic, Metropolis, which is to premiere next month at the Cannes Film Festival.
She is survived by her husband; her son Roman and his wife, Jen, their children, Pascale, Marcello and Alessandro; her daughter Sofia and her husband, Thomas, their children Romy and Cosima; her granddaughter Gia and her husband, Honor, and their child Beaumont; and by her brother William Neil and his wife, Lisa.
Eleanor recently completed her third memoir, the family said. In the manuscript she wrote:
‘I appreciate how my unexpected life has stretched and pulled me in so many extraordinary ways and taken me in a multitude of directions beyond my wildest imaginings.’
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Emirates Dubai 7s is returning to The Sevens Stadium from November 27 to 29, with tickets now on sale for the three-day sports and entertainment festival.
The 2026 edition will bring together international rugby, amateur sports, live music and family entertainment, with organisers promising a bigger programme than previous years.
The festival attracted more than 88,000 visitors in 2025 and will again take place during the final weekend of the Dubai Fitness Challenge.
Ticket prices
Ticket prices for General Admission and Hospitality have stayed the same for a third consecutive year.
Three-day General Admission tickets cost Dh595 per person, while the three-day Family Pass is Dh1,136 for two adults and two children.
Other ticket options
- Group pass: Dh446 per person for four or more adults
- Saturday or Sunday: Dh455
- Friday: Dh75
- Under 15s: Free
- People of Determination + carer: Dh375
Tickets can be purchased through the Emirates Dubai 7s website and app.
Bigger family attractions
Family entertainment will get a major boost this year as the UAE celebrates the Year of the Family.
The festival will feature its biggest-ever Kids’ Zone, including the UAE’s largest inflatable kids’ zone, along with a Ferris wheel and zipline. More attractions are expected to be announced ahead of the event.
Six sports and top rugby action
Alongside elite rugby, visitors can watch or take part in competitions across six sports — rugby, netball, cricket, WODON3 fitness, Rebound padel and Gaelic Football.
Gaelic Football will join the festival for the first time in 2026.
The Sevens Stadium will also host the opening round of the HSBC SVNS Series 2027, bringing the world’s leading rugby sevens players to Dubai.
The WODON3 Elite final will take place on Pitch 1 between HSBC SVNS matches, with competitors potentially performing in front of crowds of up to 20,000.
Music all weekend
Live entertainment will run throughout the festival, with local and international artists performing across three days.
Last year’s line-up included Tinie Tempah, Sean Paul and Fisher, while the 2026 headline acts will be announced later.
For a premium experience, The Sunroom returns with all-inclusive food and drinks, shaded seating, prime sporting views and dedicated access. Packages start from Dh1,925 per person.
With sport, music and family attractions packed into one weekend, Emirates Dubai 7s is gearing up for another big Dubai event.
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