A The Godfather icon was hospitalized in the early hours of Tuesday in Italy.
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According to the Daily Mail, famed filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola was rushed to a hospital in Rome. Although the media outlet didn’t have many details about the hospitalization, it was noted that unconfirmed reports revealed Coppola had undergone an unspecified surgery.
The Godfather and Outsiders director has since surfaced on Instagram after being hospitalized, providing his fans with a health update. “Da Dada (what my kids call me) is fine,” he reassured in his latest social media post. “Taking an opportunity while in Rome to do the update of my 30 year old afib procedure with its inventor, a great Italian doctor – Dr. Andrea Natale.”
“I am well!” he added. The filmmaker also shared a photo of himself in the post.
Coppola’s reps also disputed local media outlet reports that he was admitted to Policlinico Tor Vergata, a hospital in Rome, after experiencing mild cardiac arrhythmia symptoms.
“Mr. Coppola went in for a scheduled update procedure with acclaimed Dr. Andrea Natale, his doctor of over 30 years,” the rep said. “And [he] is resting now.”
They pointed out that “all is well” for Coppola and confirmed the local media reports were “not true.”
“There was no emergency,” they added. “He went to the hospital in a car.”
Coppola, who also directed Apocalypse Now and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, completed a six-city screening tour of his film, Megalopolis, on August 1. He has since been in Italy, scouting locations for an upcoming film project.
The Godfather Filmmaker Had the Procedure Done One Year After His Wife’s Death
The 86-year-old filmmaker lost his wife, Eleanor Coppola, last spring, nearly 15 years after she was diagnosed with thymoma. She was 87 years old.
Coppola spoke to SFGate about his wife’s death earlier this year. “I lost my wife a year ago, around this time,” he explained. “But my attitude for death is that I always lived my life so that when I was at the moment approaching death, I wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, I wish I had done this and I wish I had done that.'”
“Instead, I say to myself, ‘I got to do this.'”
Coppola further reflected on his life. “I’m going to be so busy saying all the things I’ve got to do that when I die, I’m not going to notice it,” he added. “When I die, I’m not going to notice it. You know how your electric toothbrush just shuts off when you least expect it? That’s what death is like.”