August Coppola August Coppola August Floyd Coppola (February 16, 1934 – October 27, 2009) was an American academic, author, film executive and advocate for the arts. He was the father of actor Nicolas Cage. August Coppola was the son of composer and flutist Carmine Coppola (1910–1991) and Italia Pennino (1912–2004), a lyricist and matriarch of the Coppola family. His siblings are film director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire; his uncle is composer Anton Coppola. August Coppola married German-American dancer Joy Vogelsang in 1960; they had three sons: Marc, Christopher, and Nicolas. Among his nieces and nephews are director Sofia Coppola
Vincent Ward (director) epic, "The Last Samurai" was a film inspired by a project developed by Ward. The film was in development for nearly four years and after approaching several directors, including Francis Ford Coppola and Peter Weir, he became executive producer. In the end, the job of director went to Edward Zwick. In 2005 he returns to New Zealand and recovers his more immediate history, that of the bloody British colonization during the second half of the 19th century. All the constants of Ward come back here with greater force, condensed in the "modern" formation of a country with a deep "primitive"