Francis Ford Coppola director's worst work yet." In 1990, he released the third and final chapter of "The Godfather" series: "The Godfather Part III". While not as critically acclaimed as the first two films, it was still a box office success, earning $136 million against a budget of $54 million. Some reviewers criticized the casting of Coppola's daughter Sofia, who had stepped into the leading role of Mary Corleone which had been abandoned by Winona Ryder just as filming began. Despite this, "The Godfather Part III" went on to gather 7 Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture. The film failed
Francis Ford Coppola screenplay. The film recouped its expenses and later became a cult film among horror buffs. It was on the sets of "Dementia 13" that he met his future wife Eleanor Jessie Neil. In 1965, Coppola won the annual Samuel Goldwyn Award for the best screenplay ("Pilma, Pilma") written by a UCLA student. This secured him a job as a scriptwriter with Seven Arts. In between, he co-wrote the scripts for "This Property Is Condemned" (1966) and "Is Paris Burning?" (1966). However, with fame still eluding him and partly out of desperation, Coppola bought the rights to the David Benedictus novel