The Beguiled (2017 film) for a biracial character from the novel, she cast white actress Kirsten Dunst. "The Guardian" said Coppola was criticized for engaging in whitewashing, to which the director said she made the changes so as "not [to] brush over such an important topic in a light way," and that "[y]oung girls watch my films and this was not the depiction of an African American character I would want to show them." The Beguiled (2017 film) The Beguiled is a 2017 American drama film written and directed by Sofia Coppola, based on the novel of the same name (originally published as "A
Francis Ford Coppola with Mario Puzo), Best Picture, and his first nomination for Best Director. He followed with "The Godfather Part II" in 1974, which became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Highly regarded by critics, it brought him three more Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture, and made him the second director, after Billy Wilder, to be honored three times for the same film. "The Conversation", which he directed, produced and wrote, was released that same year, winning the Palme d'Or at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. He next directed 1979's "Apocalypse Now".