Gian-Carlo Coppola Gian-Carlo Coppola Gian-Carlo Coppola (September 17, 1963 – May 26, 1986) was an American film producer. Coppola was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of set decorator/artist Eleanor Coppola (née Neil) and famed film director Francis Ford Coppola. As the eldest Coppola sibling, he was the older brother to Roman and Sofia. Gian-Carlo was close friends and once a couple with Tracy Reiner, daughter of director Penny Marshall. Gian-Carlo began his professional filmmaking career at the age of 16, working closely with his father. Like his brother and sister, Gian-Carlo—known to his family and friends as Gio—often featured in
Francis Ford Coppola some new 3-D color footage and earned a writer's and director's credit for "The Bellboy and the Playgirls", also a box-office failure. Coppola was hired as an assistant by Roger Corman and his first job for Corman was to dub and re-edit a Russian science fiction film, "Nebo zovyot", which he turned into a sex-and-violence monster movie entitled "Battle Beyond the Sun", released in 1962. Impressed by Coppola's perseverance and dedication, Corman hired him as dialogue director on "Tower of London" (1962), sound man for "The Young Racers" (1963) and associate producer of "The Terror" (1963). While on location in