Carmine Coppola Carmine Coppola Carmine Valentino Coppola (June 11, 1910 – April 26, 1991) was an American composer, flautist, editor, musical director, and songwriter who contributed original music to "The Godfather", "The Godfather Part II", "Apocalypse Now", "The Outsiders", and "The Godfather Part III", all directed by his son Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola was born in New York City, the son of Marie (née Zasa) and Agostino Coppola. His brother is opera conductor and composer Anton Coppola. He was the father of August Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, and Talia Shire, and grandfather of Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and
Francis Ford Coppola in cinema. The near 3-hour-long epic, which chronicled the saga of the Corleone family, received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and fetched Coppola the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, which he shared with Mario Puzo and two Golden Globe Awards: for Best Director and Best Screenplay. However, Coppola faced several difficulties while filming "The Godfather". He was not Paramount's first choice to direct the movie; Italian director Sergio Leone was initially offered the job, but declined in order to direct his own gangster opus, "Once Upon a Time in America". Peter Bogdanovich was then approached but he also declined