Francis Ford Coppola has been recruited by the Venice Film Festival to deliver the so-called “Laudatio” speech honoring Werner Herzog during the event’s opening ceremony.
As previously announced, Venice will honor the iconoclastic German director — whose body of work comprises “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” “Fitzcarraldo” and Nosferatu the Vampyre” — with its 2025 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
The award will be presented by Coppola to Herzog during the Venice opening ceremony on Aug. 27.
Coppola was in Italy earlier this month where on Aug. 5 he underwent a non-emergency medical procedure in Rome, related to heart issues.
The festival will open with Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” that re-teams the Oscar-winning director with “The Great Beauty” actor Toni Servillo.
At Venice, Herzog will be premiering his new documentary “Ghost Elephants,” about the search for a herd of a elusive elephants in a virtually uninhabited swathe of the Angola highlands that is as large as England. “Ghost Elephants” is screening out-of-competition. Herzog will also hold a masterclass on the Lido. His next feature film is “Bucking Fastard,” which stars sisters Kate and Rooney Mara.
Coppola, who is a five-time Oscar winner, is instead the subject of the Mike Figgis-directed documentary “Megadoc,” chronicling his decades-long journey to create self-financed passion project “Megalopolis.”
“Megadoc,” which is launching on the Lido in the Venice Classics section, is described in the synopsis as “a portrait of Coppola’s creative process.”
Coppola received the Venice Film Festival‘s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1992.
The upcoming 82nd edition of Venice will run Aug. 27-Sept. 6.
variety.com
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