Legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola was inspired to create his first exotic resort when he filmed Apocalypse Now. While it was originally supposed to become just a family retreat and a place for Coppola to write, it morphed into Coppola Resorts, a collection of small, stylish, eco-friendly hotels where “discovery meets serenity and delight.”
Coppola owns and operates two resorts in Belize, a rainforest lodge in Guatemala, a city hideaway in Buenos Aires and his latest – a palazzo in the southern Italian town of Bernalda. And just like in his movies, Coppola has been involved in every detail of developing his hotel collection.
HOTELS spoke with Coppola about his plans for the resort chain, and a more in-depth interview will appear in the July/August issue of HOTELS Magazine.
HOTELS: How did you find your first hotel?
Francis Ford Coppola: In 1981, I noticed the Central American colony of British Honduras was going to become the new nation of Belize. I took my son and a friend and went there to look for an island. I found an abandoned lodge in a remote area of the country that was very beautiful. I peeked in and saw tables and said, ‘I could write here.’ That is my fatal pronouncement.
I bought this little place thinking of it as a summer adventure place with my kids. Over a little time I had to buy beds, industrial laundry and power. I persisted with this idea that on my birthday I want to invite family there, and it was a wish I made happen. We had this wonderful, very remote, interesting experience.
I realized if I didn’t have a staff to keep an eye on it, the jungle would reclaim it. When you have a staff, you worry about how to support them. Because it was close to a newly discovered archaeological site and people were interested in tourism related to pre-Colombian history of Central America, it became a small lodge.
HOTELS: What is your idea of what a hotel should be?
Coppola: As with most works of arts and shows, a hotel has two aspects. One is a big idea: the concept and theme of what it is you envision. The second is an incredible list of details that support that big theme. It is the details that the audience in a movie or guests in hotel really rub up against. These small details, which are hard to scrupulously maintain and pay attention to, add up to an experience that further illuminates the big theme like a lodge in the jungle.
What really gets the attention are the details, which are original and exotic and done for good reason. It is not just to do something different, but because you feel somehow it will make the experience that much more pleasurable and at the same time be a key to what the big theme is.
HOTELS: How have you used your experience as a movie director to develop hotels?
Coppola: A movie director is someone who does the same thing. He or she has a theme of what the overall project is but then provides countless details. Every once in awhile you don’t know how to choose between alternatives. What I like to do is know what the theme is in a word or two, so when I am stuck I go back to the theme.
HOTELS: How personally involved are you in the development of your hotels?
Copolla: Totally. I am the director. We never planned to have a lot of them. It is not like we thought we were making a chain. But when one is ready to open I make all the decisions and am the final arbiter of everything from the food and recipes, to the style, the plates, glasses, drinks, experiences — everything.
HOTELS: What do you like about the hotel business?
Coppola: The same as any of these businesses I run like film or winemaking. You give people a wonderful experience and a good time. It is very gratifying.
HOTELS: What have been some of your favorite hotel stays?
Coppola: I went to Hanoi recently and thought the Metropole was really beautiful. Of course, it has the benefit of wonderful history. Having that history is one thing, but you must capture that history and embrace it.
HOTELS: What are your thoughts on eco-tourism?
Coppola: I am in the premium wine business and it makes you more aware of how essential the purity of all the elements really are to grow the ultimate grape. Trying to make great wine you become conscious of all the disturbing practices that pollute the environment. When making a resort in a precious place, you don’t want to contaminate that place with all the unattractive aspects of tourism and leave in your wake all the bad environmental practices as it will ruin it for the next generation. It seems to me so obvious that if you are trying to offer your guest such a beautiful experience, you don’t want to mess up where they are.
Editor’s note: To read the complete interview with Francis Ford Coppola, look for the July/August issue of HOTELS.