I have been dying to see Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth, which finally hits at least some theaters in New York and Los Angeles on December 14. The pre-World War II story follows a 70-year-old played by Tim Roth who gets struck by lightning. Instead of dying, he becomes a young, brilliant man who vows to discover the origin of language and consciousness. It sounds strange, unique, and possibly very, very good, although I'm sure it's definitely for selected audiences -- this isn't the sort of flick to have a huge mass appeal. It also doesn't help that the trailer, which Matt Bradshaw shared in September, is pretty vague and crappy.

However, maybe the Eleanor Coppola's documentary on the production will help fill in the holes and amp up curiosity in the project. Yes, Francis' wife has made a doc called Coda: Thirty Years After, which details Coppola's journey with Youth Without Youth. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is going to air on Starz December 9, and will also be included in the new DVD release of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse (which Peter Martin discusses in this week's Indies on DVD column). Coda includes production footage of Youth, as well as some other bits that will be tasty to Coppola fans -- there's also footage of No Cigar, his first short film, home movies, and behind-the-scenes footage from The Rain People and The Conversation.

It's not much of a secret that Francis Ford Coppola did The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II in order to work on more personal films, particularly The Conversation. So, it isn't that surprising to find out neither those two nor The Godfather: Part III are among his personal favorites. According to Page Six, Coppola considers his five best films to be Apocalypse Now, Rumble Fish, The Rain People, his upcoming Youth Without Youth and, obviously, The Conversation, which also happens to be my favorite of his work. This shortlist comes from the next issue of Time magazine, which also includes a continuation of a lengthy two-part profile on the filmmaker. Within the article, Coppola suggests that it's his films that took awhile for critics to appreciate, like Apocalypse, or awhile for audiences to discover, like Rain People, that he prefers.

None of this should upset his fans; they still love The Godfather trilogy, and at least his other monument, Apocalypse, is included. It isn't like he selected Jack or Captain EO. Also in Time is Coppola's clarification of his alleged chiding of Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson, which apparently was taken out of context. He told reporters at the Rome Film Festival, where Youth premiered last month, that his comments in GQ weren't true, that he has "nothing but respect and admiration" for the three actors, who he considers the best in the world, as well as his friends. However, he wouldn't address the original comments specifically for Time's article. Other things that were discussed in the profile include Coppola's next film, Tetro, which will begin shooting in Argentina in February, despite the recent robbery. Youth Without Youth, which sounds a lot better to me since Coppola lumped it with my own favorites of his films, is set to hit U.S. theaters (NYC and L.A.) December 14.