Steven Spielberg named "The Godfather" the best American film ever, Robert De Niro lamented that he got a role in the sequel and not the original, and Harrison Ford fought back tears when he looked back on his role in the 1974 film "The Conversation".
In the center of the emotional outpourings stood Francis Ford Coppola, who at a ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday received the American Film Institute's honorary prize, the AFI Life Achievement Award.
Also present to honor the filmmaker were George Lucas, Spike Lee, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, Morgan Freeman, and Adam Driver. Driver had the lead role in Coppola's latest self-financed project "Megalopolis" – a film that critics have described as everything from a modern masterpiece to a disaster.
In a year where the importance of art is being diminished and our industry seems to be open about the only measure of a film's success being how much money it makes, I seek inspiration from people like Francis, who live according to their convictions, said Adam Driver.
Coppola, who is AFI's founder, described the honorary prize from the organization as the circle now being closed.
Coppola is the 50th recipient of the award, which last year went to Nicole Kidman. Other prize winners include Mel Brooks, Denzel Washington, Diane Keaton, Steve Martin, and Julie Andrews.
