Coppola’s Oscar bid has Great Neck ties

Dan Glaun

While the Oscar glitz may shine brightest in Hollywood, once again Great Neck will be able to claim its share of the spotlight.

Roman Coppola, the son of legendary director and Great Neck High School alumnus Francis Ford Coppola, was announced Thursday as a best original screenplay nominee for his work on director and co-writer Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom.”

The elder Coppola, who graduated from Great Neck North in 1956, was the creative force behind some of the most influential films in Hollywood history, including the Vietnam War epic “Apocalypse Now” and the Godfather trilogy. He is the winner of four best director Academy Awards and his films have won five best picture Oscars.

Great Neck has a storied film history, said Great Neck Arts Center executive director Regina Gil.

“You had [Charlie] Chaplin literally filming downstairs on Middle Neck Road,” said Gil. “This has been a place that has attracted people in the arts for a long, long time.”

Roman, 47, is contending for his first Oscar. He has worked with Oscar-winner Anderson before, serving as a second unit director on “The Darjeeling Limited” and the “Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” as well as with his father on “Dracula,” “Jack” and “The Rainmaker.”

“Moonrise Kingdom,” the latest in Anderson’s series of nostalgia-tinted comic dramas, centers on the experiences of two children at a New England summer camp in the 1960s. It received acclaim from critics, and was also nominated for best musical or comedy at the Golden Globes.

Coppola’s nomination comes two years after former Great Neck resident David Seidler won an Academy Award for writing the screenplay to the “King’s Speech.” Seidler moved to Great Neck as a child from England and graduated from Great Neck High School in 1955, before attending Cornell University.

In another link to this year’s awards, the Great Neck Arts Center screened best picture nominee “Silver Linings Playbook” at its Gold Coast Film Festival in October, where it drew raves from local crowds before its wide release in mid November.

In addition to Francis and Roman, other Coppola connections link Great Neck to the Oscars. Roman’s sister Sofia won a best screenplay Oscar for her 2003 film “Lost in Translation.” And Francis’ sister Talia Shire, also a graduate of Great Neck High School, was nominated for her supporting turn in The Godfather Part II and for playing Adrian Pennino in Rocky.

Great Neck has other cinematic ties as well, according to the Great Neck Historical Society. Oscar winner Paul Newman, the star of films including “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Cool Hand Luke,” was a one-time resident of Great Neck. And, in addition to Chaplin, pioneering comic actors Groucho Marx, Sid Ceaser and Alan King also made the peninsula their homes.

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