SHORT TAKES : ‘Godfather’ Script Was a Gamble

RENO — Director Francis Ford Coppola was unlucky at casinos here while working on the script for “The Godfather Part III” and isn’t ready to bet his latest movie will capture an Oscar for best picture.

“You really never think of these things,” Coppola said during a recent vacation. “It’s like gambling: You have no idea.”

“The Godfather Part III” is the closing chapter in the Mafia trilogy chronicling the Corleone family’s bloody empire-building. Coppola’s two earlier “Godfather” films won best picture Oscars.

On the vacation, Coppola stayed at the Peppermill, the same hotel-casino where he and writer Mario Puzo spent two weeks in 1989 finalizing the movie script.

Coppola said a hotel-casino is a perfect place to write. The two co-wrote 1972’s “The Godfather” script at the Tropicana in Las Vegas.

“It’s pretty much a day and night job,” he said. “Writing is a very lonely profession, and after you’ve worked, you just want to go out and maybe see something.”

While working on the latest script, Coppola lost $30,000 the first week playing craps and blackjack. Puzo dropped $10,000 at roulette.

“We felt so terrible that we lost that we went up and worked twice as hard,” he said.