Francis Ford Coppola is a screenwriter.
Francis Ford Coppola . After directing The Rain People ( 1969 ) , he co-wrote the 1970 film Patton , earning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay along with co-writer Edmund H. North . The Conversation , which he directed , produced and wrote , was released that same year , winning the Palme d'Or at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival . The Cotton Club (film) . The film was co-written ( with William Kennedy ) and directed by Francis Ford Coppola , choreographed by Henry LeTang , and starred Richard Gere , Gregory Hines , Diane Lane , and Lonette McKee .