Chatting with Francis Ford Coppola at a press day today for Youth Without Youth, the legendary filmmaker also talked some about his next project behind the camera, Tetro. “It’s the name of a character. It’s very personal, kind of my Tennessee
Williams period,” he says. “I want to make a passionate story about brothers and
fathers and all of that different tumult that I’ve seen at different
times in my life — a little bit stuff I’ve seen in my family, but it’s
totally fictional.”

Confirming the casting of Matt Dillon and Maribel Verdu, Coppola also says that Javier Bardem’s role is “not that big,” and that the film — previously scheduled to start shooting next month — will now begin lensing in Buenos Aires immediately after Christmas. “I’ve used Youth Without Youth
as a crutch to get into a world of personal filmmaking, where I’m not
subject to the notes of studios. I get the notes from my colleagues,”
says Coppola. “It’s not that I don’t want notes — I do. But I don’t
want too many notes, to (the point) that they start contradicting themselves, or that
they start turning it into one of the typical movies that comes out
every Friday.” If Youth Without Youth is any indication of his new direction, Coppola needn’t worry about that.