Jack: Francis Ford Coppola does not understand the hatred towards his film with Robin Williams

In 1996, four years after “Dracula”, Francis Ford Coppola changed register and signed the dramatic comedy “Jack” worn by Robin Williams. A film whose general disenchantment he never really understood.

Jack : a child who grows up much too quickly

If Francis Ford Coppola is obviously the director ofApocalypse Now, The Godfather or secret talkit is also that of Jack. Released in 1996, the film presents an unusual little boy, stuck in the body of an adult.

When their son is born, Karen (Diane Lane) and Brian Powell (Brian Kerwin) learn that he is extremely premature and thatat the age of eight he will live in the body of a man of 40. Years later, while he has remained on the sidelines of society and the children of his neighborhood take him for a monster, Jack (Robin Williams) returns to school. Warmly welcomed by his mistress Miss Marquez (Jennifer Lopez), he suffers the mockery and rejection of his comrades.

Jack ©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Aware that he is aging at full speed and that he might not have as much time as the others, Jack is not discouraged and chooses to enjoy his life to the full. He multiplies the slightly risky experiments and the nonsense, like all children.

When Francis Ford Coppola defended his film

If certain media like the New York Times where the SFGATE salute certain moving passages as well as his sincerity, Jack receives many negative reviewsemphasizing its clumsy side, its bland morality or its similarities with Big by Penny Marshall, released eight years earlier. The American Critic Roger Ebert wonders who the film is for. In the United States, the feature film is far from equaling the commercial successes of Hook or Captain Hook’s Revenge, Mrs. Doubtfire or Jumanji.

Jack
Jack ©Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Jack also seems to make a mark in the filmography of Francis Ford Coppola, a pioneer of New Hollywood who has not really accustomed his audience to comedies produced by Disney. However, the filmmaker has never denied this strange project, imperfect but endearing and punctuated by a touching final monologue. On the contrary, the director strongly defended it, stating in particular (via MovieWeb):

Jack is a film that everyone hated and for which I was cursed and constantly ridiculed. I must admit that I find Jack enjoyable and fun. I don’t hate him as much as everyone but it’s normal, I realized it. I know I should be ashamed but I’m not, I don’t understand why people hated it so much.

He adds :

I think it’s because of the films I was making. I’ve done Apocalypse Now and I was like a director like Martin Scorsese, and I find myself doing this silly Disney movie with Robin Williams. But I’ve always been happy to do any film.

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Jack: Francis Ford Coppola does not understand the hatred towards his film with Robin Williams