How Coppola, Lucas, and Spielberg shaped Hollywood

The Treatment

KCRW

Arts

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg are the most influential directors of their generation with iconic films including The Godfather, Star Wars: A New Hope, and Jaws. Their catalog runs deep.

Author Paul Fischer’s new book The Last Kings of Hollywood: Coppola, Lucas, Spielberg—and the Battle for the Soul of American Cinema tells the story of how the directors became giants in filmmaking. In the book, Fischer describes each man’s brilliance and shortcomings, presenting a human story behind their abundant talent and prolific output. Fischer tells Elvis the story behind how Apocalypse Now came to Coppola, how a nearly fatal accident set Lucas on a path toward becoming a filmmaker, and how the idea of family informed each director’s approach to filmmaking.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From KCRW Santa Monica and KCRW.com, it's The Treatment.
0:11.2	Welcome to the treatment. I'm Elvis Mitchell. And my guest, the writer Paul Fisher, has, I think, an affinity for writing about the history of popular culture in a way that makes it feel
0:21.2	vital and exciting. His books are really a ton of fun to read. One of my favorites is a Kim
0:27.6	Jung Ill production, which is a book about a kidnapping and the movie business and a totalitarian
0:33.3	regime and escape from that totalitarian regime. And his newest book also takes a look at the way
0:39.5	movies have affected us. It is an incredible history of probably the last 60 years of filmmaking.
0:46.0	The book is The Last Kings of Hollywood, Coppola, Lucas, and Spielberg, and the Battle for the
0:51.1	Soul of the American Cinema. Paul, thanks so much for being here.
0:54.7	Thanks for having me, Elvis. It's my pleasure. And you really do have an affinity for taking
0:59.0	the way history and popular culture intersect and then treating it kind of like a suspense novel.
1:05.4	Thank you. I think all of these books kind of started with a hook. I know it sounds very kind of
1:09.7	1980s paramount high concept to me, but I'm always kind of like with a hook. I know it sounds very kind of 1980s paramount high concept
1:11.6	to me, but I'm always kind of like, how can I take, yeah, popular culture, but kind of pitch it in a way
1:20.3	that my dad would want to read about it if it was a Hudson booksellers at the airport kind of thing.
1:24.6	You know, how do I give somebody a way in? And so they kind of come in this,
1:27.9	like, you know, either a true crime rapper or just kind of like, you know, friends take on the world
1:32.1	rapper, I think just because that offers someone a way in to maybe take an interest in that first
1:37.8	book's case, North Korea, in this book's case, you know, there's a fair bit of kind of contract chat and owning your own financial future chat.
1:47.1	And, you know, I open with like Jack Warner and the Paramount decision and all this stuff.
1:51.6	So how do I make a layman interested and also keep it fresh enough for someone like you or a film buff who already knows kind of the broad strokes or some of this stuff?
2:00.5	Well, I think you do a great job at here by just starting off with the accident that almost
2:04.2	killed George Lucas and explains a lot about who and what he is. So, I mean, for people who aren't
	...

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