Page "Francis Ford Coppola" Paragraph 42

In the late 1980s, Coppola started considering concepts for a motion picture based upon the 19th century novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio.

In 1991, Coppola and Warner Bros. began discussing the project and two others involving the life of J. Edgar Hoover and the children's novel The Secret Garden.

These discussions led to negotiations for Coppola to both produce and direct the Pinocchio project for Warner, as well as Secret Garden and Hoover.

However, in mid-1991 Coppola and Warner came to disagreement over the compensation to be paid to Coppola for his directing services on Pinocchio.

The parties deferred this issue, and finally a settlement was reached in 1998, when the jurors awarded Coppola $ 20 million as compensation for losing the film project, Pinocchio.

This was the largest civil verdict ever against a Hollywood studio.

The Los Angeles jury awarded him $ 60 million in punitive damages on top of the $ 20 million, stemming from his charges that Warner Bros. sabotaged his intended version.