FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA - COPPOLA ATTACKS DE NIRO, NICHOLSON AND PACINO

Filmmaker FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA has launched a scathing attack on ROBERT DE NIRO, JACK NICHOLSON and AL PACINO - branding the trio "lazy". The iconic director - who worked with both De Niro and Pacino on The Godfather - insists the three actors lack ambition and will not embrace challenges in their careers because they prefer to "live off the fat of the land". He tells men's magazine GQ, "I met Pacino and De Niro when they were really on the come. They were young and insecure. (But) even in those days, after The Godfather, I didn't feel those actors were ready to say, 'Let's do something else really ambitious'. "Pacino always wanted to do theatre. He wanted to do Peer Gynt. He wanted to do Shakespeare... (He) will say, 'Oh I was raised next to a furnace in New York, and I'm never going to go to Los Angeles', but they all live off the fat of the land." But Coppola is adamant Nicholson is even lazier as an actor than De Niro: "I think if there was a role that De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don't think Jack would. "Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he's a little bit like (Marlon) Brando, except Brando went through some tough times."