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Francis Ford Coppola’s classic ‘The Conversation’ coming back to theaters in 4K restoration

Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on July 9, 2024

Francis Ford Coppola‘s The Conversation, a 1974 film that arguably would have been the pinnacle of many filmmakers’ careers, but which Coppola just happened to sandwich between his Oscar-winning epics The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, is returning to theaters.

The filmmaker announced on Tuesday that he’s undertaken an all-new 4K restoration of the Oscar-nominated movie starring Gene Hackman, Cindy Williams, Teri Garr, Robert Duvall and Harrison Ford.

A new trailer promotes the restoration that will screen at New York’s IFC Center and Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles on Aug. 9, the 50th anniversary of Richard Nixon‘s resignation.

The date is apropos considering the so-called Watergate tapes led to Nixon’s downfall, and Hackman plays a surveillance expert whose bugging of a seemingly innocuous conversation accidentally exposes a deadly conspiracy.

Coppola explained in the announcement, “I have never offered a new version of The Conversation, which is a film I have always been proud of, I’ve never felt the need to improve.” He hailed his “wonderful collaboration with its editor … and sound designer, Walter Murch, which reinforces my belief that cinema is a collaborative effort.”

Another editor, Richard Chew, who went on to win an Oscar for editing Star Wars, was also mentioned, as he and Murch were nominated for The Conversation. “I am gratified to have made a film that has lived for 50 years,” Coppola concluded.