In front of a packed crowd at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts on Aug. 1, Francis Ford Coppola took the stage after a screening of his ambitious and polarizing epic “ Megalopolis ,” delivering a sweeping meditation on death and humanity — far from your typical Q&A.

The acclaimed filmmaker behind "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now" was kept for observation following a scheduled cardiology visit

Besides getting heart surgery, Coppola is reportedly scouting locations for his next project while in Italy. A local news source reported that Coppola was working on a film set in Calabria, but that is far from his previous mafia-aligned work in the country.