Recently it has come out that Coppola has inappropriately touched and kissed extras without their consent on the set of his latest film. This is obviously reason enough not to support the film, but if you know anything about Coppola’s history with abusers, this should come as no surprise.

In 1989, Francis Ford Coppola’s protégé, Victor Salva, sexually assaulted a child actor, a 12 year-old named Nathan Forrest Winters, on the set of a film that Coppola produced.

Coppola defended and protected Salva, hooked him up with expensive lawyers, resulting in a reduced prison sentence of only 15 months, most of which was spent in a cushy rehabilitation center for sex criminals. Coppola remained friends with Salva and visited him in jail. After his release, Salva returned to Hollywood with the help of Coppola, who would continue to produce several of his films.

After Salva’s arrest, Winters was forced to complete ADR on the film he was abused on, in Coppola’s own home. Coppola, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Hollywood, threatened to sue 12 year-old Winters for breach of contract for trying to leave the project. Coppola told Winters he’d never work in Hollywood again, and he didn’t.

In 2006, Coppola said,

“You have to remember, while this was a tragedy, that the difference in age between Victor and the boy was very small — Victor was practically a child himself.”

Salva was 29 at the time while Winters was 12. In fact, Salva had been grooming and sexually abusing Winters from the age of 6.

To hear Winters tell his story: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M9ATFAYsEk