Francis Ford Coppola has just announced a semi-autogiographical film called Tetro after his current film, the first in a decade, Youth Without Youth.

According to Yahoo News the film will be set in Argentina and will fictionalise his "very unusual family" - note that these are Coppola's words from Associated Press - which has been filled with artists of all description since his father's generation.

"I think at this age, I'm more disposed to look at my life in terms of dramatic material...Maybe I'm less frightened or more confident about writing something that is fiction even though it has its basis in real things that I've seen and felt. Maybe it won't offend anybody, I hope."

In a way it's a shame that he has turned to these smaller films as the move in his career came about after he abandoned his long planned futuristic film Megalopolis. Also when you look back at some of the films he has produced there's a feeling that we're missing out in his later years.

Tetro is set to star Matt Dillon, and Youth without Youth stars Tim Roth, so he's certainly attracting the talent to his smaller films. Still, whatever he produces there's one thing that's true, he's happy. As he says himself:

"I view this as the career I always wished I could have...Now, I'm in a place where I can be my own patron."

Perhaps we'll just see a different kind of classic from the man.