Throughout Salva’s tribulations, Coppola has remained his loyal patron. After Salva’s release from prison, Coppola gave him $5,000, which he lived on for a year. When MGM was nervous about hiring Salva to direct “Jeepers Creepers,” Coppola, then producing a slate of films at the studio, vouched for him.
“Someone had launched a campaign against Victor, saying, ‘How can you give this guy a movie to make?’ ” recalls Coppola. “Some of the financing for the film fell through. One of the actors resigned when he learned about the case. So I helped Victor get the job. I was criticized for it, but my attitude is, he has a talent, and that talent in itself is good. We don’t have to embrace the person in believing that their art is a contribution to society.”
Coppola was on hand for some of the filming of “Clownhouse” -- since it was made, in part, at Coppola’s home in Napa Valley. “I didn’t know of anything improper going on, although I witnessed some things that caused me to raise an eyebrow,” he says. “Only in retrospect did things really add up. 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.” (Actually, Salva was 29 to the boy’s 12.)
www.latimes.com
gizmodo.com
