Coppola: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson Are Apathetic

NEW YORK – Everyone wants to work with Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson -- except Francis Ford Coppola.

Coppola -- who directed Pacino and De Niro in "The Godfather" trilogy -- says the trio of Oscar-winning actors have become apathetic.

"I don't feel that kind of passion to do a role and be great coming from those guys, because if it was there, they would do it! I mean, they're all in a position to do it," the 68-year-old filmmaker tells GQ magazine in its November issue, on newsstands Tuesday.

"Pacino always wanted to do theater. He wanted to do `Peer Gynt.' He wanted to do Shakespeare. Pacino will say, `Oh, I was raised next to a furnace in New York, and I'm never going to L.A.,' but they all live off the fat of the land," Coppola says.

He calls De Niro "wealthy and powerful" -- and more ambitious than Nicholson.

"I think if there was a role that De Niro was hungry for, he would come after it. I don't think Jack would," he says. "Jack has money and influence and girls, and I think he's a little bit like (Marlon) Brando, except Brando went through some tough times."

Nicholson -- a front-row regular at the Oscars and at Los Angeles Laker games -- "was always kind of a joker" and a Hollywood schmooze, says Coppola.

"He's got a little bit of a mean streak," he says. "He's intelligent, always wired in with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios."

Adds Coppola: "I don't know what any of them want anymore."