Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola has vivid memories of his experience surviving polio. In interview with Deadline regarding his new film “Megalopolis,” Coppola, who was diagnosed with polio as a child around the age of 9, recalled the quick onset of the disease.

Hollywood director Francis Ford Coppola recalls the "horror" of surviving childhood polio amid questions about the future of its vaccine.

The U.S. gross on Megalopolis was low for the $100 million + of his own money he spent making the film, but Coppola said the experience was largely satisfying – save for a spate of negative stories he believes were attempts to sabotage him.