Haute 100 San Francisco member Francis Ford Coppola had Comic-Con 2011 absolutely abuzz with news of his arrival. Reasons as to why the 72-year old directing legend would be appearing there – twenty years since his last, and very brief, appearance in 1991 – had convention-goers rife with anticipation. Turns out Coppola was there to reveal his latest work, Twixt, a new film with footage based on a dream he had and stars Val Kilmer, who was also present.

After handing out Edgar Allen Poe 3D masks to the audience, Coppola showed some footage and revealed plans to tour with the film, pioneering an innovative new approach to filmmaking with plans of impromptu editing of both the music and the footage live in front of audiences. Based on audience response, Coppola will edit accordingly.

Of the ambitious new project, Coppola explained, “The road show is a little misunderstood. My idea originally was like a month before Halloween to go out with music composer Dan [Deacon] and maybe hit seven cities and do live performances. I’m fascinated by the idea of a live performance of a film. It was technically impossible before. When I looked, I realized studios had booked all the theaters, so maybe I’d have to do it in the spring. I thought this film might be appropriate.”

While 3D technology is incorporated into the film, Coppola does not plan on it being prevalent throughout. He mused, “There’s 3D in the middle and then the whole ending is 3D. The audience would put the glasses on and take them off. In the live thing, I like the idea of the mask being the program. That was sort of funny to see 6,000 Edgar Allen Poes today. It was so, so funny looking.”

Although the film is still very much in the works, the legendary film figure has created an exciting concept that could potentially change the film game from here on out. From the thrilled response at Comic-Con, it is very much apparent that this old dog still has some pretty amazing tricks up his sleeve.

Our Haute 100 list details the accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets. To see the entire Haute 100 San Francisco list, click here.