The who's who of Hollywood attended the ceremony where The Godfather and Apocalypse Now filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola was conferred with the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg presented the award to Coppola. Spielberg described Coppola as "fearless". Reminiscing about his first meeting with Coppola, Spielberg stated, "On one hand, you are a warrior for independent artists, you always champion their causes, but also, and always, you’re fearless in how open you are to ideas, opinions and inspiration."

The Jaws filmmaker also discussed watching an uncut version of Coppola's Apocalypse Now alongside other directors. "When the film ended, you asked us to tell you what we saw, how we felt. You invited all of us in, so one by one, we told you where we were lost and where we were found, and I sat there in awe, learning that leaving yourself open and searching was, in fact, your superpower."

He then described Coppola's film The Godfather as "the greatest American film ever made." The Minority Report filmmaker called Coppola a "peerless" filmmaker who "redefined the canon of American film, and in so doing, inspired a generation of storytellers who want to make you proud of their work, proud of our work, and I always want to make you proud of my work."

On the other hand, Lucas described Coppola as his hero. "When I was 22, he taught me, don’t be afraid of jumping off cliffs. And I’ve lived with that the rest of my life, although I don’t go to the higher level that he does," said Lucas.

Coppola, visibly emotional following praise from his contemporaries, reminisced about his memories alongside his family and friends. Robert De Niro, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Morgan Freeman, Harrison Ford, Ron Howard, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Lane, C Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, and Spike Lee also paid tributes to the filmmaker.