There are a few names right at the top of the list of Hollywood movie directors who you associate with success at the highest level. Spielberg is one. Ridley Scott is another. Francis Ford Coppola is another. With movies like 'Apocalypse Now,' and 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' under his belt, Coppola's work has made millions at the box office, large swathes of which went straight into his bank account. Despite that, it was the movie business which made him broke.
Coppola truly believed in a movie called 'One from The Heart,' so much so that he decided to make it with his own money when he couldn't find a studio willing to invest in it. It turned out that the judgment of the studios was better than his. It was a box office bomb in every imaginable way. Coppola had poured $27m into making the film, and made less than $4m back. His debts spiraled to a massive $98m, and in 1992 he had to file for bankruptcy protection. A few box office sensations since then have helped him get back on his feet.
When we think of inventors, the image that comes to mind is usually that of a frazzled scientist toiling away in a lab, not celebrities pulled from the pages of Us Weekly. However, a number of well-known public figures hold patents for various innovations. Some are related to the work that made them famous, while others are offshoots of hobbies or just a single great idea.
Part of guitar wizard Eddie Van Halen's signature sound was his two-handed tapping technique, but letting all ten fingers fly while simultaneously holding up the guitar's neck could get a bit tricky. Van Halen came up with a novel way to get around this problem, though; he invented a support (top) that could flip out of the back of his axe's body to raise and stabilize the fretboard so he could tap out searing songs like "Eruption." While Van Halen was obviously interested in improving his guitar work, the patent application he filed in 1985 notes that the device would work with any stringed instrument. Want to tap out a scorching mandolin solo? Find someone selling Eddie's device.
It’s probably not surprising that James Cameron—who designed a submersible to take him to the deepest known part of the ocean—will often invent technology to make his films if what he needs doesn’t exist. He holds a number of patents, including US Patent No. 4996938, “apparatus for propelling a user in an underwater environment,” that he and his brother, Michael, created to film The Abyss and patented in 1989. The device is basically an underwater dolly equipped with propellers that makes it easy for a camera operator to maneuver in the water—and allowed Cameron to capture the shots he wanted for the 1989 film, part of which was filmed in an abandoned nuclear reactor.
In 1987 Jamie Lee Curtis designed and patented a disposable diaper that included a waterproof pocket that held baby wipes. She hasn't profited from her idea yet, though, since she refuses to license the patent until diaper companies make biodegradable products.
You know him as a rock legend, but Neil Young also loves trains—so much that he owns a stake in a model train manufacturing company and has an extensive collection. He also holds seven patents related to model trains, including Patent No. US5441223, "Model train controller using electromagnetic field between track and ground."