Megalopolisfamed director Francis Ford Coppola’s latest masterpiece premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, and the response has been chaotic, to say the least.
With some critics calling the dystopian “fable” about a Roman-style power struggle in New York (er, New Rome) “stuffed,” “juicy and weird” and “a work of absolute madness”, others admit that “although it should never have been done”, “we should be So grateful that exists.”
Self-financed by Coppola, 85 years old, worth US$120 million, based on a script he Godfather The director said it took decades to come to fruition, the 2 hour and 13 minute film received a seven-minute standing ovation from the Cannes audience. Still, it’s had its share of detractors and has yet to find a U.S. distributor, leaving a national release date up in the air — for now.
What is it Megalopolis about?
Megalopolis stars Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, a visionary architect who wants to build a utopian version of the sci-fi version of New York that is on the verge of collapse, à la the Roman Empire.
However, Catilina faces resistance from corrupt mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who is less interested in creating a sustainable future and instead wants to pave paradise with a parking lot – or in this case, a casino. The mayor’s daughter, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), complicates things by falling in love with Catilina and struggling with her own alliances.
Rounding out the cast are Shia LaBeouf as Catilina’s scheming cousin Clodio, Aubrey Plaza as the journalist looking for a sugar daddy Wow Platinum and Jon Voight as the sugar daddy.
If this sounds like a Roman conspiracy saga, that’s because it’s based on a historical event.
How long has Coppola been trying to make this film?
Coppola said he had the idea of Megalopolis as early as the 1980s, shortly after he finished filming his infamous Marlon Brando vehicle Apocalypse now. Coincidentally, this film, which their own controversies and accusations of overindulgence, also premiered at Cannes, winning the Palme d’Or in 1979.
Reports of cast members dropping out, along with script rewrites and production delays have also kept Megalopolis in limbo for years. However, footage shot in 2001 was saved and even included in the final iteration. To finance the multimillion-dollar production, Coppola still sold part of his winery to cover costs.
“Money doesn’t matter,” Coppola said at a press conference in Cannes on May 17.
On-set controversies
Coppola was accused of behaving inappropriately with female extras while filming a nightclub sequence, according to a May 14 report. Guardian report.
“He allegedly pulled women to sit on his lap, for example. And during a nightclub bacchanalia scene filmed for the film, witnesses say, Coppola entered the set and tried to kiss some of the topless and scantily clad female extras, the Guardian reported.
One of the film’s executive producers, Darren Demetre, said he was not aware of any complaints of harassment on set and issued a statement defending Coppola.
“Francis walked around the set to establish the mood of the scene, giving hugs and gentle cheek kisses to the cast and background actors. It was his way of helping to inspire and establish the atmosphere of the club,” read part of the statement. “I was never aware of any complaints of harassment or bad behavior during the project.”
Other complaints, according to the Guardian, include Coppola sitting in his trailer “for hours on end” instead of planning or filming, and requiring Adam Driver to sit in a chair for hours to employ an “old-school” filmmaking technique. ” instead of using digital tools that “could have been done in 10 minutes.”
One crew member told the Guardian that working on the film “was like watching a train crash day after day, week after week, and knowing that everyone there had tried their best to help the train crash be avoided.”
What did the cast say?
Calling her first impression of Coppola’s script “a beautiful nightmare,” Plaza told Deadline that the director has “a magical way of directing and inspiring actors.”
Saying he ran the production “like a theater camp,” Plaza added that Coppola seems to bring together “a group of interesting, wild actors and then try to inspire them to act.”
Acknowledging the political nature of his film, as well as its echoes of the current political climate in the US, Coppola said at a press conference following the film’s premiere: “What is happening in America, in our republic, in our democracy is exactly like Rome they lost their republic thousands of years ago.
“Our politics have brought us to the point where we could lose a republic, and so it’s not the people who became politicians who will be the answer, it’s the artists of America.”
Coppola then brought in Voight, who already supported former President Donald Trump chimed in, adding, “One of the things I can say about our wonderful cast is that they reflect all kinds of political ideas.”
Voight responded philosophically rather than politically.
“Where are we going? I think we’re all asking ourselves that question right now. Where are we going and what can we do?” he said. “It’s on my mind every second of the day to see what we can do to make this world better.”
When will be Megalopolis be in theaters?
Although the film remains in competition at Cannes, it has yet to find a US distributor.
At an industry screening of the film in March, potential distributors gave a “muted” response and declined to make offers at the time, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Coppola could still find a distributor during the festival or outside of it. After all, the last photo of Megalopolis the trailer features an on-screen title that reads: “Only in theaters in 2024.”
