Adam Driver in Megapolis
Of all the highly anticipated films premiering at Cannes this year, one has stood out since it was first announced: Francis Ford Coppola's massive passion project Megalopolis, an epic sci-fi drama set in an alternate New York modeled after Ancient Rome. . Coppola famously premiered his Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now at the festival in 1979, where it won the Palme d'Or and began its path to being considered a cinematic classic. 45 years later, Coppola returned to the Croisette with a new film that was much talked about. But this time the reviews can politely be described as mixed.
That newspaper's critic Robbie Collin was impressed by its titanic ambitions, calling it «Legacy crossed with Batman Forever crossed with a lava lamp.» Meanwhile, influential trade publication Deadline said the film was «something of a mess — unruly, overdone and drawn to pretentiousness like a moth to a flame.» But it's also a pretty stunning achievement.» Others, meanwhile, were less kind. Among the one-star reviews and harsh curses addressed to the film, the word “Megaflopolis” was heard more than once.
However, failure is to Coppola what daffodils are to Wordsworth. In a tumultuous career spanning more than half a century, he made and lost fortunes, won five Oscars, and was responsible for huge box office hits and disastrous flops. However, he always kept alive the precious flame of unparalleled creativity, even if the films he created did not always resonate with audiences or critics.
At the premiere of “Metropolis,” the 85-year-old director walked off stage to Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” a typically theatrical and ostentatious gesture. And at a press conference the next day, he was also generally upbeat, noting speculation that he was squandering his children's inheritance by largely self-financing the $120 million film.
“My children, without exception, have excellent careers, but have no fortune. We are fine. It doesn't matter,» he said. “All of you here: money doesn’t matter. The main thing is friends. A friend will never let you down. The money may evaporate.”
He also looked to the future, saying he might consider working with Megalopolis «in a few years.» But for now, he considers it the cornerstone of his career: «When I die, I have to do this, I have to see my daughter (Sofia) win an Oscar, and I have to make wine, and I have to make all the films that I wanted, I wanted to do. And I will be so busy thinking about what to do that when I die, I won’t notice it.”
Still, the fact that the film premiered at all is a remarkable achievement, considering its creation and origins have been one of the most talked-about stories in Hollywood for decades. For Coppola, Megapolis is not just a cherished dream project, but the culmination of years of thought, preparation and investment. He described it as «a Roman epic with the story of an architect who wants to rebuild a utopian New York after a devastating disaster», and worked on the project for four decades.
Over the years, Coppola has openly spoken about taking on films that seemed beneath his talent (most notably the Robin Williams vehicle Jack) in order to raise money to finance both the development and production of Metropolis » He even spent several hours filming second shots of New York City to include in the film. However, after the events of 9/11, he seemed to lose interest in the project, later stating that «it made it really quite difficult… a film about the desire for utopia with New York as the main character, and then suddenly you can't write about New York without looking only at what happened and the consequences of what happened. The world was under attack and I didn't know how to deal with it.»
Francis Ford Coppola with Megalopolis stars Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza in Cannes Photo: Getty
He devoted himself to low-budget personal projects, the last of which, Twixt, starring Val Kilmer, barely came out and brought in virtually no money. Coppola seemed to have retired from mainstream filmmaking, instead endlessly editing Godfather pictures and being a passionate advocate, along with his friend and occasional rival Martin Scorsese, for the primacy of the cinematic experience. It seemed unlikely, if not impossible, that he would ever direct a film again that was likely to be released in theaters; Unlike Scorsese, who continues to make high-profile films, Coppola appears to have settled into a different career as a prominent California winemaker.
So it came as a surprise to an industry that thought Coppola had left it behind (or vice versa) when he announced in 2019 that he would restart development of Megalopolis. Such rumors had been circulating for years and were treated with due caution, but by 2021 he had assembled a cast and was aiming to make the film with a budget of around $120 million. As Coppola told skeptical media, the film will be financed by the fact that he sold «a significant portion of his wine empire,» making it likely the most expensive self-financed picture ever made.
To many this will seem like the height of self-indulgence. But for Coppola this is business as usual. As he said in an interview with GQ: “I know that Megapolis, the more personal I make it, and the more like a dream I make what I do, the harder it will be to finance it. And the longer he will make money, because for the next 50 years people will be thinking: “What's really in the Metropolis?” What he says? My God, what does it mean when this happens?»
Scene from «Megalopolis» Photo: Film Stills
The director began his career making micro-budget films such as Dementia 13 and You. Now he's a big boy, honing his craft through photography, where he had complete control over the final product. And he continued to demonstrate this single-minded determination in later life, ensuring that his vision could not be compromised if he paid for his films himself.
In the case of Metropolis, which began filming last November, $120 million was spent on the cast, including the likes of Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight and Giancarlo Esposito, as well as extensive technology issues. Unfortunately, Coppola had not worked with special effects on this scale earlier in his career and clashed with veteran visual effects supervisor Mark Russell, firing him before production designer Beth Mickle and supervising art director David Scott left. The director preferred to use practical effects rather than CGI, but as one anonymous crew member complained, «[Coppola] spends literally half a day on something that could have been done in 10 minutes.»
This flamboyant and often casual approach led to rumors that the painting would never be completed. As one production executive quoted by the Hollywood Reporter said: “[Coppola] is going to spend a lot more money than he planned. You can imagine how much he has already invested. It would be a very bitter pill not to finish it.”
The director, as expected, denied that the film was a mess, commenting to industry title Deadline: “These reports never say who the sources are. I tell them: haha, just wait and see. Because it's a beautiful film, and most of all because the cast is so wonderful… These actors are a pleasure to work with, and the photography is everything I could have hoped for. Daily newspapers are great. So if we're on schedule and I like the actors and the look is great, I don't know what anyone is talking about here.»
Francis Ford Coppola and his wife Ellie at the premiere of Apocalypse Now in Cannes, 1979. Photo: AP Photo, File
This was echoed by Driver, who noted that «not all departments find cohesion around films.» However, he noted that rumors about the imminent closure of the project are greatly exaggerated. “Nobody signed up for this film expecting the process to be traditional,” he said. “We expected the opposite, striving to create something unique. The only crazy thing I've seen is that more productions aren't allowed to be as creatively wild and experimentally oriented.» He also compared the filming process to experimental theater, «which made it subversive and exciting.» He added that he doesn't think «we'll ever see something this creative on this scale again.» I think it's a one-of-a-kind film… I think historically it's going to get richer and richer.»
Coppola, of course, has a form of rebellion and excitement. While the making of his first major hit, The Godfather, was certainly not without incident, the success of the film and its sequel led to him being given extraordinary creative freedom to create Apocalypse Now, a loose adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel Death's Heart » Darkness set during the Vietnam War. The film's production was notoriously tumultuous, but the results spoke for themselves — even if the making of the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Director's Apocalypse was more horrifying and dramatic than anything that ended up being shown on screen.
However, organized chaos is one thing, and unorganized chaos is another. In an unflattering behind-the-scenes article published in the Guardian, one crew member said of the production: “It was like a train wreck unfolding day after day, week after week, and you know everyone there was trying their best.” strength.» to help avoid a train wreck.»
It is alleged that Coppola often retreated to his trailer when he was stressed, prompting another crew member to ask: Has this guy ever acted in a movie before? It was also suggested that his attitude towards some of the scantily clad female extras was «old school»; The octogenarian director was seen kissing them and, when asked, replied that he was trying to “lift their spirits.”
Darren Demetre, the film's producer, told the Guardian: «There were two days when we were filming a festive, Studio 54-style club scene where Francis walked around the set to capture the spirit of the scene, affectionately hugging and kissing the audience. I tickle the actors and supporting players.” He claimed that Francis' hugs and kisses «were his way of inspiring and creating the club atmosphere that was so important to the film.»
He told the publication that he «never heard of any complaints of harassment or bad behavior during the course of the project,» saying he worked as an assistant director and executive producer on Francis' film alongside the longtime 85-year-old director. director.
Francis Ford Coppola with Adam Driver at Cannes Photo: Getty
“Francis has successfully produced and directed a huge independent film, making all the difficult decisions to ensure it was delivered on time and on budget, while staying true to his creative vision,” he continued.
However, it didn't help that the film failed to find a reputable distributor in the US. (It will be released in the UK by Entertainment Film.) Screenings were arranged for various interested parties, but various bosses and studio executives walked out of theaters without giving Coppola the lucrative deal he craved. One anonymous executive said: «It's so wrong and it was so sad to watch… This is not how Coppola should end his directing career.»
If the director was influenced by negative publicity and apparently mixed reviews, there was little evidence of this at Cannes. Instead, the old lion triumphed, surrounded by his all-star cast and basking in the applause even as Sinatra pranked him.
Coppola really always did things his own way. Now he — and anyone interested in the great directorial excesses of cinema, be they silliness or epic endeavors — can sit back and wait to find out if he really did bite off more than he can chew last time.
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