Old-school Francis Ford Coppola is back. I’m not talking about the “Twixt” guy, but rather the legendary madman who made “Apocalypse Now.” That guy.
It turns out Coppola’s self-funded $120 million “Megalopolis”, which began shooting in November, is in total shambles right now with some questioning whether production can even be completed.
THR is reporting that Coppola just doesn’t have enough money to complete the film and that the new VFX technology he wanted employ on “Megalopolis” might be reverted to a less costly and more traditional green-screen approach.
A person working on the film stated “It was absolute madness, being on that set.”
A production executive told the trade “[Coppola] is going to spend a lot more money than he intended. You can imagine how much he’s already got invested. It would be a very bitter pill not to finish it.”
Production designer Beth Mickle and supervising art director David Scott have also left production. The film actually now has no art department. It’s come to the point where Coppola fired almost his entire visual effects team with the rest of that department soon to follow.
All I can picture in my head now is Coppola riding the bomb like Slim Pickens as his wine money burns around him. I’m also predicting “Hearts of Darkness 2: A Filmmaker’s Megalopolis” gets released in the near future.
Meanwhile, a source reached out to me in the last hour explaining further what caused the reckoning debauchery on “Megalopolis”:
“Coppola’s movie is definitely in trouble. It’s for insurance money. He has no problem right now. He’s shaking down people to get extra cash. Grips are pissed. Dude is taking money from his own budget and is siphoning cash from things like costume, make-up, and production design accordingly.”
Let’s see the glass half full here: at least half the film’s already been shot. It’s also not Coppola’s first rodeo in total and utter chaos. In fact, he’s the king of chaotic productions. Plenty of his films were fraught with teetering tensions and financial uncertainty, king of them is “Apocalypse Now.”
“Apocalypse Now” had one of the most troubled productions in film history, with principal photography running over a year and post-production lasting around two. The film damn well nearly broke Coppola as a person; he threatened to commit suicide multiple times, and he took one of the most famous behind-the-scenes pictures on set.
The film contributed to Coppola's later bankruptcy troubles, which eventually got solved with his mega successful venture in the wine business. The sheer amount of trouble that went on during the shooting of ‘Apocalypse Now’ made him terrified to attempt anything as ambitious ever again … until he sold shares of his wine business to make “Megalopolis.” Cinema!
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.