I love Francis Ford Coppola’s persistence. He’s going to probably lose well over $100M on his “Megalopolis” gamble and yet he’s saying he has two more films he wants to make before he can safely say he’s retired — both he wants to finance himself.
When asked if he’s retiring during an AMA on his Instagram account, Coppola wanted to hear none of it, and reiterated that he has two films left to make before he can call it a day. In particular, he describes what he’s positioning as the very final film of his career, “Distant Vision,” as being more grandiose than “Megalopolis,” saying “the last one will be immense.”
Coppola recently described “Distant Vision” as “more ambitious than “Megalopolis.” He told La Liberation that the film, which he is still “grasping,” will be “shot entirely live,” and that it will be “much harder” to make than “Megalopolis.”
Coppola initially workshopped “Distant Vision” at UCLA, back in 2015, as a live cinema performance piece, produced over three weeks, in a 6,000-square-foot soundstage on Oklahoma City Community College’s campus. Coppola claimed to be pioneering a “brand new art form” with this work.
The film is said to be inspired by the old TV dramas Coppola grew up with during childhood— almost like filming a theater play with multiple cameras. Stephen Frears did something similar in 2000’s “Fail Safe.”
With that said, “Distant Vision” will not be Coppola’s next film. He’s currently prepping “Glimpses of the Moon,” a musical adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel and “inspired” by Leo McCarey’s “The Awful Truth.”
Regardless, we should scratch off any retirement plans for Coppola, who turns 86 in April. He’s just getting started. By the time “Distant Vision” is released he might be close to 90. Nothing is going to stop him from continuing to make films, except, of course, age and health, which tend to sneak up on you when you least expect it.
As Martin Scorsese recently stated, and he might as well be speaking on behalf of Coppola as well, “I hope God gives me the strength and money to finish them.”