Sorry for the delay in posting today, I was working on this piece. Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells and I have been sharing notes on Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” having just screened in Los Angeles at the Universal City Walk IMAX.
Wells’ writeup can be read here.
The place was packed, with over 300 invitees — “a who’s who of heavy hitters” that included friends and family of Coppola’s. Al Pacino, Nicolas Cage, Spike Jonze, Darren Aronofsky, Roger Corman and Andy Garcia were spotted there. All of the studio chiefs were also in attendance.
The cut shown was said to be a little over 2 hours and confirmed to be a final cut.
In “Megalopolis,” for which Laurence Fishburne provides narration, Adam Driver plays Caesar, a tortured visionary fighting to rebuild his city into a utopia after disaster strikes. It’s also a love affair between Caesar and Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), the daughter of his rival and opponent, and the battle for her heart. It’s Romeo and Juliet, a Shakespearean rivalry between two families. The main villain is portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito as the city mayor opposing Caesar’s vision. Aubrey Plaza plays a rival love interest.
Roaring off the screen, roaring into your eyes and ears. It's a Francis Ford Coppola film and, also, feels like it was made by Ed Emshwiller. It’s expanded cinema; very engaging. It doesn’t drag at all. Constantly entertaining, visually arresting and you have to constantly work to keep up with it. You’ve gotta follow it.
A startling film. Highly visual, reminiscent of ‘60s experimental cinema. Francis’ youth coming out at age 80. The independent cinema that he grew up on. It’s wonderful, larger than life, a jump off the screen movie and it’s incredibly personal. Driver IS Francis here. It’s not like any movie that’s out there — avant-garde and experimental. There’s an overlaying of images, but it works incredibly well. More like “One from the Heart,” shot in an unreal world, it’s a big metropolis, possibly in the far future? The film never says when.
When the lights came up, a standing ovation greeted Coppola and he was visibly overcome with emotion. This is the project that he’s fought to make for nearly 40 years, and it’s finally been screened.
A few moments later, Andy Garcia stood up and told the crowd, pointing to Coppola, “this guy is the reason we’re all making movies.” A touching moment.
The legendary Oscar-winning director is self-funding “Megalopolis,” a passion project more than four decades in the making. He sold his lucrative winery to fund the film, which was said to cost around $120 million.
Our source tells us that Focus or Neon would be the perfect fit for this film. They added that “special care will be needed to sell it. It does follow all of the standard dramatic rules, but in idiosyncratic ways.” They go on to describe it as “an adventuresome film that walks a tightrope.”
Coppola started writing “Megalopolis” in the early ‘80s. The earliest anecdote has Coppola talking about the project during the 1982 shoot of “The Outsiders.” So, this project must have been ruminating in his head right after “Apocalypse Now,” maybe even before. Regardless, it’s finally been made and ready to be shown to the world. Cannes?
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