Mike Figgis has been shooting a behind-the-scenes documentary for the past 18 months about the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis”. It’s called “Megadoc.”
Figgis promises “fly-in-the-wall” filmmaking, tackling the ups and downs of both the pre and postproduction work on “Megalopolis,” not to mention a full tackling of the shoot in Georgia. Figgis tells Deadline that he has finished editing the film, and that it might launch at one of the big fall festivals.
Figgis, who was introduced to Coppola in the mid ‘90s after directing Nicolas Cage in “Leaving Las Vegas,” says “Megadoc” features conversations with various cast members — Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Dustin Hoffman, Shia LaBeouf. George Lucas and Coppola’s late wife Eleanor Coppola were also interviewed for the doc.
Making “Megadoc” has been “a year and a half crazy ride,” Figgis tells Deadline.
I think Francis accepted the fact that by inviting me in, I’m not doing a behind-the-scenes puff piece, you know? It has to be honest, and finally we arrived at an agreement […] He never said, ‘You can’t be there or leave the room.
The film will also tackle the moments where Coppola got rid of certain crew members, while still in production, which Figgis says was due to their “relationship with the Marvel Universe mode of filmmaking”.
The way the Marvel Universe functions is like you pre-plan six months before, you storyboard. Francis is not that kind of a filmmaker.
As for release plans, beyond the fall fest premieres, Figgis hopes it will have a theatrical release and will then become a platform film and there’s enough material to do a six-part series of 30-minute episodes.
So there’s a two-hour cut and a series, there’s a lot of material
How transparent Figgis will be in his document of the “Megalopolis” set remains to be seen. There was a lot of drama there with, as mentioned, key creative talent such as the visual effects production supervisor, production designer, and supervising art director, all being fired over “creative differences.”
Then there’s Coppola’s discussions, with streamers and studios, about distributing “Megalopolis,” which still hasn’t sealed a deal with any studio. IMAX recently said that they’ve booked theaters, in 20 different cities, for “Megalopolis” to be screened in late September.
If you remember, the legendary chaos behind the production of Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” was captured by Eleanor in an excellent documentary titled “Hearts of Darkness.” That film portrayed just how damaging the production was to Coppola’s sanity.