Megalopolis, the next film from legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, is set to begin filming in August. A long-awaited passion project for the director, Megalopolis has been a film that Coppola has wanted to make since he released Apocalypse Now in 1979, but has never gotten off the ground. The closest he came before was in 2001 when, after having already shot second unit footage, the September 11 attacks put an indefinite halt to production. Eventually, in April 2019, Coppola officially announced that he would be taking on Megalopolis and would even be self-financing, putting over $100 million into the film.
While plot details are thin on the ground, Coppola has said that the film will be a Roman epic transported into the future. Taking place in a New York that has been destroyed, the film will deal with the struggle between the idealistic architect who plans to rebuilt the city, and the conservative mayor who tries to destroy his reputation. Coppola has also added that it is a love story about a woman torn between two men, her father and her father’s enemy. Though there is a long list of names that were once rumored to be appearing in Megalopolis including Robert De Niro and Nicolas Cage, the Megalopolis cast was recently officially announced and comprises of Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Voight, Adam Driver and Nathalie Emanuel.
In an interview with Variety at Cannes, Whitaker has now given an update on the production schedule for Megalopolis, saying that the film will begin shooting in August. He also says that the cast is coming together and that he likes the script, displaying an optimism about the projects success. In terms of the plot, Whitaker reveals little, only substantiating the previously-known details about the power struggle between two different people.
Optimism is going to be important, as Megalopolis is quite the gamble. Original ideas are currently performing poorly at the box office, and without popular source material to draw from or a franchise to jump off of, it's no surprise that the film had to be independently financed. For Coppola however, gambles are nothing new and the director had to sacrifice greatly in order to see production of Apocalypse Now through to the end. It might just be then that this project follows a similar pattern and proves hugely successful, as Apocalypse Now eventually took in over $100 million at the box office against its $30 million budget and is remembered as one of the greatest films of all-time.
Whether or not Coppola's gamble pays off remains to be seen, but Megalopolis will certainly be one to look out for. Original ideas, while risky, are definitely needed in today's movie landscape. An argument can be made Megalopolis highlights Hollywood's franchise problem, and should the film be successful, it could be the moment that inspires studios to look beyond sequels and reboots. For Coppola’s sake, it can be hoped that Megalopolis mirrors Apocalypse Now’s astounding success, but also manages to avoid its troubled production, otherwise he might have to reach even deeper into his pockets than he already has.
Source: Variety