This highly anticipated film has captured people's attention from conception to completion. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re exploring facts about Francis Ford Coppola’s longtime passion project, “Megalopolis.”
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're exploring facts about Francis Ford Coppola's longtime
00:08passion project, Megalopolis.
00:14Number 10.
00:15How long it's been in development.
00:17It took Coppola nearly a decade to bring Apocalypse Now from script to screen.
00:23While wrapping up that production nightmare, Coppola was already conceiving another ambitious
00:27project that would take even longer to execute.
00:30According to Richard Beggs, who won an Oscar for his sound design on Apocalypse Now, they
00:35were late into shooting when Coppola envisioned, quote, this magnum opus idea for Megalopolis,
00:40which would be like a gigantic opera.
00:43While the idea came to Coppola around 1977, it wasn't until early 1983 that he officially
00:49started writing the screenplay for Megalopolis.
00:51Within two months, he had 400 pages of notes and pieces of the script.
00:56Yet it would be more than four decades until this materialized into a finished film.
01:08Number 9.
01:09The premise and themes.
01:11From the screenplay's genesis, Coppola pictured a New York setting with echoes of Catiline
01:15Rome.
01:16While the script would be rewritten nearly 300 times, this central idea remained a constant.
01:22The film takes place in a version of New York City that's descended into destruction.
01:27Architect Cesar Catalina, played by Adam Driver, seeks to construct a utopian city from the
01:32ground up.
01:33Standing in the way of progress is Mayor Franklin Cicero, an authoritarian role tailor-made for
01:38Giancarlo Esposito.
01:39-"And to me, it's the story of democracy."
01:42Stuck in the middle is Cicero's daughter, Natalie Emanuel, who embarks on a personal
01:47journey in pursuit of life's purpose.
01:49The themes look to the past, present, and future, applying historical events like the
01:54Catilinarian Conspiracy to modern America and where we're headed as a society.
01:59-"That basically is a utopia."
02:02Number 8.
02:03Actors involved throughout the years.
02:04-"It was great.
02:05I mean, listen, you know, Francis is the master."
02:08In addition to the aforementioned actors, the stacked cast includes Aubrey Plaza, Shia
02:13LaBeouf, John Voight, Chloe Fineman, Lawrence Fishburne, Dustin Hoffman, and Coppola's
02:18nephew, Jason Schwartzman, to name a few.
02:20Of course, Megalopolis has been in the works for so long that many stars spanning generations
02:25were attached at different points.
02:27Around the turn of the century, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Edie Falco, Uma Thurman,
02:33James Gandolfini, and Paul Newman participated in table readings when the script was roughly
02:37200 pages.
02:38In recent years, Coppola approached Cate Blanchett, Oscar Isaac, Jessica Lange, Jude Law, Michelle
02:44Pfeiffer, Forrest Whitaker, and Zendaya, although none of those casting choices panned
02:49out.
02:50Sonny Corleone himself, James Caan, also nearly re-teamed with Coppola before his death in
02:542022.
02:55-"What'd he say?"
02:56-"What'd he say?
02:57Ba-da-beef, ba-da-bap, ba-da-boop, ba-da-beef.
02:58He wants us to send Michael to hear the proposition."
03:01Number 7.
03:02Inspirations.
03:03Given the film's title, it's no surprise that Fritz Lang's 1927 masterpiece Metropolis
03:08was a key inspiration for Megalopolis.
03:20Perhaps even more integral to the film's inception was 1936's Things to Come, which screenwriter
03:26H.G. Wells adapted from his novel.
03:29Coppola says the, quote, seeds for Megalopolis were planted when he saw William Cameron Menzies'
03:34sci-fi film, which centers on, quote, building the world of tomorrow.
03:40In addition to cinema, Coppola looked to literary works like David Graeber's Debt, The First
03:45Five Thousand Years, Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game, Rianne Eisler's The Chalice and
03:50the Blade, and Francis Fukuyama's The Origins of Political Order, among others.
03:55As different as some of these inspirations may seem, many of them share themes of politics,
04:01This is where we're living, the only one that's available to us.
04:07Number 6.
04:08Crew members exit.
04:09Megalopolis finally started shooting in November 2022, although it wouldn't be a Coppola production
04:14if everything ran smoothly.
04:17Almost the entire visual effects crew was let go just over a month into filming.
04:21It wasn't long until the rest of the effects team left.
04:24This isn't the first time Coppola fired his VFX artists, running into similar issues with
04:28his Dracula adaptation.
04:37Megalopolis faced another setback when production designer Beth Mickel and supervising art director
04:41David Scott resigned, reportedly leaving the film without an art department.
04:46While it sounds like history is repeating itself, Coppola claims Megalopolis is, quote,
04:51on-schedule.
04:52Adam Driver also defended Coppola, saying, quote,
04:55The only madness I've observed is that more productions aren't allowed to be as creatively
04:59wild and experimentally focused.
05:02Number 5.
05:03Early reactions.
05:09On March 28th, 2024, the industry got its first look at Megalopolis, as numerous A-listers
05:15and Hollywood executives gathered for a 10 a.m. IMAX screening.
05:19The reactions have been all over the map.
05:22One studio bigwig said, quote,
05:24It's so not good, and it was so sad watching it, predicting the film would, quote, lose
05:29money.
05:30On the positive side, another anonymous viewer, quote, liked it enormously, although their
05:34studio isn't picking the film up.
05:36Whether good or bad, most attendees agreed that the picture would be a tough sell, with
05:40one saying, quote,
05:42I find it hard to believe any distributor would put up cash.
05:45The early reactions have not fazed Coppola, who compared Megalopolis to Apocalypse Now,
05:50a divisive financial gamble that ultimately paid off.
05:54A couple of guys said it's the worst film I've seen in 30 years, which was interesting
05:57because the same guys had said that Apocalypse Now was the worst film they saw in 30 years,
06:01which means this was only the worst film they had seen in three years.
06:04Number 4.
06:05Coppola invested his own money.
06:06Each week you say, well, let's go another week, and you're sort of financing it yourself.
06:10Francis Ford Coppola is no stranger to betting on himself.
06:13His risk-taking methods have resulted in hits like Apocalypse Now, but also commercial flops
06:18like One from the Heart.
06:25Wherever Megalopolis falls, it's arguably the biggest swing of Coppola's career.
06:29Even with some of the greatest movies ever made under his belt, Coppola couldn't get
06:33any of the major studios to bankroll his sci-fi epic.
06:37Coppola ultimately decided to self-finance the production in 2019.
06:41Selling a, quote,
06:42significant piece of his wine empire, Coppola invested $120 million out of pocket.
06:48It's been rumored that costs have since grown, although Coppola claims that the film is,
06:52quote,
06:53on budget.
06:54Akin to Roland Emmerich's Moonfall, the budget might be huge, but this production is technically
06:59an indie venture.
07:04Number 3.
07:05Distributor wanted.
07:07While Coppola financed and produced Megalopolis through American Zoetrope, there's still a
07:11matter of locking down a North American distributor.
07:18Although Coppola's lawyer Barry Hirsch says, quote,
07:20everything is on the table, insiders doubt the director will agree to a streaming exclusive
07:25release.
07:26A champion of the cinematic experience, Coppola says he's, quote,
07:29interested in a theatrical release in theaters and IMAX.
07:33Apple and Amazon MGM have been cited as potential buyers.
07:37Both seem like ideal homes for Megalopolis, considering that either could arrange a wide
07:41theatrical release.
07:43Even if Megalopolis isn't immediately profitable, these two media giants have between $80 and
07:48$100 million to burn.
07:50For now, Megalopolis is set to premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, while Le Pacte
07:55will be distributing the picture in France.
07:58Number 2.
07:59Version scrapped after 9-11.
08:01After becoming consumed by various other projects, Coppola was committed to making Megalopolis
08:05his next picture in 2001.
08:07Aside from seeking actors, Coppola's crew shot nearly a half hour of second unit footage
08:12in New York.
08:13These plans were thrown into uncertainty when tragedy struck on September 11th.
08:18Although Coppola knew he needed to rework the script, he still wanted to prioritize
08:22Megalopolis, even if he had to finance it himself.
08:26Given the real-world parallels, though, Coppola struggled to make a film about New York recovering
08:30from a disaster, saying, quote,
08:32I just didn't know how to continue with it.
08:34Since then, Coppola made three other films, his most recent being 2011's Twixt.
08:39With Megalopolis coming out 13 years later, this is the longest gap in Coppola's filmography.
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09:05Number 1.
09:06Dedicated to Eleanor Coppola.
09:08After more than 40 years, Coppola fulfilled this artistic endeavor.
09:12Unfortunately, one of the most important figures in his life didn't live to see the film's
09:17release.
09:18Eleanor Coppola was Francis' wife of nearly 60 years.
09:21She was also a talented filmmaker, most notably shooting the documentary footage for Hearts
09:25of Darkness, a filmmaker's apocalypse.
09:28On March 1st, I came to the Philippines with Francis and our three children.
09:31On April 12th, 2024, a little over a year after Megalopolis wrapped, Eleanor passed
09:37away at 87.
09:44In her memory, Francis released a teaser for his film, stating, quote,
09:48Megalopolis has always been a film dedicated to my dear wife, Eleanor.
09:51I really had hoped to celebrate her birthday together this May 4th, but sadly that was
09:56not to be.
09:57So let me share with everyone a gift on her behalf.
10:00Are you looking forward to Megalopolis?
10:02Let us know in the comments.
10:30Thank you for watching.
10:31See you next time.
10:32Bye!