Francis Ford Coppola
Is his giant project “Megalopolis” about to end?
Harmony on the set is purely optional for Francis Ford Coppola.
© ImageCollect.com
Supposedly, the shooting of Francis Ford Coppola’s heart project “Megalopolis” descended into chaos. The normal state for the star director?
Film director Francis Ford Coppola (83) has already given the cinema various epochal works – from “Apocalypse Now” to the “The Godfather” trilogy to “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. But a report by the US industry website “The Hollywood Reporter” according to him, his latest project called “Megalopolis” may have thrown him for the first time in his remarkable career. Accordingly, the set of the film, which is about half finished, is increasingly falling into chaos.
One of the reasons for the questionable situation is the film’s completely overblown budget: 120 million US dollars were earmarked for “Megalopolis”, most of which is said to have come from Coppola’s own pocket. Halfway through the shooting, however, it was evident that this amount would not be nearly enough to complete the film.
Big cast, no set workers?
The well-known cast of Coppola’s heart project may have contributed to the high costs. Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman (85) is there, as are Adam Driver (38), Shia LaBeouf (36), Jason Schwartzman (42), Nathalie Emmanuel (33), Aubrey Plaza (38), Kathryn Hunter (65) and Laurence Fishburne ( 61) for “Megalopolis” in front of the camera.
In addition, Coppola’s entire special effects team was fired in December last year, and other important positions such as production designer went or were gone as well. As a result, the sci-fi flick would currently be completely without an art department.
The past gives hope
“Megalopolis” is about a love story that takes place in a futuristic New York. At the same time, issues such as political ambition and social problems will also play a role. Coppola compares the plot with a Roman epic, for example with the style of “Ben Hur”, and wants his film to question forms of society and stimulate thought.
So is this ambitious project doomed to fail? The fact is that Coppola has had his back against the wall several times. The shooting of the anti-war film “Apocalypse Now” degenerated into pure anarchy, which drove all employees in front of and behind the camera to the brink of madness and beyond.
And already with the novel adaptation “Dracula” about 30 years ago, the filmmaker dismissed his entire effects team because they allegedly did not believe in his vision: “None of them took me seriously, so I dismissed the special effects department and my son novel discontinued”, said Coppola a few years ago in an interview with “Entertainment Weekly”. Seen from this perspective, the chaos of “Megalopolis” is absolutely nothing unusual for the eccentric directing genius.