Francis Ford Coppola is back on the Croisette to present the very ambitious “Megalopolis” in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. On the occasion of the traditional press conference, the filmmaker made strong remarks about the studios.
45 years after his second Palme d’Or for Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola is back in Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. For the 77th edition, the American director returns with a gigantic and long-standing project that he financed himself. The filmmaker sold part of his wine estate to finance his film himself, whose budget amounts to 120 million dollars.
“I knew that the film was different from the films we see today, that there were no elements of comparison to which I could refer. I made the film the way I wanted, I financed it myself“, indicated Francis Ford Coppola, during the Megalopolis press conference which took place this morning in Cannes.
American journalists addressed the question of financing the film, and in particular the place of streaming platforms in the industry. “I fear that the film industry has become a place where people are more concerned about meeting their debts. The studios are very, very in debt. And the job isn’t so much about making good films, but about making sure they pay their debts.“
PODCAST – We debrief “Megalopolis”
And added: “Obviously new companies like Amazon, Apple and Microsoft have a lot of money, so it could be that the studios we’ve known for so long, some wonderful, won’t be around in the future.“Let us point out that if Megalopolis does have a distributor for a cinema release in France (Le Pacte), this is not yet the case for the United States.
Still on the subject of money and a potential risk of debt, Francis Ford Coppola replied: “Money is not important, it is friends who will never let you down.“
Another film already in progress after Megalopolis?
The 85-year-old director does not intend to stop after this project. Asked if there might be any tweaks to Megalopolis, Coppola said no, that the project is finished. And for good reason, he explains that he has already started the next one. Before adding mischievously: “I will still be here in 20 years!“
Speaking of death, the filmmaker does not hide the fact of being very happy to have been able to carry out all the projects he dreamed of: “There are so many people, when they die, who think: ‘I so wish I could have done that’. When I die, I’ll be able to say to myself that I did this and that, and all the films I wanted to make.”
The French release date of Megalopolis is not yet known. The film competes for the Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival which runs until May 25, 2024.