@Courtesy of American Zoetrope 

Though no official announcement has been made, Francis Ford Coppola’s epic Megalopolis is reportedly going to make its debut at Cannes this year. And the 84-year-old director has just shared an Instagram image depicting a scene from his elaborate passion project.

Coppola began work on the script for Megalopolis some forty years ago, and he’s poured $120 million of his own money into the project over the years, even selling his winery in the process. The film has a star-studded roster that includes (in alphabetical order): Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Chloe Fineman, Laurence Fishburne. Dustin Hoffman, Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Jon Voight, and Forest Whitaker.

Megalopolis is apocalyptic in scope, in keeping with Coppola’s record as a director of iconic films like The Godfather (and its sequel), The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now. The teaser image he shared on Instagram eerily depicts a dark, decaying New York City—actually a single dark alley in a city that seems finally asleep. Except for a crumbling statue, few details can be identified, adding to the dystopian atmosphere.

According to the logline for the film, the city has been destroyed, and an architect proposes to rebuild it while battling the machinations of a corrupt mayor. Coppola has revealed that his film was inspired by an incident in ancient Roman history: the celebrated conspiracy involving Catiline and Cicero, which used to be the stuff of high-school Latin classes when the classics were taken seriously.

In Megalopolis, Adam Driver will play the role of the architect, appropriately named Caesar. Forest Whitaker will play Mayor Frank Cicero, and Nathalie Emmanuel plays his daughter, Julia Cicero. Filming began in late 2022 and wrapped in March of 2023. No release date has yet been announced, but Coppola said earlier this year he hoped to bring it to theaters later this year via his production company, American Zoetrope.

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