Photo by Mihai Malaimare – © 2024 – American Zoetrope
The 120 million-budgeted epic film ‘Megalopolis‘ has released its first clip, following the release of the first official photo earlier this week. A few weeks from now, the film will make its world debut at the Cannes Film Festival, H.G. Wells‘ 1936 film ‘Things to Come’ was the first inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola.
In the trailer, Adam Driver‘s character climbs out of a window at New York’s Chrysler Building and appears to be about to fall to his death until something unexpected occurs.
Besides Driver, the film also stars Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Chloe Fineman and James Remar.
Here’s the official synopsis, ‘Megalopolis’ is a Roman Epic fable set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.”
Coppola has written the script, with Fred Roos, Barry Hirsch and Michael Bederman producing. He is personally financing the project, which has yet to find a distributor except France, the film was picked up by French distribution company Le Pacte.
When asked by GQ about the potential repercussions of self-funding such a massive endeavor, the director responded, “I couldn’t care less about the financial impact whatsoever. It means nothing to me.”
The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year quoted distributors who had seen the film as saying that it would likely be too challenging for mainstream audiences. “There is just no way to position this movie,” said one, while another claimed: “Everyone is rooting for Francis and feels nostalgic. But then there is the business side of things.” However, other attendees of the industry screening offered positive verdicts on ‘Megalopolis.’ “I liked it enormously,” says one person, described as a “specialty label founder”.
It will be Coppola’s first directorial effort since the horror film Twixt in 2011, shot between November 2022 and March 2023.