Forty years ago, director Francis Ford Coppola was hard at work on the set of The Outsiders, but he couldn’t stop talking about an idea he had for a very different kind of movie. His concept involved utopias, and the picture was called Megalopolis.
He worked on the project on and off for decades, but couldn’t get it off the ground until 2022. Now, it’s finally heading to theaters … but when?
Coppola is best known for directing dramas like The Godfather and its sequel, Apocalypse Now, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, so a science-fiction movie heavy on visual effects is outside of his usual wheelhouse. He also hasn’t directed a movie since 2011’s Twixt, but clearly he never stopped thinking about Megalopolis. As far back as 2001, he was holding table reads for the first drafts of the script, which he wrote himself. A parade of big-name stars were briefly attached to the project, including Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Sadly, the project was too big and unfocused for studios to get behind. With no funding and no distributor lined up, Coppola was left with no choice but to use some of the profits from the sale of his Northern California wineries to fund the production himself. This move also granted him unlimited freedom on the set … but it didn’t come cheap! By the time filming wrapped, the director had invested $120 million in the film.
What’s Megalopolis about?
Details are scant, but here’s what we know: After a catastrophic disaster that destroys New York City, a young woman named Julie Cicero (Aubrey Plaza) becomes torn between her father and her lover (Adam Driver). Her father wants to rebuild the city in traditional societal norms, but her boyfriend wants to create a utopia instead.
In addition to Driver and Plaza, the ensemble cast includes Giancarlo Esposito, Laurence Fishburne, Chloe Fineman, Dustin Hoffman, Shia LaBeouf, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jason Schwartzman, and Jon Voight. Speaking to Collider, Driver said that Coppola financing the film himself allowed him a tremendous amount of freedom to branch out while on set. “Because he financed it himself, it made the shooting process one of the best experiences, if not the best shooting experience, I’ve ever had,” said the actor.
When can we watch Megalopolis?
Filming on Megalopolis finally began in November 2022. One year ago, however, the movie was again in danger of never reaching completion when production slowed to a stand-still due to staffing issues. Specifically, in January 2023, The Hollywood Reporter claimed the set had “descended into chaos” after a temperamental Coppola fired his production designer and supervising art director in the last days of filming. The month prior, they also lost the entire visual effects team.
Coppola and his newly-hired crew soldiered on, and filming wrapped up in March 2023. The movie is currently in post production, and Megalopolis is expected to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024, likely putting its wider release window in the second half of this year, if not later.
We’re looking forward to seeing what all that wine money bought, aren’t you? Better late than never!
(featured image: Getty/MEGA/GC Images/Paris Griffin)
