Francis Ford Coppola is considered one of the most influential directors of New Hollywood and his works such as The Godfather and its sequel is widely regarded as some of the greatest pieces of cinema.
Despite the director’s incredible career, the Apocalypse Now director isn’t new to troubled productions and it seems his new project is going through the same curse.
Francis Ford Coppola fires the visual effect team for his upcoming Sci-Fi Megalopolis
After decades of wanting to make the Megalopolis movie, Francis Ford Coppola is finally making his dream project by breaking the cardinal rule of Hollywood of not spending money from their pocket. Francis Ford Coppola is self-financing the $120M Sci-Fi after garnering millions from selling his popular Northern California wineries.
Although the director has gathered a starry cast comprising some big names, the production of the movie hasn’t been easy. The director, who has never been affiliated with heavy effects-driven movies before, has fired most of his visual effect team and the art directors for the movie. As of now the movie doesn’t comprise an art director at its center and the budget has been skyrocketing. One production executive stated,
“There’s no good answer here, [Coppola] is going to spend a lot more money than he intended. You can imagine how much he’s already got invested. It would be a very bitter pill not to finish it.”
However, the director isn’t letting anything get under his skin as he is already looking for a new team and art director for the movie, which isn’t surprising considering the director’s previous experiences with hellish development and most notably his time at Apocalypse Now.
Fans recall the hellish production of Apocalypse Now
The director is nothing new to a troubled production, with him self-financing a 1982 musical romance feature One From the Heart, and an all-star crime drama The Cotton Club in 1984, which are still remembered for their troubled production, but nothing comes close to the troubling production of another classic Apocalypse Now.
The production of Apocalypse Now is considered one of the most notorious and troublesome in Hollywood history. The adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella, Heart of Darkness went through hell and a whopping 238 days of shooting, which was then accompanied by typhoons, heart attacks, and logistical overruns for unruly actors, while the budget kept on increasing. Despite all the challenges, the film later went on to win 2 Oscars. At the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, Francis Ford Coppola described the production of the movie by stating,
“We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane.”
Also read: The Godfather III: Coppola’s Masterpiece To Release With A Different Ending
Even though the shooting has gone halfway through their 80 days schedule for Megalopolis, troubling production seems to not leave Francis Ford Coppola anytime soon. But considering his previous experiences, fans will hope that he gets to finish his dream project.
No release date for Megalopolis has been made official.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
