Francis Ford Coppola is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood film movement of the 1960s and ’70s. After graduating from the UCLA Film School, he worked on several projects in the early 1960s and made his first feature-length film, Dementia 13 in 1963.
There have been numerous instances in the industry when filmmakers have struggled to bring their ideas to the big screen because the studios did not like them. Copolla was no exception. Long before he gained acclaim with The Godfather in 1972, the legendary director was determined to debase the studio system which often tended to suppress his visions for cinema.
Luckily, he has finally achieved that with his self-funded film Megalopolis, and viewers are moved to the core after watching it.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis’ First Screening Has Awed Viewers
Megalopolis, known to be Coppola’s passion project for decades, is a sci-fi drama that follows Adam Driver’s Caesar who wants to rebuild a disaster-struck New York into a utopia. Standing in his way is Giancarlo Esposito’s city mayor. Caesar is also in love with the mayor’s daughter, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) so the battle does not end with him fighting for his vision.
As reported by World of Reel‘s Jordan Ruimy, with over 300 people in attendance, the movie was recently screened in Los Angeles at the Universal City Walk IMAX. It was said to be the final cut and was a little over 2 hours.
The viewers of the movie were visibly moved as one of them told Ruimy:
“A startling film. Highly visual, reminiscent of ‘60s experimental cinema. Francis’ youth coming out at age 80. The independent cinema that he grew up on. It’s wonderful, larger than life, a jump off the screen movie and it’s incredibly personal. Driver IS Francis here. It’s not like any movie that’s out there — avant-garde and experimental.”
The director was greeted with a standing ovation when the lights went up. Apart from Coppola’s family and friends, Al Pacino, Nicolas Cage, Spike Jonze, Darren Aronofsky, Roger Corman, and Andy Garcia were also seen there.
Megalopolis Was Reportedly in Ruins Last Year
Francis Ford Coppola is the name behind some of the best Hollywood movies made to date. From 1974’s The Conversation which established him as one of the most talented auteurs of Hollywood, to 1979’s Apocalypse Now, he has proved his efficiency as a director. Not to mention the critically and commercially successful The Godfather trilogy.
In 2021, The Rainmaker director sold his namesake wineries in Sonoma County to Delicato Family Wines (via Wine Spectator) to gather funds for Megalopolis. Armed with an ensemble cast, decades of filmmaking experience, and no distributor, the director embarked on the journey of making or breaking it with his self-funded movie.
In 2021, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the movie had gone into chaos as the production designer and supervising art director were no longer attached to the project. However, Coppola later revealed to Deadline that everything was going smoothly despite eliminating the VFX department.
