Francis Ford Coppola, the genius filmmaker who is credited for projects like The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, etc has been hailed as a visionary director. With his ideas and storytelling, he weaves movies that have the capacity to enchant audiences. And he is now back with yet another project – a self-financed movie titled Megapolis.
Starring a cast including Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, etc, the movie has been screened twice to distributors, but has been unable to find an interested party. The film is written and directed by the five-time Oscar winner, but with very polarizing reviews so far, the chances of the film finding distributors are getting slimmer by the day.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Megapolis Is Crazy But In a Historic Way
Although the idea for Megapolis came into Coppola’s mind while he was filming Apocalypse Now (1979), the filming did not begin until late 2022. The shoot went on for 5 months from November 2022 to March 2023, and then had some reshoots done after the conclusion of the SAG-AFTRA strike. With a star-cast that includes some very interesting choices, the movie is now looking for distributors for its release.
The film was initially screened for a private audience of distributors and talents in Los Angeles, but was unable to find someone who was interested in Coppola’s most recent project. Reviews for Megapolis ranged from “batsh*t crazy,” “baffling,” “downright confounding,” “undefinable,” “fit for a museum,” and the “work of a madman,” to “powerful,” “visionary masterpiece,” and “historic.”
Phillipe Guedj of Le Point said (via X):
“The film is like Einstein and relativity in 1905, Picasso and Guernica in 1937. Coppola has marked a historic new moment for cinema.”
The movie has gotten very polarizing reviews from those who have watched it so far, while some cannot wait to watch it. But the question remains: Will Francis Ford Coppola be able to have the movie released with such confusing reviews?
Francis Ford Coppola Could Have His $120 Million Movie Screened at Cannes
Currently, the movie is in search of distributors, so that it can be released in theatres. Unfortunately, the chances of that happening are very low. Now, at least one chance Coppola has of showing his movie to an audience is to have Megapolis screened at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Even though some could not fathom the meaning of the movie, director Gregory Nava, who watched the movie during another private screening in London, could not stop raving about Coppola or his movie. He said (via IndieWire):
“I feel I was a part of history. ‘Megalopolis’ is a brilliant, visionary masterpiece. I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t do anything for the rest of the day but think about ‘Megalopolis’ and feel it’s powerful, uplifting message. Francis has taken cinema to a whole different level — the whole experience was profoundly moving. I still can’t stop thinking about the film and telling everyone I know – they all can’t wait to see it! It will blow people’s minds.”
So far, Megapolis is rumored to be released in the US later this year. But without proper distribution, it faces a bleak future, where it might never see the light of day.
