Francis Ford Coppola is best known for his work on The Godfather trilogy. The accomplished filmmaker is one of the era-defining filmmakers of the 70s up to the 90s, where he made some of the best works of his career. Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, Peggy Sue Got Married, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and The Rainmaker were some of his other great works.
The director is coming up with his next ambitious film, Megalopolis, his return as a director after almost 14 years. The film was recently screened at Cannes, with the cast and Coppola talking about the movie at a press conference. The director spoke about how he was able to self-finance the film after selling off his successful winery that he started in 2008.
Francis Ford Coppola Started His Own Winery Chain That Helped Fund Megalopolis
Francis Ford Coppola is no stranger to taking risks and making bold choices with his films. The film behind the Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now is now at the helm of arguably his most ambitious films to date Megalopolis. The sci-fi epic led by Adam Driver chronicles the differing ideals between an architect and the Mayor over the future of a dystopian New Rome.
At the press conference of the film at the Cannes Film Festival, Coppola recalled how he started his winery chain The Francis Ford Coppola Winery, back in 2008, after borrowing $20 million for young folks to find some work during the financial crisis at the time. The bold business idea became a tradition that would be duplicated by other winery chains.
Coppola sold his winery in 2021 to Delicato Family Wines in a deal that was worth between $500 million and $1 billion (via North Bay Business Journal). Coppola further stated that he used the money from the deal to fund Megalopolis, which has a mammoth budget of $120 million.
He details it as putting his own money into a risky project that might not be able to recoup its budget. But the filmmaker has no problem with the financial aspect of the film and is happy that he got to make the film he wanted. Coppola said (via Instagram),
One of the reasons why I’ve had the line of credit that I did to be able to do this is because in 2008 – you remember that financial crisis – I borrowed in those days $20m to build a winery [where] children could do something while their parents were drinking the wine. This absurd risk of $20 million created a place that every winery tries to duplicate
So I just took the money from that, that I wouldn’t have had had I not taken the risk, and I put the risk into [Megalopolis]. So no matter what happens… We’re fine. It doesn’t matter. You know, all of you, the money doesn’t matter. What’s important are friends… When I die, I won’t notice [the money].
Coppola still has a stake in Delicato as a part of the deal, with it creating one of the top 10 wine suppliers in the United States. The filmmaker also made this sale to raise funds for his epic passion project, for which he was willing to spend his own money. Despite the mediocre reviews Megalopolis has been receiving, one cannot help but respect Coppola for his ambition and love for filmmaking even at his age.
Nathalie Emmanuel is Really Happy For Francis Ford Coppola’s Dream Coming True
Nathalie Emmanuel is the female lead in Francis Ford Coppola’s upcoming epi sci-fi drama Megalopolis. The filmmaker and the cast recently premiered the film at the Cannes Film Festival where Variety got to talk to the actress about her first-ever Cannes experience and the film itself.
Emmanuel stated that receiving the seven-minute standing ovation was an overwhelming experience, and she could feel the warmth and embrace of the audience towards the film. The Fast and Furious star expressed her happiness for Coppola for finally being able to put his passion project on screen while also calling the effort of everyone who worked on the film a triumphant one. She said,
I really felt the warmth and the embrace of the movie, and I think just standing next to my fellow cast and we were just kind all in it together. I was really happy for Francis. Happy for the team and the cast and the entire crew of people who worked on the film because it was such a valiant, triumphant feat.
Megalopolis also stars Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, and Dustin Hoffman. The film does not have a scheduled theatrical release date set yet.
