Francis Ford Coppola is gearing up for the release of his magnum opus, Megalopolis. The project has been several decades in the making, and Coppola has pulled out all the stops for his dream project. This included getting together a huge cast of talented actors from different walks of life and with varying degrees of fame.
One such actor was Jon Voight, who is part of the ensemble cast of Megalopolis. In the past, Voight and Coppola found reason to disagree on ideological matters. The two industry veterans have sometimes not seen eye to eye on matters concerning the state of politics. But Coppola recently revealed that despite their differences, Voight was fully supportive of the filmmaker’s ambitious movie project during the early years of its conception.
Jon Voight Supported Francis Ford Coppola
Although Francis Ford Coppola is well known as a master filmmaker who has given Hollywood many legendary films, it was no easy task convincing studios to back a movie like Megalopolis. Coppola came up with the concept for the film several decades ago.
But at the time, no studio was willing to produce such an experimental movie on the giant scale it required. It was during this time of uncertainty that Jon Voight reached out to Coppola with words of support. The two had previously worked together on 1997’s The Rainmaker. As Coppola told Variety in an interview:
[Jon Voight] was one of the earliest actors who said, “You have to make this.” [It was] the first thing [Voight] told me in LA when I showed it to [him]. Politically, [Voight and I] are not in the same world. So there is different opinions here, definitely.
Despite the difference in opinions, Voight and Coppola seemed to enjoy working together. In another part of the interview, Coppola gave his opinion on how the world seems to be moving “towards the neo-right, even fascist tradition.” When Coppola said to Voight, “Jon, you have different political opinions,” the actor humorously responded with, “How did you find that out?”
Francis Ford Coppola Finally Got to Make Megalopolis
In the end, Coppola had to take matters into his own hands to make Megalopolis as he had envisioned. He sold off parts of his wineries for tens of millions of dollars and used the funds to make the film independent of any Hollywood studio. This means Coppola is not only bearing the creative risk of mounting such an ambitious film, but also the financial risk if the project ends up with negative reviews.
Despite the huge stakes, Coppola appeared to be in high spirits while promoting his movie at Cannes along with the main cast, which includes Jon Voight, Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, and Laurence Fishburne. The film received a seven-minute standing ovation upon its premiere at Cannes and seems to be drawing polarizing reactions from critics.
Megalopolis is expected to be released later this year.
