28/17
Coppola abandoned the project entirely in 2007 and only returned to development in 2019
Synopsis
The city of Nova Roma is pitted against Cesar Catilina, a brilliant artist who envisions a utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them is Julia Cicero, whose loyalties are divided between her father and her lover. Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screenplay in the early 1980s, but the film was shelved, partly due to his financial debts. Pre-production finally began in 2001, after shooting 30 hours of second unit footage and holding a table read with Paul Newman, Uma Thurman, Robert De Niro, James Gandolfini, Nicolas Cage, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Edie Falco, and Kevin Spacey, but the project was canceled after the September 11 attacks because a scene in the script (page 166) “foreshadowed” the attacks. The security footage of Cicero entering Caesars’ office was supposed to be from two different cameras, as indicated by the small text in the upper left corner.
It’s the exact same footage reversed and tilted slightly
Hamilton Crassus III: What Do You Think of This Horny Thing I’m Getting? The “Ultimate IMAX Experience” The film version features a live actor asking questions during the filmed press conference. Referenced in The John Campea Show: Adam Driver to Lead Francis Ford Coppola’s New Film Megalopolis (2022). My Pledge Written by Grace VanderWaal Performed by Grace VanderWaal Courtesy of Columbia Records By Arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment Produced and Orchestrated by Kris Kukul. “Megalopolis” It’s a film I wanted to like, mainly because it’s an incredibly expensive independent project, written, produced, financed and directed by the legendary Francis Ford Coppola – an auteur who has been planning this work for 40 years and loves it so much that he personally rated it 10/10 on the film platform Letterboxd.
Coppola doesn’t shy away from weaving political commentary and also reflections on human existence
Plus, the experience of sitting in a nearly empty IMAX theater with only a few others added to the atmosphere… However, apart from Adam Driver’s Oscar-worthy performance and the stunning visual framing that looked beautiful on the huge screen, nothing else in this film deserves praise. The plot follows the brilliant scientist Cesar, inventor of the revolutionary material “Megalon”, with which he plans to build a utopian city of the future – “Megalopolis”. This is one of the central themes of the film – the obsession with perfection in a world and society far from it. Envy, jealousy, greed and the desire for power are other themes that shape the essence of this work.
The only character I connected with was Cesar, thanks to Adam Driver’s brilliant performance
When I reflect on the film’s themes, one might think that this is a good film. On the contrary, all of these themes are destroyed by the narrative chaos, which in my opinion stems from the director’s pretentious ambition to present a ‘megalomaniac’ film as a work of art. The editing and narrative are disjointed – the film jumps from scene to scene without any coherence, which becomes tiresome after only fifteen minutes. By the middle, I had completely lost interest in the story and was simply waiting for it to end. Although most of the cast are well-known, it is difficult to connect with any of the characters – most are superficial and some are completely unnecessary.
The dialogue is mixed – sometimes brilliant, sometimes dull – which makes for a rather uneven experience
His ability to convey Cesar’s mania, dialogue and emotions is probably the reason I stayed engaged, rather than the depth of the character itself. The cinematography is excellent and if Coppola had focused mainly on that element, this could have been an extraordinary film.
