Megalopolis, the new multi-million dollar movie by acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, is an enigma. The film made its debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Following the screening, juxtaposing reports were released about the movie receiving a 7-minute standing ovation, and audiences actively booing the film.
Then the reviews hit the web. Megalopolis was flooded with 5-star and 1-star reviews. Coppola fans lauded it as his greatest achievement, while the opposition described it as an incoherent mess. As for Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary director loves the discourse, and says it’s all part of Hollywood attempting to categorize his undefinable movie.
Speaking to Empire Magazine, Francis Ford Coppola described how Hollywood executives are wrongly attempting to label Megalopolis as a certain type of movie. The mastermind behind classics like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now said that Megalopolis cannot be contained by a single genre or label, and refuses to resort to a standard cinematic structure. The article even reports that certain sections of Megalopolis require literal audience participation. Coppola explained:
“The movie business tries to encourage everyone to think that there’s only one way a movie can be. It has to have a protagonist, then, in the first few minutes, it has to have an antagonist. They are prescribing a formula that they’ll be able to sell over and over again. So when a movie comes along that doesn’t fit that formula and they don’t think it’s a new formula that can be repeated, they don’t want to do it because they feel there’s too much risk.”
Empire’s story also comes with an exclusive new image of Adam Driver as Cesar Catalina in Megalopolis. Check out the new image below:
Francis Ford Coppola Says Megalopolis Is Ahead of It’s Time
Francis Ford Coppola’s entire career has been followed by the narrative of the “misunderstood genius.” Upon the initial releases of his now-beloved classics The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, some critics at the time despised the movies. These movies are now considered timeless masterpieces. The director believes the same will be true for Megalopolis.
During the interview, Coppola compared himself to other acclaimed artists who didn’t receive worthy recognition during their careers, and only found success in the subsequent years. The director said:
“As we know, the art we revere — Bizet’s Carmen, artists like Picasso, Monet and Matisse — is art that in its time was considered too risky or a failure. Apocalypse Now is a perfect example. When it came out, people said, ‘What the hell is this?’ But they never stopped going to see it. With Megalopolis, you can’t put a label on it. And that’s great. That’s the kind of film I like.”
The latest trailer for Megalopolis attempted to weaponize Francis Ford Coppola’s misunderstood genius. It opens with bad reviews for his older movies, which are now critically adored. However, AI in Hollywood strikes again as it was revealed that the reviews in the trailer were fake, and generated using AI by a PR company. The company has subsequently been fired, and the trailer has been removed from all official sources.
Megalopolis
releases in theaters on September 27, 2024.
