47/37
Coppola abandoned the project entirely in 2007, and did not begin development again until 2019
Plot
The city of New Rome faces the duel between Cesar Catilina, a brilliant artist who advocates a utopian future, and the money-hungry mayor Franklyn Cicero. Caught between them is Julia Cicero, whose loyalties are torn 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 30 hours of second unit footage were shot and a read-through was held 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 abandoned after the September 11 attacks because a scene in the script (page 166) “predicted” the attacks. The surveillance video of Cicero entering Ceasar’s office is said to have come from two different cameras, as indicated by the small text in the upper left corner.
Hamilton Crassus III: What do you think of my boner?
It is simply the same footage, just mirrored and tilted slightly. In the Ultimate IMAX Experience version of the film, a live actor asks questions during the filmed press conference. Quoted on The John Campea Show: Adam Driver stars in Francis Ford Coppola’s new film Megalopolis (2022). My PromiseWritten by Grace VanderWaalPerformed by Grace VanderWaalCourtesy of Columbia RecordsIn arrangement with Sony Music EntertainmentProduced and orchestrated by Kris Kukul. “Megalopolis” is a film I wanted to like, primarily because it is an incredibly expensive indie project, written, produced, financed and directed by the legendary Francis Ford Coppola – an author 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 is not afraid to weave in political commentary and reflections on human existence
Moreover, the experience of sitting in a nearly empty IMAX theater with only a few others added to the atmosphere… Apart from Adam Driver’s Oscar-worthy performance and the stunning visuals that looked beautiful on the giant screen, nothing else in this film is praiseworthy. The plot revolves around the genius scientist Cesar, the 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 that is far from it. Envy, jealousy, greed and lust for power are other themes that shape the essence of this work. Thinking about the themes of the film, one might think that this is a good film.
The only character I could connect with was Cesar, thanks to Adam Driver’s brilliant performance
On the contrary, all these themes are destroyed by narrative chaos, which in my opinion is due to the director’s overbearing ambition to present an unprecedented “megalomaniac” work of art. Editing and narration are disjointed – the film jumps from scene to scene without any connection, which became tiring after just fifteen minutes. By the middle of the film, I had completely lost interest in the story and was just waiting for it to end. Although most of the cast is well-known, it is difficult to relate to the characters – most are superficial and some are completely unnecessary. His ability to convey Cesar’s mania, dialogue and emotion is probably the reason I remained captivated in the first place, rather than the depth of the character itself.
The dialogue is a mixed bag – sometimes brilliant, sometimes boring – which made the experience quite uneven
The cinematography is excellent, and had Coppola focused primarily on this element, this could have been an exceptional film.
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