Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis has been in the works for decades, and in that time, it morphed into something unlike anything else in cinema. At its core, however, it’s still a science-fiction epic. The newest trailer is exactly as spectacular as you’d imagine, but underneath the chariot races, glittery gold costumes, and neo-Roman aesthetics is a story that goes back to one of the most basic sci-fi concepts.
The trailer began with negative reviews of Coppola’s past successes, only for Vulture to call out Lionsgate for attributing fake quotes to real critics like Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert. Before that debacle promoted Lionsgate to pull the trailer, however, we finally saw what’s ahead in Megalopolis, and got a long look at its Art Deco-inspired world. We already know what the movie is about — an architect (Adam Driver) who wants to rebuild New York City according to his ideals following a devastating accident — but now we know what that actually looks like.
A shot of a satellite falling from the sky seems to be what caused the catastrophe, while the city that replaces New York looks like it’s straight out of a classic sci-fi novel. This is the first visual evidence of the trope at the story's center: utopia. Dystopian stories are arguably more popular than ever, but utopian stories are far rarer — and much more difficult to pull off.
Megalopolis, which was self-funded entirely by Coppola, is by far the most ambitious movie of the year. Visually, at least, it appears that ambition paid off with a world that really feels like it’s from a glorious, upbeat future.
Aside from the idealism of Star Trek, utopian adventures are few and far between. You’d have to dig up forgotten obscurities like Tomorrowland to explore the genre, but Megalopolis is going to try reviving a trope that’s been hanging around for centuries. There are plenty of sci-fi elements in Megalopolis, too — the previous trailer showed the protagonist’s ability to stop time itself — and his attempt to build a perfect utopia won’t, of course, be a smooth ride. But since Coppola is swinging for the fences here, it’s nice to see that we won’t get yet another boring old dystopia amid the chariot races and monologues. Let’s hope we also get a new trailer that isn’t riddled with factual errors soon too.
