In one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken in the history of Hollywood, esteemed director Francis Ford Coppola created his most recent film Megalopolis over the span of four decades… but was it all worth it?
The 2024 epic science fiction drama starring Adam Driver sets out to challenge modern society by drawing parallels between the fall of Rome and the current state of America.
Written, directed, and produced by Coppola, Megalopolis has been eagerly anticipated due to how influential his previous films have been on the medium.
As you have undoubtedly been told by film bros at every house party you’ve ever been to, The Godfather (1972) is one of the greatest movies of all time. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
However, after costing forty years of his life, and USD $120 million of his own money, the legendary director’s latest film has been all but an easy task to get onto the big screen.
And now that it is finally out, reviews are mixed on whether Megalopolis was really all worth the blood, sweat, time, and tears.
Here’s everything you need to know about the story behind Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola’s journey creating it, and all the memes that have spawned since the film’s release.
What is Megalopolis about?
Megalopolis stars Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, an architect who can manipulate time and space.
That’s right, in a big middle finger to the concept of subtext, the film is about a “man out of time”. And just in case anyone missed the unhidden meaning, the first line of the trailer makes the allusion of Catilina to Copolla nice and clear.
Francis Ford Coppola writing Megalopolis: pic.twitter.com/dtuwg6ZOT7
— Emperor Norton (@ashleynaftule) September 24, 2024
Catilina aspires to use his power to turn his beautiful but corrupted city of New Rome into his dream utopia, Megalopolis. However, the forces that stand in his way show that even supernatural powers can’t beat established political power.
Giancarlo Esposito plays antagonistic Mayor Frank Cicero, who reaps the benefits of the immoral nature of his city and feeds division while Catalina fights to build his idealistic future.
Speaking to NPR, Coppola said that the goal of Megalopolis is to challenge audiences to consider the society they want to be involved in shaping.
“All I ask them is to have a discussion… is the society we have the only one available to us?” the director said.
“I believe if people just talk together, people all over the world…we will come up with that. That is, basically a utopia.”
Why did Megalopolis take so long to make?
Though the simple explanation for why Megalopolis took so long to make ultimately comes down to re-writing, scheduling, and financing, the dedication from Coppola to persevere and make the film a reality is why the story of the 40-year ordeal stands out.
In 1978, Francis Ford Coppola said that he wanted to make a “really shitty, embarrassing, pompous film on an important subject”, and said that the film would “not be good”.
The film he was referring to at the time ended up becoming Apocalypse Now, which was released in 1979, and received rave reviews. However, his dream to make a film about the similarities between modern America and ancient Rome wasn’t satiated, which is why today we have Megalopolis.
The rumours around Hollywood are that Coppola had been talking about the concept of making Megalopolis since the 1980s, which is surprisingly true. Since 1983 the director had been collecting notes, and writing hundreds of pages of scripts about a Roman/American empire epic.
Taking countless forms over the years, the story that eventually became Megalopolis was translated by the director into a book and a stage play, but he always wanted it to be a movie.
Additionally, because it took so long to get a final script completed with hundreds of “final” drafts scrapped, the list of actors who could have been cast as a a lead features some of the biggest names in Hollywood history. Russell Crowe, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Pacino and Uma Thurman all were involved at some point across the decades.
One of the biggest factors that finally meant Coppola could make Megalopolis was when he used $120 million of his own money (made from a successful wine company he owned) to fund the project. This meant that he had total control to make the Megalopolis of his dreams.
So now that it’s out, what do critics and audiences think?
What do reviews say about Megalopolis?
Currently, the ratings for Megalopolis are sitting practically dead in the middle, with a bang-on 50 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics.
“More of a creative manifesto than a cogent narrative feature, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is an overstuffed opus that’s equal parts stimulating and slapdash,” reads the site’s consensus from critics.
Meanwhile, audiences are seemingly even less impressed, with the film receiving a rotten 35 per cent rating on the platform from everyday punters.
Wendy Ide wrote in The Guardian that the film was “Francis Ford Coppola’s epic fail” and gave it a mere two-star review.
Despite these negative reviews, the film is still being applauded online by folks who are a fan of the director’s styling and creative pursuit.
Megalopolis made me romantic and nostalgic for a period of film that never came. A world where Speed Racer and the Matrix sequels were what drove our culture forward. Painfully sincere dreaming of the a civilization that could’ve had it all. I fucking loved it. pic.twitter.com/BVWvRGckIr
— Brandon Streussnig (@BrndnStrssng) September 29, 2024
However, a tonne of folks are not impressed by the pseudo-intellectual nature of the film, and called it out for pretending to be smart instead of actually having depth.
more than anything Megalopolis is the work of a man who thinks that knowing a lot of quotes makes you a smart person
— guy online (@fellawhomstdve) September 29, 2024
Adam Driver: we need to build Megalopolis so things will be Good instead of Bad
— guy online (@fellawhomstdve) September 29, 2024
Giancarlo Esposito: no way buster – here in “Bad City,” things are Bad, and we like em that way!
Driver: “Heal da world” – Marcus Aurelius
Esposito: I love you Adam Driver
Meanwhile, others pointed out how the film has become as divisive as the city it’s about, with the discussion about the film being even more conceited than Megalopolis itself.
i keep being like “i saw megalopolis yesterday” and my friends are like “was it good or bad” which then turns into an exploration of what “good” or “bad” even mean
— todd bonzalez (@doinkpatrol) September 28, 2024
Post Megalopolis really feeling like abandoning the 5 star rating system altogether
— Sydney🚀 (@CountVolpe) September 29, 2024
Regardless of the film’s quality, one of the greatest things everyone can agree on from Megalopolis is Adam Driver’s delivery of the line: “So go back to the club.”
MY WIFE (in her head after seeing me deep in thought): He’s clearly struggling with the pressures of work and home, but he’s staying silent as to not burden me.
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) September 29, 2024
ME (only thinking about Adam Driver’s line delivery of “Back to the club” from Megalopolis):pic.twitter.com/bxl2MLkD5F
Megalopolis can be watched in cinemas everywhere.
The post Megalopolis Took 40 Years To Make, But Just Days To Be Annihilated By Memes. What Went Wrong? appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
