| Megalopolis | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Francis Ford Coppola |
| Written by | Francis Ford Coppola |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Mihai Mălaimare Jr. |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Osvaldo Golijov |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Lionsgate Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 138 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $120–136 million |
| Box office | $14.4 million |
Megalopolis[a] is a 2024 Americanepicscience fiction drama film written, directed, and produced byFrancis Ford Coppola. The film features anensemble cast includingAdam Driver,Giancarlo Esposito,Nathalie Emmanuel,Aubrey Plaza,Shia LaBeouf,Jon Voight,Laurence Fishburne,Talia Shire,Jason Schwartzman,Kathryn Hunter,Grace VanderWaal,Chloe Fineman,James Remar,D. B. Sweeney, andDustin Hoffman. Set in an alternate 21st-century New York City (restyled "New Rome"), the film follows visionary architect Cesar Catilina (Driver) as he clashes with the corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Esposito), who opposes Catilina's plans to revitalize New Rome by building the futuristic utopia "Megalopolis". The film draws on Roman history, particularly theCatilinarian conspiracy of 63 BC and the decay of theRoman Republic into theRoman Empire.
In 1977, Coppola had the idea to make a film drawing parallels between the fall of the Roman Republic and the future of the United States by retelling the Catilinarian conspiracy in modern New York. Although he began plotting the film in 1983, the project spent decades indevelopment hell. Coppola attempted to produce the film in 1989 and again in 2001, but each time, the studios refused to finance the film, due to Coppola's string of late-career box-office disappointments and theSeptember 11 attacks, respectively. Disillusioned by the studio system, Coppola did not produceMegalopolis until he built a large fortune in the winemaking business. He spent $120 million of his own money to make the film. Principal photography took place inGeorgia from November 2022 to March 2023.
The film reunited Coppola with past collaborators, including actors Esposito, Fishburne, Remar, Shire, and Sweeney, cinematographerMihai Mălaimare Jr., composerOsvaldo Golijov, and Coppola's son, second-unit directorRoman Coppola. Like several other Coppola films,Megalopolis had a troubled production. Coppola adopted an experimental style, encouraging his actors to improvise and write certain scenes during the shoot, and adding his own last-minute changes to the script. Members of the art department and visual effects team, among others, left or were fired from the film.
Megalopolis was selected to compete for thePalme d'Or at the77th Cannes Film Festival, but polarized critics and Hollywood studios. Coppola could not find a studio that would both reimburse his production costs and pay for a large marketing campaign. He opted to pay for an advertising campaign, withLionsgate theatrically releasing the film in the United States. It endured a troubled run-up to release: a trailer was removed for using fabricatedpull quotes, and Coppola sued trade publicationVariety for libel after it published allegations of sexual misconduct by him on set. The film premiered at Cannes on May 16, 2024, and was released theatrically on September 27, 2024. It was acommercial failure, grossing $14.3 million against a budget of $120 to $136 million.[3] Reviews were mixed, with some critics praising the film's ambition and style while many critics found it chaotic and uneven. Critics were also greatly polarized on the acting and story.
In an alternate United States, New Rome is dominated by an elite group ofpatrician families. Although the Roman elite profess to live by a strict moral code, patricians decadently enjoy forbidden pleasures while ordinary Romans live in poverty.
Patrician architect Cesar Catilina is one of New Rome's leading lights. Cesar wins theNobel Prize for inventing the revolutionary building material Megalon. In addition, he can secretly stop time. Despite Cesar's worldly success, he has fallen into alcoholism. Years earlier, his wife disappeared, and District Attorney Franklyn Cicero prosecuted him for murdering her. Although Cesar was acquitted, he remains crushed by guilt, believing his wife committed suicide because he was too focused on his work. Cesar pines for his wife, prompting his jealous mistress, TV presenter Wow Platinum, to leave him.
At a televised event, Cesar and now-Mayor Cicero offer different visions for the city's future. Cesar proposes using Megalon to build "Megalopolis", a utopian urbanist community, while Cicero argues that a casino will provide immediate tax revenue. Cesar meets Cicero's well-read but purposeless daughter Julia. Earlier, she watched Cesar stop time while a building was being demolished but was still able to move. Initially, they dislike each other, but Cesar impresses Julia with his vision for Megalopolis, explaining that New Rome needs a grand artistic vision to free itself from its political inertia and unlock its full potential. Later, when Cesar cannot stop time as he once could, Julia encourages him to do so for her. They discover they can stop time when together, and the two become lovers.
Wow marries Cesar's uncle Hamilton Crassus III, the world's richest man. Although Crassus likes his nephew, his mind and health are in decline, and he is easily manipulated by individuals like his other nephew, Clodio Pulcher, who wants to inherit the Crassus bank. Crassus and Wow throw a decadent wedding reception. The headliner is teenage pop star Vesta Sweetwater, who appeals to New Rome's puritanical sensibilities by promising to remain chaste until marriage. To neutralize Cesar, Pulcher leaks a paparazzi video of Cesar having sex with Vesta, prompting Cicero to condemn Cesar in a speech drawn from the real-lifeCatilinarian orations. Although Cicero arrests Cesar for statutory rape, Julia exonerates Cesar by discovering that Vesta faked her age and is actually in her twenties.
Soviet satelliteCarthage crashes to Earth, destroying much of New Rome. Cesar begins building Megalopolis in the ruins, financing the project with his family fortune. In a press conference, he makes the case for bold artistic projects that show people that a better world is possible. However, the cost of building Megalopolis contrasts with poverty on the streets. Pulcher becomes apopulist politician, encouraging ordinary Romans to oppose Megalopolis as an expensivefolly. The allure of power draws Pulcher from populism tofascistdemagoguery.
A pregnant Julia tries to broker peace between Cesar and Cicero by taking her father to see the Megalopolis construction site, but Cicero is unimpressed with Cesar's utopianism, and he begs Cesar to leave Julia. In exchange, he offers Cesar valuable blackmail material: a confession that Cicero knew Cesar's wife committed suicide andmaliciously prosecuted Cesar anyway. Cesar declines. Pulcher's right-hand man hires an assassin to kill Cesar, but Cesar's doctors use Megalon to rebuild his skull.
Wow tries to force Cesar to leave Julia and marry her by freezing Cesar's account at the Crassus bank. She enlists Pulcher to manipulate Crassus into handing over control of the bank. When Crassus learns of Pulcher's duplicity, he has a stroke and collapses. Pulcher and Wow taunt the bedridden Crassus, but Crassus kills Wow and injures Pulcher with a hidden bow and arrow.
Rioting Pulcher supporters attempt to storm Megalopolis and City Hall. Cesar confronts the rioters, pleading with them to believe in his vision of a better future, while Cicero watches. Cesar's speech inspires the crowd, who go on to hang Pulcher upside down, mirroring thedeath of Benito Mussolini.
With renewed financial support from Crassus, Cesar finally completes Megalopolis. Cicero, holding Julia and Cesar's baby daughter, Sunny Hope, promises to help Cesar build a better future. On New Year's Eve, Julia stops time, but only Sunny Hope seems unaffected.
"I pledge allegiance to our human family, and to all the species that we protect. One Earth, indivisible, with long life, education and justice for all."
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Growing up in New York City,Francis Ford Coppola was fascinated byscience fiction films, such asFritz Lang'sMetropolis (1927) andWilliam Cameron Menzies'sThings to Come (1936), and the scientific community's history with dangerous experiments.[10] His reading of the Roman historianSallust andWilliam Bolitho Ryall's bookTwelve Against the Gods (1929) inspired him to make a film aboutLucius Sergius Catiline, a populist accused by Roman consulMarcus Tullius Cicero of conspiring to overthrow theRoman Republic in 63 BC.[1]: 7 Coppola conceived the overall idea forMegalopolis towards the end of filmingApocalypse Now (1979) in 1977.[11]: 50 Sound designerRichard Beggs described Coppola's vision as an opera screened over four nights, similar toRichard Wagner'sRing cycle (1876) inBayreuth, in a "gigantic outdoor purpose-built theatre".[12] Coppola hoped to have it in "some place as close as possible to the geographical center of the United States",[13]: 181 like theRed Rocks Amphitheatre in the state of Colorado.[12]
Coppola devoted the beginning of 1983 to developing the film; in two months, he assembled four hundred pages of notes and script fragments.[14]: 333 Over the next four decades, he collected notes and newspaperclippings for scrapbooks detailing intriguing subjects he envisioned incorporating into a future screenplay, like political cartoons and different historical subjects, before deciding to make a Roman epic film set in an imagined modern America.[10][15] In mid-1983, he described the plot as taking place in one day in New York City with Catiline-era Rome as a backdrop, similar to howJames Joyce'sUlysses (1922) usedHomer in the context of modernDublin and how he updated the setting ofJoseph Conrad'sHeart of Darkness (1899) from the late 1800s amidEuropean colonial rule in Africa to the 1970sVietnam War forApocalypse Now.[10][16]: 74 [17]: 215
In January 1989, Coppola announced his plans to move to Italy to work on two productions in the next five years, includingLe Ribellion di Catilina, a film "so big and complicated it would seem impossible", which biographer Michael Schumacher said "sounded much like what he had in store forMegalopolis".[14]: 409–410 It was to be shot inCinecittà, a film studio in Rome, where production designerDean Tavoularis and his design team built offices and an art studio fordrafters tostoryboard the film.[18]: 266 [19]: 234 The Hollywood Reporter described it as "swing[ing] from the past to the present", merging "the images of Rome ... with the New York of today". Of it, Coppola said, "I want to be free. I don't want producers around me telling me what to do". Coppola ultimately did not move to Italy, and instead madeThe Godfather Part III (1990).[14]: 410 Following the 1990–91film awards season for that film, Coppola's production company,American Zoetrope, announced several projects in development, including plans to filmMegalopolis in 1991, despite lacking a finished script.[14]: 436 However, the film was postponed to "no earlier than 1996" after Coppola found himself prioritizing other projects, includingBram Stoker's Dracula (1992),Jack (1996), andThe Rainmaker (1997), to get out of debt accumulated from the box-office failures ofOne from the Heart (1982) andTucker: The Man and His Dream (1988).[14]: 444 [20]: 110 [21]
In a 1992 diary entry, Coppola figured he should only make films he had "a burning desire to make", preferably in theindependent-esque manner of Ingmar Bergman, though worried that "forget[ting] the money" would not be compatible with "a bigger film" likeMegalopolis.[22]: 28 Coppola returned to the film after directingThe Rainmaker.[15] In 2001, he heldtable reads in a production office inPark Slope, Brooklyn, with actors includingNicolas Cage (his nephew),Russell Crowe,Robert De Niro,Leonardo DiCaprio,Giancarlo Esposito,Edie Falco,James Gandolfini,Jon Hamm,Paul Newman,Al Pacino,Parker Posey,Kevin Spacey, andUma Thurman.[10][18]: 262 [23][24][25]Matt Dillon, first approached during the filming ofRumble Fish (1983) for the role of aWest Point cadet who goesAWOL, thought himself "too old for the part" by the time production was to begin, and Coppola dispelled rumors he had written a part forWarren Beatty.[26][27]Jim Steranko, who previously created production illustrations forBram Stoker's Dracula, was commissioned by Coppola to produce concept art forMegalopolis. As described inJames Romberger'smaster's thesis, Steranko's work featured detailed pencil and charcoal architectural drawings of grand buildings and expansive urban plazas, blending elements of ancient Roman design,Art Deco influences, and speculative sci-fi aesthetics.[11]: 54 Proposedfilming locations included the cities of Montreal and New York, with an anticipated budget of $50–80 million (equivalent to $84.3 million to $135 million in 2024).[18]: 263 [27][28]
That year, Coppola and cinematographerRon Fricke recordedsecond unit footage of New York, thinking it would be simpler to do so beforeprincipal photography, with the24-frames per secondSony F900digital camera thatGeorge Lucas used forStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999).[10][28] Fricke had previously shotGodfrey Reggio'sKoyaanisqatsi (1982) andPowaqqatsi (1988), films which Coppolaexecutive produced.[15][18]: 263 After theSeptember 11 attacks, during which Coppola and his team werelocation scouting in New York, the roughly thirty hours of footage was stashed, including more material they shot two weeks after, due to its resemblance to the script, which involved a Soviet satellite crashing into Earth and destroying a section ofLower Manhattan.[11]: 54 [18]: 263 [29][30] Having based the New York of his film on the state of financial and infrastructural disrepair the city faced in the 1980s, he feltMegalopolis had become more relevant after the event and declared his plans to rewrite it. "I feel as though history has come to my doorstep," he said.[28][31] In 2002, he shot sixty to seventy hours of second unit footage in Manhattan onhigh-definition video that Lucas described as "wide shots of cities with incredible detail atmagic hour and all kinds of available-light material".[18]: 263 [32][33]: 82 He also disclosed his intent to self-finance the film, still in place as his next project, having become disheartened making films to pay off his debt to Hollywood.[26][34]
Production on the film eventually halted. The success of Coppola'swinery and resorts meant he could produce it with his own money, which his friendWendy Doniger said "paralyzed him". "He had no excuse this time if the film was no good", she remarked, "What froze him was having the power to do exactly what he wanted so that his soul was on the line".[35] In 2005, she bestowed him books that she deemed thematically relevant, includingMircea Eliade'sYouth Without Youth (1976), a novella about a 70-year-old man struggling to complete an ambitious project. Coppola shelvedMegalopolis to self-finance asmall-scale adaptation of the book, intended to be "the opposite ofMegalopolis".[33]: 85 [35] In 2007, Coppola acknowledged that the September 11 attacks were a factor in his hesitancy to return to the film: "A movie about the aspiration of utopia with New York as a main character and then all of a sudden you couldn't write about New York without just dealing with what happened and the implications of what happened. The world was attacked and I didn't know how to try to do with that [sic]. I tried".[21] In 2009, in regards to the likelihood of revisiting the film, he said: "Someday, I'll read what I had onMegalopolis and maybe I'll think different of it, but it's also a movie that costs a lot of money to make and there's not a patron out there. You see what the studios are making right now".[36]
Coppola began the final script of the film in 2012, about 12 years before the film's release.[1]: 4 He said that before her death in 2015, Australian novelistColleen McCullough (who had written several books set in ancient Rome) wrote anovelization of theMegalopolis story.[37] However, he did not say whether that novelization resembled the ultimate version of the film, as it was based on his "many scripts and ideas over the decades".[38] McCullough received a credit as a historical advisor on the film, along with professional historianMary Beard.[1]: 37
In 2017, celebrity chefAnthony Bourdain invited Coppola on histravel show in Sicily. Coppola took note of his weight gain when he saw his episode and signed up for a five-month program atDuke University's fitness center, where he lost close to 80 pounds (36 kg).[39] Reflecting on his experience, he recalled listening to readings ofMegalopolis during strict exercise regimens and realizing its relevance despite being written decades earlier. The 2001 draft, he explained, was an early version of the story but had evolved significantly over time. He credited Gandolfini with providing valuable suggestions when he had previously auditioned for the role of the mayor.[40]
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On April 3, 2019, the day before his 80th birthday, Coppola announced his return to the project, having completed the script and approachedJude Law andShia LaBeouf for lead roles.[41][29] In 2021, Coppola sold hisSonoma County wineries to merge his winery business with that of another Napa-based family company, Delicato Family Wines, in an equity deal worth around $650 million. He then borrowed $200 million against his ownership stake in Delicato to fundMegalopolis for $120 million and pay for other projects atInglenook andSentinel Building.[42][43] By August, discussions with actors to star in the film had begun;James Caan was set to star after petitioning Coppola to write him acameo role as a potentialswan song, whileCate Blanchett,Oscar Isaac,Jessica Lange,Michelle Pfeiffer,Jon Voight,Forest Whitaker, andZendaya were in various stages of negotiations.[1]: 3 [44]
In late 2021,Nathalie Emmanuel auditioned overZoom while filmingThe Invitation (2022) in Budapest. During the session, Coppola had her participate in an acting exercise, tasking her with reciting a line fromAlice Walker's novelThe Color Purple (1982) in as many different contexts.[1]: 3 [45][46] By March 2022,Talia Shire (Coppola's sister) expressed her interest in joining the cast and Isaac was reported to have passed on the project.[47][48] By May, Emmanuel, Voight, and Whitaker were confirmed for the cast, withAdam Driver andLaurence Fishburne added.[49] Coppola was reassured Driver was "his kind of actor" after hearing an anecdote fromMartin Scorsese about Driver'smethod acting forSilence (2016).[50] Driver originally demurred from accepting the lead role, but reconsidered after Coppola incorporated ideas they developed together.[1]: 3 After Caan died on July 6, 2022, his role was given toDustin Hoffman.[1]: 3 [51]
In August 2022,Kathryn Hunter,Aubrey Plaza,James Remar,Jason Schwartzman (Coppola's nephew), andGrace VanderWaal joined the cast, with LaBeouf and Shire confirmed as part of it.[52][53] Plaza had to forgo attending a chemistry read due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, as she was in Italy working on the second season ofThe White Lotus.[54][55] She was then invited to audition similarly to Emmanuel over Zoom on March 27, 2022 (Coppola was readying to go to the94th Academy Awards to receive an honor),[56] while staying at the San Domenico, the same hotel in Sicily that Coppola resided in during the filming ofThe Godfather (1972). Before the meeting, Coppola emailed her the entire script and asked her to consider the role of "Wow Platinum", wanting an actress with a similar screen presence toJean Harlow andMyrna Loy inscrewball comedies from the 1930s.[1]: 3 [57] Coppola came up with the character's name after meeting aSouthern woman whose great-grandmother's name "evolved" to "Wow" due to her beauty.[58] For her performance, Plaza was inspired byFaye Dunaway inNetwork (1976) andNicole Kidman inTo Die For (1995).[54]
Chloe Fineman, Madeleine Gardella, Hoffman, Bailey Ives,Isabelle Kusman, andD. B. Sweeney would be added in October 2022.[59] Coppola had reached out to Fineman, a cast member onSaturday Night Live, in 2020 after seeing her perform at a theater comedy event where she impersonatedIvana andMelania Trump.[60][61] Recognizing Driver from herNew York University days and feelingMegalopolis was a reminder to every actor's dreams to do theatre, Fineman looked forWilliam Shakespeare's "trustafarians characters as an inspiration andimprovised like she had done in past projects such asDamien Chazelle'sBabylon andNoah Baumbach'sWhite Noise (both 2022).[62] In January 2023, Esposito was confirmed to star;[63] he previously acted in Coppola'sThe Cotton Club (1984). His character of Mayor Franklyn Cicero was loosely inspired by Marcus Tullius Cicero and New York's first Black mayorDavid Dinkins.[25] Esposito, Fishburne, Remar, Shire, and Sweeney previously worked with Coppola.[1]: 2 Coppola opted to cast actors with differing political ideologies to avoid accusations of the film being a didactic, "woke Hollywood production".[40]
The film's literary influences included the booksBullshit Jobs (2018),The Dawn of Everything (2021), andDebt: The First 5000 Years (2011) byDavid Graeber;The Chalice and the Blade (1987) byRiane Eisler;Directors on Directing (1963), edited by Toby Cole andHelen Krich Chinoy, particularly an entry byElia Kazan on his approach toA Streetcar Named Desire (1951);Dream of the Red Chamber byCao Xueqin;Elective Affinities (1809) byJohann Wolfgang von Goethe;The Glass Bead Game (1943) byHermann Hesse;The Origins of Political Order (2011) byFrancis Fukuyama;The Swerve (2011) byStephen Greenblatt;To the Lighthouse (1927) byVirginia Woolf;Twelve Against the Gods (1929) byWilliam Bolitho Ryall; andThe War Lovers (2010) byEvan Thomas.[64][65]
Based on Catiline, the character of Cesar was renamed at classicistMary Beard's suggestion thatJulius Caesar had ties with Catiline and was more known among audiences. The character was inspired byRobert Moses, as portrayed inRobert Caro's biographyThe Power Broker (1974), and architectsNorman Bel Geddes,Walter Gropius,Raymond Loewy, andFrank Lloyd Wright. Coppola researched theClaus von Bülow murder case, theMary Cunningham-William AgeeBendix Corporation scandal, the emergence ofNew York Stock Exchange reporterMaria Bartiromo, the history ofStudio 54, andFelix Rohatyn's solution for theNew York City fiscal crisis of 1975.[10] The fictional building material of Megalon was based in part on the work of architect and designerNeri Oxman, who appears as "Dr. Lyra Shir" and was credited as the architectural and scientific advisor. Having worked with Coppola on studies forMegalopolis, her four-part model installationMan-Nahāta displays a potential future design of Manhattan.[1]: 10, 35 In line withThe Godfather andDracula, where he creditedMario Puzo andBram Stoker as the original writers, Coppola branded the film with his name asFrancis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis.[10]
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the start of production. Before filming began, a week of rehearsals took place with theater-style exercises, much like the one Emmanuel described having in her audition.[45] Coppola said he could only rehearse with around a third of the cast, including Plaza and Emmanuel, but notably not Driver, and thus castunderstudies in place of absent members.[40][66] Fineman, however, recalled rehearsing onHalloween with Plaza, Driver, Hoffman, and Voight, playing improvisational games with Coppola that encouraged character immersion.[62] Plaza described the workshop-style approach as a collaborative process where actors could improvise and offer input on the script. She recalled working closely with Voight and LaBeouf, writing scenes and passing them to the script supervisor, who would then present them to Coppola. If he approved, the material would sometimes be incorporated into the film.[57] One such scene that the actors composed was the part where Plaza's "Wow Platinum" orders LaBeouf's "Clodio Pulcher" to "orally pleasure her as he calls her Auntie Wow", building off an idea of Coppola's.[67] Coppola described LaBeouf as an actor who intentionally creates tension with directors, often pushing it to an extreme. He found LaBeouf's approach frustrating and irrational, likening it toDennis Hopper's preparations forApocalypse Now.[40][68]
Principal photography began on November 7, 2022, inFayetteville, Georgia, atTrilith Studios and concluded on March 11, 2023. Filming also took place in Atlanta.[1]: 3 It was to be the first film shot on Trilith Studios'Prysm Stage, anLEDvirtual production volume, but due to budget constraints, the production pivoted to a "less costly, more traditionalgreenscreen approach".[69][70][71] The decision tofilm in Georgia over the film's setting of New York was due to available tax benefits, studio facilities, local crews, and classical buildings to act as sets.[1]: 3 [12] Around July 2023, close to when editing began, additional content was shot on theItaly–Switzerland border.[72]
For the production ofMegalopolis, Coppola purchased aDays Inn drive-in motel inPeachtree City, Georgia, for $4.35 million to house the crew and his extended family. He renovated the property to include rehearsal andpost-production facilities, which increased the tax incentives available to the project and reportedly reduced the overall production expenditure to $107 million.[43] The site was later opened to the public on July 5, 2024, as the All-Movie Hotel, a hybrid hospitality and filmmaking venue serving as the first U.S. location in Coppola's Hideaway hotel collection and fifth overall. The All-Movie Hotel features 27 suites and rooms personally designed by Coppola, along with a range of production facilities intended for projects of varying scales. These include modular post-production spaces such as two edit suites with laser projection andMeyer Sound 2.1 monitoring, two additional edit bays,ADR recording capabilities, and a screening room equipped forDolby Atmos 9.1.6 sound mixing. The property also houses offices, a wardrobe fitting room, a gym, a swimming pool, and aninsert stage. Coppola's own residential suite from the production ofMegalopolis is available for guests to book, and memorabilia from his past films is displayed throughout the hotel.[73][74]
The cinematographer wasMihai Mălaimare Jr., who shot Coppola'sYouth Without Youth (2007),Tetro (2009), andTwixt (2011).[75] The crew utilized twoArri Alexa 65s and oneAlexa LF for high-speed frame rate for the first unit and anAlexa Mini LF for the second unit.Panavision provided the lenses, includingwide Sphero 65s, Panaspeeds, and specialty lenses such as the 200 mm and 250 mm detuned Primo Artiste, rehousedHelios, andLensbaby for specific scenes. The primary aspect ratio was 2:1, a tribute toVittorio Storaro'sUnivisium, with select scenes changing to a 1.43:1 aspect ratio.[1]: 16 [76] To capture authenticity from the actors, Coppola instructed Mălaimare to keep the camera rolling after he said "cut".[66] Some male actors woreCaesar haircuts to evoke ancient Rome.[77] For Plaza, the last two weeks of the shoot overlapped with her role on theDisney+ television miniseriesAgatha All Along (2024). As they were shot on the same lot, she was allowed to do both.[57] Plaza and Schwartzman were also recording forNetflix animeScott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023) around the same time, with Plaza referring to Schwartzman as hisScott Pilgrim character on theMegalopolis set.[78] In August 2023, during theSAG-AFTRA strike, the film received an interim agreement from the union, possibly forreshoots or publicity purposes to qualify for festival screenings and distribution deals.[79][80] The final film includes footage shot in 2001, consisting of establishing shots of New York City and minimal video of the September 11 attacks out of respect for the families of the victims.[81][82]
Plaza spoke about Coppola's spontaneous approach to filmmaking, explaining that he would often come up with new ideas on the spot. At times, this resulted in sudden location changes and unexpected shifts in the day's shooting plans, leaving actors unaware of what to expect as the day unfolded.[57] Some crew members described that approach as "exasperating" and "old-school", as Coppola was hesitant to decide how the film would look and would spend work days completing shots practically instead of relying on digital techniques. A crew member recounted that Coppola frequently arrived on set in the mornings before major sequences without a clear plan. Since he refused to let his collaborators establish one, he often spent hours in his trailer, avoiding communication and reportedly smoking marijuana. When he eventually emerged, he would improvise scenes that disregarded prior discussions and the script, leaving the crew to adapt. On Driver's first day on set, Coppola allegedly took six hours to achieve an effect by projecting an image on the side of Driver's head.[12] Coppola denied smoking marijuana on set, adding that he had been avoiding the substance ever since his weight loss in 2017.[43]
On December 9, 2022, Coppola fired most of thevisual effects team, with the rest of the department, including supervisor Mark Russell, soon following. In January 2023, reports indicated the budget ballooned higher than its initial $120 million, whichThe Hollywood Reporter compared to Coppola's history of challenging productions, most notoriouslyApocalypse Now. Due to an alleged "unstable filming environment", a claim Coppola and Driver contested, other crew members exited the film, including production designer Beth Mickle and art director David Scott, along with theart department.[71][83] Coppola replaced Russell with his nephew, Jesse James Chisholm, over a dispute over "live special effects", which he completed with his son and second unit directorRoman Coppola as they had withBram Stoker's Dracula.[1]: 9
Coppola further explained that he hired Mickle for her work in recreating 1950s New York forEdward Norton'sMotherless Brooklyn (2019) but that creative differences formed "to a degree that it was decided that the best thing would be if I hired a concept artist and came up with frames that showed what I wanted, which I did".[15][43] Working with concept artist Dean Sherriff to translate his vision throughkeyframe concept art, which he described as similar in style to that of a woven mural or tapestry, he permitted minimal input from the art department, whose practices, having recently completed theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) filmGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), he deemed conventional, expensive, and hierarchical.[1]: 8 [43] "The art department was frustrated because they felt I was evolving the look of the picture independently of them", he said, "They wanted giant sets and images. I wanted other elements like costumes and live effects to do some of the work and have it not all be art-department-centric. So, there was disagreement along those lines".[15] Coppola had originally set $100 million for the budget and $20 million ascontingency. As the budget was at risk of rising to $148 million (which he said would have "bankrupted me and my family"), he laid off one of five art directors, leading the entire team to resign. Production allegedly wrapped a week ahead of schedule, with the budget close to the planned $120 million, according to Coppola.[1]: 8–9 [40] In contrast, one person involved with the film toldThe Wall Street Journal that production costs ultimately reached $136 million.[43]
Anonymous crew members characterized Coppola's on-set behavior as unprofessional. On February 14, 2023, a Studio 54-inspired club scene was filmed at theTabernacle, a concert hall in Atlanta, with 150–200extras, some of whom were approved for topless or scantily clad appearances.[84] Coppola was accused of pulling women onto his lap and kissing female extras during the shoot. Executive producer Darren Demetre defended Coppola by stating that his hugs and kisses on the cheek to cast members and extras were affectionate gestures, emphasizing that no complaints of harassment or inappropriate behavior were brought to his attention during production.[12] Addressing the allegations, Coppola referred to advice his mother gave him on treating women with respect and said his actions were not disrespectful; mentioned that one of the women he kissed on the cheek was someone he had known since she was young, and described himself as "too shy" to be touchy-feely.[85]
In July 2024, videos surfaced showing interactions between Coppola and extras at the Tabernacle. Sources toldVariety that Coppola frequently wandered into frame while engaging with background actors and, after multiple takes, made an announcement over a microphone apologizing in advance for kissing extras, claiming it was for his enjoyment. Another source highlighted the absence of ahuman resources department on set, while reports indicated thatintimacy coordinators were not present during filming. Additionally, senior crew members allegedly informed bystanders that they were prohibited from sharing recordings of the encounters due tonon-disclosure agreements.[84] Days after the controversy surfaced, extras present during filming shared conflicting perspectives. Rayna Menz dismissed allegations of inappropriate behavior, insisting that Coppola did nothing to make her or anyone else on set uncomfortable.[86] In contrast, Lauren Pagone expressed shock at being kissed and hugged unexpectedly, criticizing Menz's remarks by emphasizing that experiences varied. Another crew member claimed that Coppola kissed multiple women without warning after calling "cut" on a New Year's Eve party scene that ended with on-screen kisses.[87] Coppola defended himself by stating that the women he kissed on the cheek during the scene were individuals he had known personally.[40] Coppola was later accused of "leering" at and kissing a 13-year-old female extra on set.[88]
On September 9, Pagone filed a lawsuit against Coppola, his production company, and two casting agencies, accusing them of civil assault, civilbattery, and negligent failure to preventsexual harassment.[89][90] She claimed that during the club scene filmed on February 14, Coppola kissed her on the cheek and touched her back and waist without consent. Additionally, she alleged that he made inappropriate remarks about her appearance and urged her to sit on his lap and refer to him as "uncle".[89][91] Coppola initially placed acease-and-desist letter againstVariety requesting a retraction of their July 26 article that featured videos of the encounters and described his behavior as unprofessional. AfterVariety published further articles regarding his alleged misconduct, he filed alibel lawsuit against them and journalists Brent Lang and Tatiana Siegel on September 10, seeking $15 million and further punitive and exemplary damages.[90][91] In the lawsuit, Coppola challenged the videos' credibility and denied claims that the production did not have a human resources department and that he often inadvertently inserted himself into frame, describing any such instances of the crew being in frame as "anticipated and unavoidable".[92]
The son of a classical musician who wrote pieces forThe Godfather andApocalypse Now, Coppola wanted a non-Hollywood composer. In March 2003, he hand-wrote a letter to Argentinian composerOsvaldo Golijov, and afterward invited him to his home to discussMegalopolis, asking him to compose asymphony that would have dictated the film's rhythm.[1]: 20 [93] They would go on to collaborate onYouth Without Youth,Tetro, andTwixt before returning to completeMegalopolis. Golijov wanted the score to "blur the line between music and sound design." Given the ambiguity surrounding how the city and music of Rome sounded, he relied on Hollywood portrayals and composed a Romansuite inspired byMiklós Rózsa'sscore forBen-Hur (1959). Coppola also asked Golijov to write alove theme in the vein ofPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's compositionRomeo and Juliet (1870).[1]: 20–21 In February 2024, Coppola recorded the score with the Budapest Art Orchestra in Budapest, Hungary.[94]
Post-production, from editing to visual effects, was completed at the All-Movie Hotel, where some reshoots were held.[95][96] Cam McLauchlin andGlen Scantlebury edited the film, Coppola having contacted McLauchlin after seeing his work onNightmare Alley (2021).[97] McLauchlin defined Coppola's style as theatrical, incorporating theater warm-up techniques. During rehearsal, Cesar and Julia improvised atug-of-war with an imaginary rope, a spontaneous moment encouraging them to embrace the script's eccentricity. McLauchlin and Scantlebury were tasked to work on scenes independently but transitioned toward collaboration after realizing they had enough time to keep pace with shooting and experiment with alternate versions. As they edited the film, Coppola was inspired to direct more "unusual takes" of the cast to include.[81] For a catwalk scene, Coppola mitigated disruptive noise by pre-recording the dialogue and playing it over a loudspeaker for wide shots. As an apparent warm-up exercise, he then had Driver recite the full "To be, or not to be" soliloquy from Shakespeare'sHamlet (1623).[15] After filming wrapped, Coppola handed McLauchlin the first half of the film and Scantlebury the latter half, allowing them to trade sections to complete the edit. After Scantlebury moved on to another project, McLauchlin and Coppola continued editing for eight more months, during which Coppola suggested including the Shakespeare scene.[1]: 18–20 In addition to starring, VanderWaal, a musician who wonAmerica's Got Talent (2006-present) at age 12 in 2016, wrote two original songs for the film.[98]
Megalopolis is both a modern retelling of theCatilinarian conspiracy and a revisionist look at the source material. Coppola described the film as a commentary on the American political system, reasoning that the Roman analogy was appropriate because the American Founding Fathers borrowed fromRoman law to develop theirdemocratic government without a king.[10] He specifically noted that America was vulnerable to the same political forces and tensions that destroyed the Roman Republic and created the Empire.[99]
Megalopolis was not the first time Coppola had sought to modernize a historical narrative: he had previously updated the colonial-Africa setting ofHeart of Darkness (1899) to theVietnam War forApocalypse Now (1979).[1]: 4 Nor was it the first time that an artist had offered a revisionist look at Catiline:Henrik Ibsen's playCatiline reimagined Catiline as a "highly principled [man] pitted against the corruption of the world in which he lived".[100]
The two male leads inMegalopolis directly reference the opposing sides in the Catilinarian conspiracy. Protagonist Cesar Catilina is a double reference to populist politicianLucius Sergius Catilina (anglicized to Catiline), who plotted to overthrow the Roman Republic in 63 BC, and his occasional political allyJulius Caesar.[10][99] Antagonist Franklyn Cicero references Catiline and Caesar's political rival,Marcus Tullius Cicero, the leader of the Roman conservatives and theconsul (head of the Roman government) during the conspiracy.[101] Although Caesar was not implicated in the conspiracy, he famously sought to prevent Catiline's execution.[102]
Several supporting characters were also based on Roman notables. Cesar Catilina's mentor Hamilton Crassus referencesMarcus Licinius Crassus, one of the richest men in Rome and a power broker who facilitated Caesar's rise to the Roman dictatorship.[101] Catilina's enemy Clodio Pulcher referencesPublius Clodius Pulcher, a patrician turned populist demagogue who sponsored a counter-reaction to Cicero's punishment of Catiline's supporters;[102] in addition, the manner of Clodio's death in the film is a possible allusion to thedeath of Benito Mussolini.[103] Pop star Vesta Sweetwater and her chastity pledge reference theVestal Virgins, Roman priestesses who swore an oath to remain chaste for 30 years. The real-life Catiline was accused of seducing a Vestal Virgin, an offense punishable by death.[104]
Not every character name was an allusion to ancient Rome. Coppola came up with the name "Wow Platinum" name after hearing about a woman who was nicknamed "Wow" for her great beauty.[105]
In contrast to most academic historians,Megalopolis portrays its Catiline stand-in as the protagonist and Cicero as the antagonist (albeit a well-meaning one). In 1999, Coppolapitched the film by drawing parallels between the Catilinarian conspiracy and the present-day United States. He warned that Catiline-esque plotters could try to overthrow the American government just as Catiline tried to overthrow Rome, saying, "Rome became a fascist Empire. Is that what we're going to become?"[106] However, in his production notes written a quarter-century later, Coppola explained that at the time, he had not yet written a script and his views reflected the traditional narrative.[1]: 4 According to that narrative,Catiline was a populist seditionist who plotted to overthrow theRoman Republic after losing the election forconsul three times.[99]Cicero, the head of the Roman government, discovered the plot and drove Catiline out of the city,[1]: 7 after which Catiline was killed at theBattle of Pistoria.[99] Cicero memorialized his actions by publishing theCatilinarian orations. Although the conspiracy failed, populist politicianJulius Caesar later took advantage ofpolitical chaos to becomedictator of Rome, paving the way for theRoman Empire.[107]
Coppola rethought the analogy asMegalopolis languished indevelopment hell. As early as 1999, he noted that Roman histories of the Catilinarian conspiracy were largely based on Cicero's own retelling of the incident.[106] In 2008, he said that while the standard narrative of the conspiracy posited that Catiline "was going to take over the city and burn it", he was more interested in the hypothetical of Catiline trying to build "a new society". He said that he wanted to tell a "political fantasy" about "an enlightenedRobert Moses, more like anAyn Rand", elaborating that "the Ayn Rand character [that is, Howard Roark inThe Fountainhead] wanted to build a city within New York that was the model of what a city could be."[30] At some point, Coppola began questioning whether Cicero, a political conservative, had simply concocted an excuse to crush the populist policies backed by Catiline and Julius Caesar.[10] InMegalopolis, Coppola retells two of the real-life Cicero's accusations towards Catiline – that Catiline slept with a Vestal Virgin (a Roman priestess sworn to chastity)[108] and that Catiline murdered his first wife[109][110] – and acquits Cesar Catilina of both accusations.[111]
Coppola remained interested in the crisis of Roman republicanism, of which the Catilinarian conspiracy was a part. When promoting the film, he linked its subject matter to what he saw as rising "neo-right, even fascist" tendencies in the United States and abroad, explaining that "what's happening in America, in our republic, in our democracy, is exactly how Rome lost their republic thousands of years ago."[107] However, in the film, the seditionists plotting to destroy the republic are led by Clodio Pulcher, not Catilina.[101]
The film's lionization of Catiline diverges from the academic mainstream, although the precise extent is disputed. According toRichard Saller, while the traditional narrative is "Cicero centric", most historians –Robin Seager being a notable exception – reject the revisionist argument that "Cicero really manufactured the conspiracy".[99]Mary Beard, who received a film credit for her historical advice on the film,[1]: 37 took an intermediate position. In her 2015 bookSPQR, she agreed that Catiline was "a disgruntled, bankrupt aristocrat",[112] but cautioned that his populist concern for ordinary people may have been genuine.[113] With respect to Cicero, she conceded that Cicero "probably believed" that Catiline was actually plotting a coup,[100] but noted that "there is still disagreement about how far the 'reds under the bed' were a figment of Cicero's conservative imagination or paranoia".[100] She had previously suggested that Cicero needed a major accomplishment as consul to secure his long-term political future and may have been "spoiling for a fight".[114]
In 2008, Coppola stated that the character of Cesar Catilina would be inspired by the life of urban plannerRobert Moses, who built much of the infrastructure of modern-day New York City, but was criticized for favoring wealthy political interests and ignoring the needs of New York's ethnic minorities. Coppola said that he wanted to imagine an "enlightened" version of Moses that preserved Moses' desire to build a better city.[30]
Megalopolis argues that for a democracy to avoid falling into fascism, it needs a bold and inspirational vision for the future, which artists can help provide. In 1999, Coppola said that "Rome didn't fall for a long time. But how does an Empire die? It dies when its people no longer believe in it".[106] In 2022, Coppola said his film would offer an optimistic look at humanity and the intuitive goodness in people even in a divided climate. He criticized fellow New York Military Academy alumnusDonald Trump for calling Mexican criminals rapists, saying that "dictators and populists stay in power by having you hate someone else. ... [P]eople are in the habit of saying all people are bad ... We're doing...better. We could be proud of being human beings".[115]
The film concludes with Cesar Catilina delivering an impassioned speech that persuades the public to embrace the vision of Megalopolis. Writing forThe New Yorker,Justin Chang observed that Coppola's struggle to complete the film without studio interference lent the narrative an unintended layer of self-reflection. He describedMegalopolis as an artistic defense of beauty and ambition, arguing that its existence was a statement of hope.[2] Coppola himself acknowledged the value of visionary ideas but rejected the notion that Catilina's project should prescribe a specific vision of the future, asserting instead that utopia is not a fixed destination but an ongoing conversation.[115]
In addition to Moses, Coppola based the character of Cesar Catilina and his invention of Megalon on the novels of Ayn Rand.[30] Catilina specifically resembles two Rand characters who struggle to implement their ideas in the face of the dominant political establishment, which may be either conservative or left-wing. InThe Fountainhead (1943), modernist architect Howard Roark struggles to be taken seriously by a conservative artistic establishment that insists on aping the architecture of ancient Rome.[101] InAtlas Shrugged (1957), visionary inventor Hank Rearden creates a high-performance metal alloy, which is subsequently nationalized by a left-wing government.Megalopolis depicts Cesar Catilina's modernist utopia under simultaneous attack by the left and the right: Cicero's conservatives reject Catilina's bold vision as fanciful, while Pulcher's radicals deride Catilina's ideas as pointlessly extravagant. Writing inThe New York Times,Ross Douthat commented that "the central conflict isn't really left versus right .... Instead, [Megalopolis] pits Catilina ... against various forces representing inertia and sterility: the uncomprehending establishment and the ungrateful masses, ... all ranged against the man of genius".[116]
During the press tour, Coppola said that he was interested in telling a story about a man who "would have brought something wonderful," until "what usually happens happened—the traditional forces subdued the new idea."[117] He used the character of Mayor Cicero to demonstrate how "a conservative and a classicist" opposes an "enlightened artist",[117] adding that Cicero was "committed to a regressive status quo" that puts greed and partisan politics over the public good. He concluded that although Cicero "truly wants to save the city", he embodied "despair" instead of hope for a better society, and no longer entertains "transformative ideas".[1]: 6, 9, 11 Coppola compared Cicero to several mayors of New York City (mainlyEd Koch, but alsoDavid Dinkins at one point).[30][106][117][118]
Although Coppola's press statements largely focused on Cicero over Pulcher,Den of Geek noted that Pulcher "serves as theTrump stand-in" and that "it's unclear if Coppola's trying to evoke the opulence of the Roman ruling classes or Trump's obsession with spray tans and hair-pieces or both".[104]The Sweet East (2023) screenwriter Nick Pinkerton expressed concern that Pulcher's rapid recruitment of working-class populists implied that "the plebeians [are] easily manipulated rubes, a curious omission in a movie that's positioned as a humanist hymn to our species' higher potential".[101]
Coppola sawMegalopolis in full for the first time on anIMAX screen at the headquarters ofIMAX Corporation inPlaya Vista, Los Angeles. The film used camera technology for certain sequences that could cover an entire IMAX screen.[77] On March 28, 2024, a private screening was presented to distributors at theUniversal CityWalk IMAX Theater in Hollywood. Coppola and his longtime attorney Barry Hirsch, a producer on the film, said they would not decide where to debut the film until they secured adistribution partner and a firm rollout plan.[119] However, the "muted" response to the screening made securing a distributor difficult. Studios weighed the return on investment, as Coppola expected a print-and-advertising (P&A) campaign of $80–100 million and for producers to receive half of the film's revenues.[77][120] A distribution veteran suggested that "If [Coppola] is willing to put up the P&A or backstop the spend, I think there would be a lot more interested parties".[77]
Coppola's plan to forgo a sales agent was, thus, altered, withGoodfellas handling international sales;Le Pacte, for France, became the first to acquire distribution rights to a foreign market in late April.[121][122]Variety noted that individual territories were not given rights to paidvideo on demand or streaming options, "perhaps by design to lure a bigstreaming service" into buying the streaming rights after its theatrical run. On May 15,Variety reported on sources that said Coppola was seeking an "awards-savvy distributor", such asA24, to releaseMegalopolis in the fourth quarter of 2024 so it could have an awards season campaign, but that "some potential indie outfits" who saw the film did not envision "muchOscars potential beyond technical categories" and "fear[ed] that Coppola [would] be an overly demanding partner".[123]
On May 16, 2024, the 138-minute film premiered at the77th Cannes Film Festival in competition for thePalme d'Or.[124][125][126] At the film's Cannes press conference, when asked about the state of the industry asMegalopolis struggled to obtain U.S. distribution, Coppola likened a streaming option to ahome video release and argued that corporations could replace thestudio system, which he felt had "become more a matter of people being hired to meet their debt obligations because the studios are in great debt."[127][128] That same day, it secured a limited global IMAX release, including in at least 20 cities in the United States regardless of distributor.[129] On June 17,Lionsgate Films acquired domestic distribution rights, scheduling a release for September 27, 2024. The deal involved Coppola handling marketing costs, estimated to be $15–20 million.[130][131] Lionsgate previously worked on the home video releases of thedirector's cuts of Coppola's films, beginning in 2010.[132][133][130]
The film also screened atRoy Thomson Hall on September 9 and theScotiabank Theatre Toronto on September 10 as part of the2024 Toronto International Film Festival, in addition to the72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival on September 24.[134][135][136] On September 23, the AMC Lincoln Square Theater in New York hosted an advance screening as part of theNew York Film Festival; in addition to screening the film, 65 IMAX locations also broadcast live the event's half-hour Q&A with Coppola and guests Robert De Niro andSpike Lee.[137][138][139] On October 14, 2024, Cinecittà hosted the film's Italian premiere, which was streamed live at theAuditorium Parco della Musica's Sala Petrassi as the pre-opening of the19th Rome Film Festival.[140]
The private industry screening and multiple festival premieres, including Cannes, had a person walk on stage in front of the projection screen and address the protagonist, Cesar, who seemingly breaks thefourth wall by replying in real time.[141] Jean Labadie, founder of the film's French distributor, Le Pacte, said in regards to replicating the moment, "We will work on that with every exhibitor in France to try to do it as many times as we can".[142] Lionsgate made a similar pledge in regards to the fourth wall break;[143] at least 60 select theaters recruited performers for screenings labeled "The Ultimate Experience" to accomplish the scene.[144] Coppola had initially worked withAmazon's support team in 2021 to accomplish the fourth wall break by developing a custom version ofAlexa's voice-recognition software that would have allowed audiences to ask Driver's character a question about the plot, to which "Alexa would choose the most relevant answer from a pre-approved list". However, the partnership did not occur due to layoffs at Amazon in 2022. Driver suggested having a cinema usher ask a pre-agreed question instead.[68]
Although Coppola, by virtue of financing the film himself, presumably had full creative freedom, editor Cam McLauchlin alluded to adirector's cut in the film's production notes. McLauchlin said that after the director's cut was produced, it took another eight months before Coppola signed off on the final cut.[1]: 19
In March 2023, comic writerChris Ryall and artist Jacob Phillips were announced to be producing agraphic novel tie-in to the film.[145] Phillips started drawing the 148-page book in December 2022 and finished in July 2024.[146] Phillips said that he was allowed to use Coppola's screenplay and concept art from the film as source material, but that he had not seen any footage from the film before drawing the comic.[146] Originally announced for a 2024 release byImage Comics and Syzygy Publishing, the graphic novel was later moved toAbrams ComicArts and published on October 7, 2025.[147]
Coppola teased thatColleen McCullough had written anovelization of theMegalopolis story before her death in 2015, though it remains unpublished as of October 2025.[37] In addition,Mike Figgis filmed amaking-of documentary,Megadoc, that is planned to feature interviews with cast members, Spike Lee, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese,Steven Spielberg, and Coppola's late wifeEleanor Coppola, who died in April 2024 and to whomMegalopolis isdedicated. The documentary is set to premiere at the82nd Venice International Film Festival.[148][15][149][150][151] Coppola said that the projects were "independent" of him but were based on his "many scripts and ideas over the decades".[38]
On August 16, 2024, Lionsgate announced a partnership with the companyUtopia (co-founded by Coppola's nephew,Robert Schwartzman)[152] on the stateside theatrical release, with the latter working on "specialty marketing, word-of-mouth, and non-traditional theatrical distribution initiatives" to target filmgoers.[153] On August 20, Lionsgate shared a theatrical poster that featured Driver's character holding at-square vertically.Roger Friedman ofShowbiz411 felt the tool's resemblance to alightsaber may have been intentional, given Driver's role asKylo Ren in theStar Wars sequel trilogy (2015–2019).[154]
On August 21, Lionsgate released atrailer that opened with snippets of negative reviews for Coppola'sThe Godfather,Apocalypse Now, andBram Stoker's Dracula followed by 90 seconds of footage fromMegalopolis, all accompanied by Fishburne's narration that "True genius is often misunderstood" and "One filmmaker has always been ahead of his time" before naming the film "an event nothing can prepare you for". The unconventional tactic, according toRolling Stone's Daniel Kreps, attempted to combat the film's mixed reception at Cannes by pointing out "similarly misguided critical assessments of Coppola's previous masterpieces".[155] Oli Welsh ofPolygon was critical of the defensiveness of the trailer, which he thought implied that viewers should ignore critics and see the film for themselves "before it is inevitably reevaluated as a visionary classic",[156] while Mary Kate Carr fromThe A.V. Club described it as "pretty clever" for incorporating the film's "baffling reputation" into the marketing.[157]
However,Vulture'sBilge Ebiri verified that theblurbs cited in the trailer were fabricated, including those credited toVincent Canby,Roger Ebert,Owen Gleiberman,Pauline Kael,Stanley Kauffmann,Rex Reed,Andrew Sarris, andJohn Simon. While some of their opinions were indeed negative, excluding Kael's positive review forThe Godfather and Ebert's forDracula, the quotes were fake. In Ebert's case, his quote calling a film a "triumph of style over substance" was misattributed from his review forBatman (1989).[158][159] Consequently, Lionsgate took down the trailer, which had accumulated 1.3 million views, the same day they published it and issued an apology.[160][161] Two days later, they fired Eddie Egan, the marketing consultant who delivered the quotes, citing "an error in properly vetting and fact-checking the phrases".Variety suggested that the quotes may have been produced bygenerative artificial intelligence after promptingChatGPT for negative criticism of Coppola's work from well-known critics and receiving similar results.[162] Film critic Peter Debruge, also forVariety, compared the situation to whenSony Pictures invented the fictitious criticDavid Manning to advertise their films in 2000.[163]
The Hollywood Reporter found it unusual for a studio to publicly name a terminated employee, particularly in the case of Egan, described by a Hollywood executive as "a low-key guy who never liked the spotlight" now permanently linked online to accusations of manipulating information. The publication also appeared to verify the use of an AI engine in generating the disputed quotes and questioned why Egan was the sole person held accountable, pointing out that the trailer had likely been reviewed by multiple studio executives and marketing team members, none of whom caught the issue yet remained employed.[164] On September 5, Lionsgate posted a recut version of the trailer without the quotes, which Carr said was "largely pretty similar to the previous one".[165] On September 13,IGN shared a second, one-minute trailer.[166] Kaitlyn Booth ofBleeding Cool criticized the video's ambiguity in describing the plot, suggesting that instead of attempting to explain its complexity, the studio seemed to rely on Coppola's prestige to generate interest.[167] Created by the duo Awkward Moments, the music for the ad features an 852 Hz frequency, which they claim "stimulates thethird eye chakra... for those seeking to expand their spiritual awareness and tap into higher levels of consciousness".[168] In September, Coppola created aLetterboxd account to share a list of 16 films that inspiredMegalopolis and rated his film five stars on the app.[169]
Megalopolis grossed $7.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $6.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $14.3 million.[170]Deadline Hollywood calculated the film lost $75.5 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.[171]
In the United States and Canada,Megalopolis received awide release alongsideThe Wild Robot. It was projected to gross $4–8 million from 1,854 theaters, including an estimated 200 IMAX locations, in its opening weekend.[172][173][174]Boxoffice Pro identified the film's target audience ascinephiles and said "working against" it were "middling reviews", "a career lull" (Coppola having directed two films in the last 15 years), and "a marketing push marred by controversy", referring to themisconduct allegations against Coppola and thetrailer removed over its use of fake quotes. They mentioned that the film's "blockbuster cast" and IMAX release was "no guarantee of audience interest", given Driver's box-office disappointment in "high-concept sci-fi" with65 the year prior and that the last Coppola–helmed movie to open above $5 million wasSupernova (uncredited) in 2000.[172]Megalopolis shared IMAX screens withThe Wild Robot before relinquishing them a week later toJoker: Folie à Deux; reserved forThe Wild Robot were all showtimes up to primetime, withMegalopolis having evening IMAX showtimes in "key metropolitan locations".[174][175] Lionsgate, reportedly "not on the hook" for recovering production or marketing expenses after agreeing to distribute the film for a distribution fee and "some percentage points based on box office", was expected to earn $3–5 million regardless of box office performance.[174]
The film made $1.8 million on its first day, including an estimated $770,000 from Monday and Thursday previews.[130] It debuted to $4 million, finishing sixth at the box office.[176] As a result, several publications, including theAssociated Press andThe Wall Street Journal, labeled the film a box-office disappointment.[177][178] IMAX and premium large-format screens accounted for 41% of the gross, with IMAX specifically earning $1.4 million (35%) of the opening. Audiences were 70% men, with 38% over 35 and 32% 25–34-year-olds, while the demographics were 66% Caucasian, 18% Latino and Hispanic, 7% Asian, and 5% Black. The main reasons given in exit polling for seeing the film were Coppola (61%) and Driver (29%), while 32% bought tickets because they heard it was "entertaining and fun" and 9% because they heard it "was good". AMC Lincoln Square was the film's highest-grossing theater with earnings of $84,000 through Saturday. Anthony D'Alessandro ofDeadline Hollywood compared the opening to other box-office flops, particularly as being more than the overall gross ofMichael Cimino'sHeaven's Gate ($3.5 million in 1980, unadjusted for inflation) but less thanKevin Costner's self-financedHorizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 ($11 million opening in 2024). It also made less than the fellow new releaseDevara: Part 1 ($5.6 million), which played in fewer theaters (1,040).[130]Marc Tracy ofThe New York Times likened it toJoseph L. Mankiewicz's notoriously expensiveCleopatra (1963) and other "ambitious, big-budget spectacle that got out of hand during production and crashed upon contact with the viewing public".[179]The New Yorker'sRichard Brody urged readers to evaluate the film by its story rather than its revenue, "a determinant of what makes a good investment [but] not a determinant of what makes a good film".[180]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 45% of 300 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "More of a creative manifesto than a cogent narrative feature, Francis Ford Coppola'sMegalopolis is an overstuffed opus that's equal parts stimulating and slapdash."[181]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 60 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[182] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed byPostTrak were 45% positive (with an average rating of one star out of five).[183]
The early industry screening resulted in divided reactions — while some were mixed, others were primarily of general bewilderment.[184] It was compared to the literary works ofAyn Rand, particularlyThe Fountainhead (1943), and the filmsMetropolis (1927) andCaligula (1979).[185][186][187] Before its screening, many journalists expressed fascination regarding its possible reception, labeling it a potential critical and commercial failure, while debating whether it could be Coppola'smasterpiece.[188] Others criticized studio executives who anonymously lambasted it.[189][190] Coppola optimistically likened the polarizing responses to the initial reactions toApocalypse Now and insinuated that "unnamed sources" being referenced did not exist.[191][192]
The film received a similarly polarized critical response at the Cannes Film Festival.[193]Variety's Matt Donnelly and Ellise Shafer summarized, "Though reactions have been mixed, the film was undoubtedly jam-packed with scenes that ranged from visionary to just plain puzzling".[194] David Ehrlich ofIndieWire praised Coppola's hopeful envisioning of the future and "transcendent" narrative progression, calling it a "clunky, garish, and transcendently sincere manifesto about the role of an artist at the end of an empire".[195] Joshua Rothkopf of theLos Angeles Times described it as "an overstuffed, vigorous, seething story about the roots of fascism that only an uncharitable viewer would call a catastrophe" with moments "too divorced from reality", compared its portrayal of a city modeled after New York toTom Wolfe's novelThe Bonfire of the Vanities (1987), and complimented the cast for "leaning into their moments with an abandon that was probably a job requirement".[196]The New York Times'sManohla Dargis also noted the "heightened" performances; she disagreed with Coppola's "old-fashioned ideas" aboutgender roles andtechnological determinism but commended his artistic ambition, definingMegalopolis as "a fascinating film aswirl with wild visions, lofty ideals, cinematic allusions, literary references, historical footnotes, and self-reflexive asides, all of which Coppola has funneled into a fairly straightforward story about a man with a plan".[197]Vulture'sBilge Ebiri opined that while some scenes were "rushed, undernourished, and underpopulated" and the digital cinematography was "sometimes flat and overly bright, which in turn reduces depth and detail and makes things feel one-dimensional", the film "might be the craziest thing I've ever seen. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy every single batshit second of it".[5]
In a negative review,Screen Daily's Tim Grierson said the film was narratively excessive and incoherent, with "cartoonish performances" and "stray ideas and themes that are introduced, then abandoned".[198] Peter DeBruge, forVariety, likewise categorized the acting as cartoonish and reminiscent ofSouthland Tales (2006) but with "'serious' actors, which lends everything a stilted, almost theatrical quality".[199] Writing forNME, Lou Thomas describedMegalopolis as a film that "has to be seen to be believed", adding, "The dialogue and acting are heightened, skewed, and bizarre, lurching from fascinating philosophical arguments to nonsense rhymes and non-jokes". He further noted the unevenness in the film's evolving styles and visuals and praised the costumes and score.[200] Nicholas Barber of theBBC panned the movie, criticizing its "incoherent plot", "stilted dialogue", narrow use of "big-name actors" like Hoffman and Schwartzman, the contrast between "Driver taking it all so seriously, while Plaza goes gloriously over the top ... [and] LaBeouf prances around chewing the scenery to shreds", and the "horribly cheap and amateurish" visual effects. He concluded, "It's like listening to someone tell you about the crazy dream they had last night – and they don't stop talking for well over two hours".[201] Maureen Lee Lenker ofEntertainment Weekly gave the film an "F", the lowest grade, condemning Coppola's direction for obtaining "horribly wooden performances" from the ensemble, further criticizing the "troubling gender roles and gross sexual dynamics at play" before saying the film's "greatest sin" is "how profoundly boring and bloated it all is. ... I at least expected something a little batshit. Something so bad it's good, an experience you could give yourself over to. But instead, it only prompted me to check my watch".[202]
Sight and Sound put the film at 17 on their list of the best 50 movies of 2024.[203]Manohla Dargis ofThe New York Times put it at 8 on her list of the best 10 movies of 2024, whileRichard Brody ranked it third on his 2024 best-of list.[204][205] FilmmakersDavy Chou,Vera Drew,Ciro Guerra,Matt Johnson,David Lowery,Julius Onah,Lance Oppenheim andTyler Taormina have also voiced a more positive response to the film, with all of them citing it as among their favorite films of 2024.[206][207]
Megalopolis was released onUltra HD Blu-ray,Blu-ray and DVD by Lionsgate in Europe following its theatrical run, but did not receive a North American physical home media release.[208] The film became available for purchase and rental on premium video-on-demand services, including North America, on November 12, 2024, but was pulled from digital platforms in selected markets in early 2025, reportedly because Coppola prefers that the film only be screened in theaters.[209][210] The film was made available for streaming onMubi andNetflix in some European countries in September 2025.[211][212]
Coppola held sixroadshow screenings ofMegalopolis in the U.S. from July 20–August 1, 2025.The Atlantic criticized Coppola's decision to limit the film to theatrical screenings and eschew a home video release, writing, "But rather than allow audiences to organically findMegalopolis, Coppola has made it hard to screen legally. Rather than wait for reevaluations of it to emerge over time, Coppola initiated the conversation from his end. His efforts to reintroduceMegalopolis to the public demonstrate the challenge of transforming a flop into a cult classic."[213]
The director has already shot about 70 hours of film in Manhattan that will serve as background for the movie.
For 5 months I was with Francis to tell the whole production process, now he is in the editing phase in Atlanta. We have recently finished shooting extra scenes on the border between Italy and Switzerland.
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