By Following the premiere of his film “Megalopolis” at Cannes to much chatter, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and his cast participated in a press conference to discuss it.
According to Vanity Fair, Coppola was asked about spending $120 million, a good chunk of which was his own money, on such a risk-taking project. He says he has no regrets about taking the risk as the results are all there on screen:
“I put the risk in the movie. I have no problems with the financials. My children, without exceptions, have wonderful careers without a fortune. They don’t need a fortune.
It’s how I felt the film should be, and I was paying for it…. There are so many people who, when they die, say ‘I wish I had done that.’ When I die, I’ll say, ‘I got to do that.’”
Coppola says he isn’t surprised that a studio has yet to pick up the film in the U.S. as the industry has changed so much and is so much more driven by financial analysts:
“The studios are in great great debt and their job is not so much to make good movies as to pay their debt obligations. New companies like Amazon and Apple and Microsoft have plenty of money, so it might be that the studios we knew for so long are not going to be here in the future anymore. I don’t know.”
The 85-year-old also says he has no plans to retire with a new film, expected to be an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s “The Glimpses of the Moon,” already in the works:
“I can assure you; I plan to still be here in twenty years. I’ve already started writing a new film.”
Finally, he was asked if he would one day tackle another cut of “Megalopolis” like he has for other films of his such as “Apocalypse Now” and “The Godfather Part III”. He says:
“The reason I often re-edit my films is because I own them. If you ask why do I own Apocalypse Now? The answer is no one wanted it. If there’s a way to make it a little better I will try.”
As for when “Megalopolis” will see a release, it’s not clear but Variety is reporting that Coppola is looking for a distributor that will release the film in the fourth quarter of 2024 with a potential awards-season campaign in mind.
With 31 reviews counted on Rotten Tomatoes, the film is sitting at a 48% (4.5/10) score.
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