“Megalopolis” is a unique project in the career of Francis Ford Coppola. An ultra-ambitious project that he has wanted to bring to the screen for decades, the feature film finally seems to materialize, with the first announcement of a cast to match his crazy ambitions.
What’s this Megalopolis?
This is one of the craziest projects ever developed. From the beginning of the 1980s, Francis Ford Coppola is already thinking about this ultra ambitious film. He wants to tell the story of a slightly crazy architect who wants to rebuild New York and make it a utopian city. The story takes place shortly when the American city was ravaged by an unprecedented cataclysmpushing this famous architect to create “CityWorld”.
The filmmaker even begins the production of Megalopolis at the beginning of the 2000s. He has a 212-page script animated by many protagonists. At the time, some actors had even been mentioned such as Kevin Spacey, Warren Beatty, Robert De Niro, Russell Crowe, Paul Newman, and even the nephew of the filmmaker: Nicolas Cage.
But the production stops dead after the attacks of September 11. For Coppola, he can’t tell the story of a utopian New York after this tragedy. He then puts his project in a drawer and devotes himself to other films. In the manner of Napoleon by Stanley Kubrick and the Dune by Alejandro Jodorowsky, Megalopolis has all of these cursed projects that never see the light of day.
But Francis Ford Coppola, now 83 years old, did not say his last word. 7 years after the release of his last feature film, TwixtFrancis Ford Coppola is ready to invest more than $100 million of his fortune to carry out this project which is so close to his heart. And this time, the film finally seems to be on the right track.
A crazy cast
While he hopes to start filming next fall, Francis Ford Coppola has just revealed the identity of the main actor of Megalopolis. Last September, many names like Forest Whitaker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Cate Blanchett, Jon Voight, Zendaya, and even Jessica Lange circulated. Some of these names are fine in the cast, but not for the lead role.
According to The Hollywood, Reporter main role of Megalopolis will be so held by Adam Driver. The latter, after having recently worked with Ridley Scott, Leos Carax, or even Spike Lee, continues to multiply projects and shoot under the direction of great directors.
In addition to the latter’s presence, the rest of the cast currently consists of Forest Whitaker, Jon Voight, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Laurence Fishburne. He will therefore find Francis Ford Coppola more than forty years after his participation in the great classic Apocalypse Now.
