After decades of making films, some of which are thought to be the best ever to grace the big screen, Francis Ford Coppola is perhaps about to embark on his biggest risk to date, a big-budget, self-funded feature, “Megalopolis.” And according to the filmmaker behind “The Godfather,” his hope for “Megalopolis” might actually be higher than the $120 million budget would suggest. He’s out to make a classic. A film that people watch annually and discuss with their family and friends.
Speaking to GQ about his life and career, Francis Ford Coppola shed some more light on the long-in-development feature, “Megalopolis.” This is a film that is perhaps best known for being a potentially star-studded affair with a massive $120 million price tag that Coppola is ready to pay for entirely on his own. But there isn’t a lot known about the actual plot of the film.
That said, when asked about the feature, Coppola said he wants to make a film people watch annually, like “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
“On New Year’s, instead of talking about the fact that you’re going to give up carbohydrates, I’d like this one question to be discussed, which is: Is the society we live in the only one available to us? And discuss it,” said Coppola.
So, what’s “Megalopolis” actually about? Coppola doesn’t give exact details about what people can expect, but he does explain the film in broad strokes.
“It’s a love story,” Coppola explained. “A woman is divided between loyalties to two men. But not only two men. Each man comes with a philosophical principle. One is her father who raised her, who taught her Latin on his lap and is devoted to a much more classical view of society, the Marcus Aurelius kind of view.”
He continued, “The other one, who is the lover, is the enemy of the father but is dedicated to a much more progressive ‘Let’s leap into the future, let’s leap over all of this garbage that has contaminated humanity for 10,000 years. Let’s find what we really are, which are an enlightened, friendly, joyous species.’”
The filmmaker said it would “take at least three years” to make “Megalopolis,” so we shouldn’t expect to see it anytime soon. But as if there wasn’t enough hype surrounding the film already, Coppola’s ambitions are seemingly sky high.