When it comes to the production and distribution process of independent cinema, no news is often good news. If you’re making headlines for what’s happening on set, odds are that the production is taking on a terrible life of its own. But in the case of legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, a little bit of production chaos is just the price of admission. And with Cannes a potential marketplace for his latest film, “Megalopolis,” Coppola is again here to tell us that everything is going pretty much as planned.
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Back in January, news broke that Coppola’s self-financed film had become a production nightmare. These challenges included the release or resignation of the entire VFX staff and the departures of production designer Beth Mickle and supervising art director David Scott. While trade publications cast doubt on the future of the film, Coppola downplayed those concerns in subsequent interviews, claiming that the film was both on schedule and budget.
But rather than lean away from the chaos, Coppola seems to have leaned into it, sitting down with Deadline for a two-handed interview with Kevin Costner about the struggles of self-producing at a massive scale. In this new interview, Coppola continues to shrug off concerns about the production, comparing “Megalopolis” to the “mysterious” production and subsequent rumors of “Apocalypse Now.” “A rumor starts out; there was a report about chaos,” Coppola told Deadline. “But the source was no source.”
What can audiences expect for the future of the film? Well, it should also come as no surprise that Coppola will accept nothing less than theatrical distribution. When asked about the odds of finding a distribution deal at Cannes, the filmmaker was matter-of-fact. “I’m not looking for a distributor as much as a distribution partner because the movie has already been made and financed,” he told Deadline, adding that “Megalopolis” would need a theatrical window as part of any agreement. “It has to be in theaters for its initial opening; it’s the way it’s designed to look and behave.”
But even if Coppola finds the right partner this year, fans should not expect to see a studio fast-track the director’s potential swan song for a 2023 release. According to the director, his priority is still finalizing the edit, and he expects to push any possible release of the film out of this year’s award season window. “My guess is it’s not coming out this year, so we’ll see.”
