What Is Megalopolis?

Megalopolis is that cartoon on the Fox network about the society of Greek gods who can’t get along. But it’s also a giant, expensive motion picture about to premiere at Cannes that no one knows what to expect from.

This movie exists through the sheer will of Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary director behind Apocalypse Now and Godfather I and II. That’s a track record anyone would kill for. Thing is, though, no director has a flawless track record and Coppola also made Godfather III. And Jack, the 90s movie about an adult Robin Williams playing a young boy after a major growth spurt. Then he just kinda disappeared for thirty years, reportedly spending all that time trying to get his “greatest project” made.

Coppola started writing the script for Megalopolis back in 1983. He could never convince any studio to back it, even now, so the picture is largely self-funded, via the fortune Coppola made in the wine business. Since the man is in his mid-80s, I guess you can’t blame him for getting desperate enough to force his passion project to happen. Leonardo DaVinci is reported to have lamented on his death bed that he would never build a giant iron horse he sketched out. Someone else eventually made the horse, but since it wasn’t DaVinci, no one cared. Is this Coppola’s horse?

There’s reason to be wary. The plot is a weird one, about an alternate New York City that is actually the Roman empire only in modern times. It’s called the City Of New Rome and is ruled by Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a man facing tough competition from up-and-coming politician Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). So you know who’s good and who’s bad, Cesar  is “a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future” and Cicero “remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare.” In the middle is Cicero’s daughter, Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the one decadently lowering grapes into her throat in the trailer. She’s in a relationship with Cesar.

The trailer, released yesterday, consists of a lot of psychedelic images and off-putting imagery, and there’s reason to believe it’s an accurate summation of the film itself. As we said, no studio will back it, especially since Coppola is insisting on an expensive marketing campaign if they do. Add to this, “Megalopolis” is the kind of cheesy name you’d see on a SyFy original. But I guess “Metropolis” was taken by Fritz Lang 100 years ago.

We’ll know in a few days if Megalopolis is Coppola’s greatest picture (as he insists) or if it’s an embarrassment to his name. But it’ll be hard to do worse than Jack.