Megalopolis is not some ‘woke movie or political thing’: Director Francis Ford Coppola

NEW YORK – The science-fiction epic Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola’s decades-long passion project, has been mired in one controversy after another, from allegations of sexual harassment by the veteran American writer-director to a trailer being pulled for fabricating critics’ quotes.

But the five-time Oscar winner – who made iconic movies such as The Godfather gangster trilogy (1972 to 1990) and war epic Apocalypse Now (1979) – is standing by his ambitious new film, which imagines the United States as a modern-day version of a declining ancient Rome.

And he believes it offers a prescient commentary on the corruption in American politics today, which he hints may have paved the way for former US president Donald Trump to be re-elected in November.

Loosely inspired by a Roman conspiracy in 63BC, the film – now showing in Singapore cinemas and rated R21 for sexual scenes – follows an idealistic architect named Cesar (Adam Driver), who has a utopian vision for rebuilding New Rome, an allegorical version of New York.

But he clashes with its corrupt and ultra-conservative mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), with Jon Voight playing Cesar’s Trump-like billionaire uncle and Shia LaBeouf as his jealous cousin.

Introducing the movie at the New York Film Festival earlier this week, Coppola, 85, says: “People always said to me, ‘Why do you want to make a movie about America as Rome?’

“Well, today, America is Rome, and they’re about to go through the same experience, and for the same reasons, (where) Rome lost its republic and ended up with an emperor.”

“So perhaps it was very prescient because it’s going to happen in a few months,” says Coppola, referring to the upcoming US presidential race on Nov 5.

The auteur – who won Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for each of the first two Godfather films, and Best Original Screenplay for his war biopic Patton (1970) – notes the parallels between the Roman Republic and the US today.

“The Rome of that time was so prosperous, so the senators were actually interested in their power and wealth, and they weren’t managing the country.

“The same thing has happened here. Our Senate and representatives are all wealthy and manipulating their own power rather than running the country – and we’re in danger of losing it,” says Coppola, whose daughter Sofia, 53, and son Roman, 59 – his children with late wife Eleanor – are film-makers as well.

The director did not comment on the scandals that have plagued Megalopolis.

In May, a report by entertainment magazine Variety alleged that Coppola had tried to kiss young female extras on set – accusations he has denied, filing a defamation lawsuit against the publication, which says it is standing by its reporting.

In December 2022, he fired most of his visual-effects team and sources told The Hollywood Reporter magazine that the set had descended into chaos.

The budget had also ballooned since 2021, when Coppola raised eyebrows by announcing he would be investing US$120 million (S$154 million) of his own money in the film after selling some of his California wineries.

Then in August 2024, the first official trailer was recalled within hours of its release because it showcased quotes from real movie critics apparently criticising previous Coppola hits.

But the quotes turned out to have been made up by artificial-intelligence software used by a marketing consultant.

Megalopolis has also divided critics, with several scathing early reviews describing it as “a hot mess”. On its Sept 26 opening day, it had a 50 per cent aggregate critics’ score on the website Rotten Tomatoes.

But Coppola points out that there were doubters even with some of his most acclaimed works.

And to those who believe the film has a political agenda, he says he made it a point to cast a few actors whose political views diverge from Hollywood’s generally left-leaning stance, as well as some who have been “cancelled”, or shunned, for other reasons.

This includes vocal Trump supporter Voight, the 85-year-old American actor – father of actress Angelina Jolie, 49 – who won an Oscar for the war drama Coming Home (1978).

Also hired was troubled American star LaBeouf, 48, who headlined the Transformers science-fiction action films from 2007 to 2011. He has been arrested multiple times for disorderly conduct and is accused of abusing former girlfriends.

Coppola says: “I deliberately got people who disagree. There are actors in the movie who are voting another way, and there are people in it who have been cancelled every which way.

“I didn’t want them to say, ‘Oh, it’s some woke movie, it’s just a political thing.’

“We were above politics, I thought. And we all liked one another and made this film together, so I’m hopeful we can work even with people who disagree with us towards a higher goal.”