Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis has released its first trailer, starring Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, an architect who has the power to stop time. Driver’s character is seen on the top of a skyscraper, on the brink of jumping, before shouting “Time stop”. This halts everything below him, including the cars on the street, until he decides to let time resume. In addition to Driver, the film stars Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, Laurence Fishburne, and Dustin Hoffman.
Coppola’s latest film has been a passion project since the 1980s but has faced numerous funding challenges since its inception. With major studios hesitant to invest in a film of such epic proportions, Coppola chose to finance the movie himself and liquidated parts of his wine empire. The movie’s total cost has ballooned to around $120 million and is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17th.
The film is set in the City of New Rome, where a conflict brews between Cesar Catilina, who wants to help usher the city into a utopian future, and the mayor, Franklyn Cicero, who seeks to maintain the status quo. Nathalie Emmanuel plays Julia Cicero, who is torn between her love for Catilina and her father, the mayor, forcing her to consider what humanity truly deserves. The director screened the finished film for major studio bosses in March, though no distribution deals have been announced yet.
Coppola last directed the 2011 horror-drama Twixt, which received a lukewarm reception. Megalopolis faces similar challenges as many other blockbuster films during the pandemic, which has destabilized the movie industry. Nonetheless, Coppola remains determined to bring his vision to the big screen after more than three decades of development
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