AGI – At the Cannes Film Festival, it is Francis Ford Coppola’s day: his latest ‘Megalopolis’ will be premiered today, but the film is already a case before being screened. The film is highly anticipated, but was preceded by controversy over criticism from crew members over the “unpleasant” and “chaotic” behavior the director allegedly displayed on set.
The acclaimed director, 85, has spent four decades trying to get this epic sci-fi project off the ground, which has suffered countless delays and multiple versions of the script over the years. Coppola had to sell part of his vineyard in California to cover the costs of the film. Although some cast members such as Adam Driver spoke positively about their experience during filming, which lasted four months, according to other sources – cited by the British newspaper Guardian – the making of the film was almost as “chaotic” as that of ‘ Apocalypse Now’ back in the day.
Forty-five years ago, the filming of ‘Apocalypse Now’ also turned into now-legendary chaos and seemed doomed to disaster; and instead, the film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, became one of the most famous of all time and consolidated the reputation that Coppola had built with ‘The Godfather’. According to the ‘Guardian’, some “crucial” members of the technical team left the project halfway through.
“It was like watching a train break down day after day, week after week, knowing that everyone had given their all to prevent this from happening,” one team member said. Filming was a constant “clash” between Coppola’s “old school” way of directing and the most modern digital technological methods: “I think Coppola lives in a world where, as an auteur, he’s the only one who knows what’s going on and the others are there to do only what they are asked to do,” one of the technicians said. Others also found Coppola’s way of approaching the work “exasperating” due to his second thoughts.
‘Megalopolis’ is a 120 million dollar project: it is presented as an epic of ancient Rome transplanted into modern America; Adam Driver stars as a visionary architect trying to rebuild a crumbling city.
