Megalo-[polis]-mania

February 19, 2022 5:14 AM

“You are meeting a guy who basically can tell you quite honestly my motive in doing what I did in my life was never to make a lot of money.” He grinned. “Ironically, I did what I wanted to do and I also made a lot of money.” A brief pause. “That's a joke.” from Francis Ford Coppola’s $100 Million Bet [GQ; Archive]
posted by chavenet (9 comments total)

On the one hand it’s a billionaire spending a small part of his fortune on a passion project, and on the other it’s a great artist who lost his way attempting to make a final masterpiece. Both are familiar tales, but I can’t think of an another example of them being the same story.
posted by Kattullus at 5:55 AM on February 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

He is a healthy 82 year-old who is an acclaimed artist, owns and lives on a vineyard, has a large and close-knit family, and has $120 million to make a film all on his own if he damn well pleases.

There are a lot of visions of what a good life looks like, but I would be willing to bet that a lot of people would take this one.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:40 AM on February 19, 2022 [16 favorites]

For a long time i regarded The Conversation as the greatest film I'd ever seen and still think that it's one of the best things to come out of Hollywood in the 70s and on that strength i made myself watch all his films. Everything after Apocalypse Now is uneven, and his recent films have been dreck, except for maybe tetro, which i haven't seen (i avoid Vincent Gallo at all costs) but was not panned like Youth without Youth or Twixt. So I don't have a lot of hope for this one. But what else is an aging tycoon supposed to do with his Xanadu but attempt to recapture the glories of his youth. I suspect the film about megalopolis we see in 2035 will be far more interesting than the film megalopolis
posted by dis_integration at 7:23 AM on February 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

A bit disappointed because I thought that this might be related to Gail Simone's graphic novel Leaving Megalopolis. Oh, well. I'll probably have a look-see if/when it comes out, Frank.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:44 AM on February 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

Megalopolis sounds like the perfect title for a modernized take on Metropolis and its themes of industrial dehumanization that still resonate today. Whether that's what Coppola has in mind, who can say?
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:48 AM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

its scale and ambition are vast enough that Coppola has estimated that it will cost $120 million

This threw me as this seems actually absurdly little for a grand scale film these days, but then I suppose it won't require a 1 hour third act special effects festival. Probably.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:51 AM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

Coppola's output has been very hit or miss. Or more simply, obscure. But to a large degree that's not his fault. Films used to be something different well up until the 90s or so. A feature film was an event. People talked about it and went to see it and wrote about it, and a successful feature could generally be expected to enter the zeitgeist, even if for "15 minutes."

Now, there are so so so many films being made that the audience's attention is much more diffuse. Plus there's the rise of television. Plus Netflix and streaming. And covid is the cherry on top. All of which make even a highbrow, Oscar-minded, serious drama the likes of which Coppola deals with just another blip in the range of films. Imagine a parallel world in which Apocalypse Now had been released last summer instead of 1979. It would have gotten praise, of course, and been successful, but would it really stand out as a classic film in 40 years' time?

I wish Coppola luck. I would like to see the day when films are taken seriously (is that the right word?) like they used to be. But I suspect that even if he makes a great film, it'll just be lost in the shuffle.
posted by zardoz at 12:49 PM on February 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

However variable Coppola's own films have been, he has a damn good eye for talent. I suspect that without the words 'Francis Ford Coppola presents' at the front of the opening credits on Koyaanisqatsi it would have played a few festivals and a few late-night screenings and disappeared.
posted by Hogshead at 3:03 PM on February 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

We also have Mr. Coppola to thank for bringing us 'American Graffiti' w/o application of the 'notes' given to George Lucas by the studio wonks after the film trialed magnificently with test audiences. Coppola had enough clout by then to get the studio to stand down. (And this is my personal theory as to why the 'Star Wars' films helmed by Lucas eventually go off the rails: Lucas was scarred by his experience with 'American Graffiti' and wasn't going to listen to anybody.)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 5:53 AM on February 20, 2022 [1 favorite]