ComingSoon Senior Movie News Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Chloe Fineman about starring in Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. Fineman discussed how her work on Saturday Night Live influenced her performance, playing Jon Voight’s granddaughter in the movie, and more.
“The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare,” the official synopsis reads. “Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.”
Megalopolis opens in United States theaters on September 27, 2024, from Lionsgate.
Brandon Schreur: Just to start, can you tell me a little bit about how this all came together? I know you’ve been on SNL since 2019 and you’ve been in some movies like Damien Chazelle’s Babylon and you voiced a character in Despicable Me 4. Then you get a call from Francis Ford Coppola, who is arguably one of the biggest directors ever, and he says he wants you to star in his next movie. What’s going on in your mind at that point?
Chloe Fineman: I remember getting a call that was like, ‘Francis wants to meet with you.’ And I was like, ‘How the f*** does Francis Ford Coppola know who I am?’ That was my first question. Then I found out that it happened in the most unexpected, unconventional way. He saw me perform a live reading. It later became an Amazon show, but it was called The Wake. It was like The Wake of 2020. It was a performance, a one-night performance that had Ayo Edebiri, Patti Harrison, and Stacy Osei-Kuffour. It was before The Bear and all of that.
Francis just like happened to be in the audience. Which, thank God I had no idea when I was performing. A couple of years later, he was like, ‘I saw you in this thing and I thought you’d be great for my movie.’
The weirdest part was that the thing I was doing was Melania and Ivanka Trump talking to each other. I guess something sparked an idea in his head, and that was that.
Sure. That’s so interesting. That’s crazy how that happened.
It really is like you never know who is there [during a live performance], you never know who is watching. That was like a perfect example of it.
Oh, definitely. I’m kind of curious, too, did your time in the comedy world and on Saturday Night Live influence or impact your performance at all?
Yeah. I went to NYU, I studied at Stella Adler. I was a very serious acting student and wanted to be a very serious dramatic actor. I thought I’d do indie films and, like, Chekhov. That’s what I always wanted to do, and hopefully I’ll get to return to it. This is like a very fancy indie film, so I’m happy that my goals are still getting achieved.
But I think SNL and entering the comedy world, you take the work seriously but you don’t take yourself too seriously. At SNL, we’re always joking with each other. We laugh, we talk, and there’s a real playfulness off-camera. I went into this movie obviously so intimidated, but it was very interesting. On day one, Shia was over with his AirPods and he was jumping up and down while doing his character prep. I was more wanting to joke and talk. Later even that day, we started joking and we really bonded in that way. Francis really approached the film as a wild group of crazy actors and we got to do a lot of improv. My experience was really getting to hang with these amazing actors, getting to know them, asking questions, and talking about life. I think SNL taught me that. You really learn how to hang with people. Which is kind of a weird thing, but it really is an important skill set, especially with movie stars.
I was lucky because Adam has hosted [SNL] twice since I’ve been on the show. He was also in White Noise with me. You do learn to exist with a famous person, which I do think is an important skill set that’s a scary thing to have to do.
Oh, sure. It’s an underrated skill set. People don’t realize that can be hard.
Like, how do you be normal around your hero? Maybe I’m not great at it. I’m sure I’m super weird and if I ever saw footage of me talking to these people, I’d be humiliated. But I do think that came in handy.
No, I’m sure, definitely. One thing I think is so interesting about this movie is that I’ve heard so much about it over the past couple of months and, yet, going into it, I feel like I have no idea what to expect. It just seems so imaginative and so original. Do you remember what it was like reading the script for the first time? Did you have any idea what this movie was going to look like when it was done? Or did you just kind of have to trust that Francis Ford Coppola and everyone else knew what they were doing and hope for the best?
I think, when I read it, a lot of the language has an ancient Rome — it felt very Shakespearean, to me, and I think that really excited me. I did a lot of Shakespeare back in the day and I can’t wait to do it again. It was sort of like an experimental Shakespeare play, which was sort of how I saw it. I kind of went down a rabbit hole trying to look for films that kind of exist in that way. I found myself watching Caligula. I don’t know if I recommend that.
Interesting. Just in general, can you tell me a little about the character you are playing in this movie and what people can expect to see from you in here?
I play Clodia Pulcher. My brother is Shia LaBeouf, who is Clodio Pulcher. I have two sisters and we’re called The Claudettes. We are the wealthy, wild, rebellious grandchildren of Jon Voight in the movie. I guess you can kind of draw a parallel that Jon Voight is sort of a Trumpian-type and we’re the Trump kids, but maybe if they were Roman and even more wild and crazy. Limos and cocaine. Francis explained it to us as trustafarians, which is a word I’d never heard, but it’s like a certain kind of trust fund kid that has so much money that they’re wild, free-spirited, and partiers. That is who we are.
In the movie, I’m also best friends with Nathalie Emmanuel. Maybe we have sort of an intimate relationship, but we’re also friends because it’s Rome and I guess you make out with your girlfriend. You kind of make out with everybody. Kiss your brother, kiss your best friend, whatever, it’s Rome. [Emmanuel] is sort of having a push/pull with wanting to be part of me and my wild siblings, but also she’s the mayor’s daughter and she falls for Adam Driver. There’s sort of a loyalty thing at play with us. Who is she loyal to?
It sounds so interesting. I just can’t wait to see this movie, it sounds so big, epic, and cool. We’ve talked some about the cast but there are so many people in here. Along with some of the ones we’ve mentioned and yourself, we’ve got Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, and Kathryn Hunter. So many. What’s it like working with such a huge ensemble, especially one where you are improving a lot? Is it hard to keep up?
This cast is people I have really loved my whole life in a really pure, unadulterated way. You mentioned Kathryn Hunter; her performance as the Witches in Macbeth is maybe one of my favorite things ever. It was really cool to be with people I have authentically loved for so long. Especially Shia. And especially Aubrey. Aubrey and I have known each other a little bit. There’s a big ‘pinch me’ moment, but it’s also something really beautiful where you get to be around the thing and the people you love so deeply. They are cool and they mentor you. I just wanted to soak it up like a sponge.
I’ve just loved acting my whole life and I really love actors. I think part of my role on SNL is doing impersonations of actors because I just love them so much. Getting to watch how people work and do their craft, there’s just nothing like it.
I’m sure it was awesome to be part of. That leads right into what I was going to ask you next, too. You just did this movie with one of the biggest directors of all time with a billion different super-famous actors and everything. I’m sure there are a million people out there who would give an arm and a leg to work with Francis Ford Coppola, so I’m wondering if, now that you’ve done this, you have a bucket list of A-list directors you want to work with now?
I mean, all of them, really. I’m dying to work with Ethan Hawke. That’s a big bucket list. I think New York breeds these real artists. That’s all I really want to work with. These amazing artists. If they ever want somebody to create a character with them, I’m that person. It’s definitely like a long list that I have written down somewhere secretly.
And to do theater, I think it’s interesting that everyone did this movie — to me, it truly felt like an experimental play. Within months, Aubrey was doing Danny and the Deep Blue Sea. Shia was doing a David Mamet play in LA. Adam just announced he’s going to be on Broadway. I really want to sink my teeth into theater theater. I’m doing a little thing on Broadway this winter, like a two-week thing. But to really sink my teeth into a great role on Broadway would be the dream.
