Megalopolis reactions are coming in now that the movie is out, and as the film continues to be divisive, director Francis Ford Coppola thinks the reactions have been similar to another classic of his.
Speaking to Forbes, Coppola likened the polarizing reactions to Megalopolis to the reactions to his 1979 classic Apocalypse Now. Specifically, Coppola said that when Apocalypse Now came out, the general reaction was “ambivalent confusion” due to how it was made.
“The truth is that I find the experience of Megalopolis existing and being seen by an audience very similar to what it was like when I made Apocalypse Now,” said Coppola. “When Apocalypse Now came out, people saw it and said, ‘Wow, what the hell is it?’ There was an ambivalent confusion because it was clearly a film not made with any rules.”
Coppola went on to say that for him, he’s fine with a movie not being a hit right away, and he’s perfectly happy with people just wanting to rewatch the film to learn more.
“People don’t expect to see food or drinks that are made without rules. Coca-Cola tastes like Coca-Cola, and they don’t like it if you change it, but movies are also meant to be a certain kind of experience,” Coppola said. “With Apocalypse Now, the experience was like, ‘Wow. I have got to see it again.’ People went to see it again because it wasn’t boring; it was unusual, and they’re still seeing it 40 years later. The same thing has happened with Megalopolis. Because it’s not really boring, they’re willing to see it again. My hunch is that people are going to see it again, and each time they see it, it becomes a different movie because it has a lot in it that is not apparent in the first viewing.”
What is Megalopolis about?
“In New York, a woman, Julia Cicero, is divided between loyalties to her father, Frank, who has a classical view of society, and her architect lover, Caesar, who is more progressive and ready for the future,” the synopsis for the movie reads. “He wants to rebuild New York City as a utopia following a devastating disaster.”
Megalopolis has been Coppola’s passion project since the 1980s. The logline states, “The fate of Rome haunts a modern world unable to solve its own social problems in this epic story of political ambition, genius, and dangerous love.”
Megalopolis stars Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Shia LaBeouf, Talia Shire, Grace VanderWaal, Kathryn Hunter, James Remar, Chloe Fineman, Madeleine Gardella, Isabelle Kusman, D. B. Sweeney, Bailey Ives, Dustin Hoffman, and Giancarlo Esposito.
(Source: Forbes)
