Why Coppola made Megalopolis….. the director explains

After the movie’s long-awaited premiere, let’s delve into the reasons behind Francis Ford Coppola’s decision to create Megalopolis, which came with a significant personal price tag.

The idea for Megalopolis traces back to my childhood, when I first watched H.G. Wells’ Things to Come – a 1930s masterpiece produced by Korda, which depicts the creation of a future utopia. Since then, this vision has stayed with me, inspiring me initially as the young “scientist boy.

Initially, I didn’t exactly dedicate four decades to crafting this screenplay as one might assume from common portrayals. Instead, I was more like an avid collector, amassing intriguing notes, clippings, and various materials for a potential future screenplay. This included political cartoons, diverse historical subjects, among other things, which served as my scrapbook of sorts.

Over time, I arrived at the concept of an epic inspired by ancient Rome. Later on, I envisioned this epic taking place in contemporary America. Thus, the drafting of this script started approximately a dozen years ago, sporadically. Furthermore, with numerous films under my belt, each tackling diverse themes and styles, I anticipated a project towards the end of my career where I could more clearly define MY unique artistic approach.

In the films I created, I consistently gave credit to the original authors by placing their names prominently, as seen in movies like “The Godfather” and “Dracula”. Only with “The Rain People” and “The Conversation” did I allow my own name to be listed first. However, at that time, I lacked the confidence to present myself so grandly. Earlier on, I recall taking 130 blank pages and titling them “Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis”, with “All Roads Lead to Rome” beneath it. I feigned that it wasn’t empty, weighing it in my hands to envision its future weight and believe one day it could become a reality. Afterward, when I had a draft, I must have rewritten it approximately 300 times, hoping each revision would make it better, even by just half a percent.

In my exploration of various scenarios, I found myself intrigued by an event called “The Catiline Conspiracy.” I began to see parallels between ancient Rome and modern America, believing that this historical incident could be reimagined in a contemporary setting. Just as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness was adapted to the Vietnam War in Apocalypse Now, so too could Sallust’s account of The Catiline Conspiracy be transposed to modern times.

In my revision, let’s rephrase the text as follows:

Initially, I considered the core concept for a narrative: it might involve a corrupt nobleman (originally named Catiline but renamed Cesar based on Mary Beard’s suggestion due to historical accounts of young Julius Caesar associating with Catiline) plotting to overthrow the Republic. However, this plan was foiled by Cicero, who held the consul position at that time. I started questioning whether the common depiction of Catiline as ‘evil’ and Cicero as ‘righteous’ was entirely accurate. After all, history shows that Catiline perished while Cicero lived on to tell the tale. But considering that the victor often shapes the story, I pondered: what if Cesar’s vision for a new society involved a power shift, and he could have been seen as ‘progressive’ or ‘visionary,’ whereas Cicero might have appeared as ‘conservative’ or ‘reactionary’ in this scenario?

The narrative unfolds in an artistic rendition of New York City, depicted as the global epicenter of power. Cicero serves as the mayor during tumultuous economic turmoil, akin to the financial crisis experienced under Mayor Dinkins’ tenure. Cesar, on the other hand, is a multi-talented visionary, exhibiting traits similar to Robert Moses, the influential figure portrayed in “The Power Broker”, and architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Raymond Loewy, Norman Bel Geddes, or Walter Gropius.

I delved into researching intriguing incidents from my scrapbooks that occurred in New York City, such as the Claude Von Bulow murder case, the Mary Cunningham/James Agee Bendix scandal, the rise of Maria Bartiromo (a captivating financial reporter known as ‘The Money Honey’), the escapades of Studio 54, and New York’s own financial crisis (resuscitated by Felix Rohatyn). I ensured that every detail in my narrative, titled Megalopolis, was based on reality and took place either in contemporary New York or Ancient Rome. This project would not have been possible without the influence of great thinkers like G.B. Shaw, Voltaire, Rousseau, Bentham, Mill, Dickens, Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, Fournier, Morris, Carlyle, Ruskin, Butler, and Wells combined; with Euripides, Thomas More, Moliere, Pirandello, Shakespeare, Beaumarchais, Swift, Kubrick, Murnau, Goethe, Plato, Aeschylus, Spinoza, Durrell, Ibsen, Abel Gance, Fellini, Visconti, Bergman, Bergson, Hesse, Hitchcock, Kurosawa, Cao Xueqin, Mizoguchi, Tolstoy, McCullough, Moses, and the prophets all contributing.

Starting from 2001, when I felt confident about the project’s foundation, I established a production office in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and commenced work. I handled casting, rehearsals, and oversaw a second filming unit headed by renowned photographer Ron Fricke. This precautionary move was taken before officially starting principal photography, with the intention of making it more affordable and manageable. The second unit was filmed using an early Sony digital camera, a risk I took assuming its quality would be sufficient for capturing footage across all seasons and depicting essential city activities (food distribution, sewage management, waste disposal) that encompass both the rich and the poor.

In our script, there was a scene involving an old Soviet satellite crashing to Earth, necessitating shots of destruction and empty spaces. However, no one could have predicted the events of September 11th, 2001, and the catastrophe at the World Trade Center. While we were filming our secondary unit, we unfortunately captured some of those distressing images.

In my creative endeavors, I strive to create a movie straight from the heart, and I found that this story would revolve around love and loyalty in all their facets throughout the human experience. Megalopolis mirrors these ideas, as it portrays love in a nearly prismatic intricacy. Our planet is under threat, and humanity seems to be on the brink of self-destruction, until the narrative evolves into an incredibly optimistic film that trusts in humankind’s ability to find solutions for any problems we face.

I strongly hold faith in the ideals of America. Our forefathers crafted a constitutional framework, incorporating elements from Roman law and the Senate, for their groundbreaking government without a monarchy. The course of American history may not have unfolded as it did, or thrived as it did, absent the wisdom of classical learning to steer it. My hope is that Megalopolis will someday be celebrated annually on New Year’s Eve, with spectators pondering over and over again this profound query: “Is the society in which we reside the sole option for humanity?

……and that’s why Coppola made Megalopolis.

2025-02-03 03:24

Read More