Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ in Peril Amid Ballooning Budget, Crew Exodus (Exclusive)



Francis Ford Coppola’s ultra-modern movie, the sci-fi-tinged Megalopolis, has descended into chaos, successful enactment with much than 1 sources. The movie, presently half-manner thru shooting successful Atlanta, has successful the eventual week mislaid cardinal originative endowment consisting of its manufacturing deser and supervising artwork director. That’s connected apical of losing the full ocular consequences unit wrong the archetypal portion of December.  

To galore insiders, the self-financed manufacturing is giving aggravated Apocalypse Now redux vibes, 1 successful which the iconoclast eighty three-12 months-vintage manager is breaking a cardinal Hollywood rule: “Never walk your idiosyncratic money.”

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Megalopolis has been a passionateness mission, galore years wrong the making for the filmmaker, who turned heads wrong the autumn of 2021 whilst accusation broke that helium mightiness beryllium self-financing the $one 100 20 cardinal movie, partially with the tens of hundreds of thousands helium made promoting his celebrated bluish California wineries. The movie’s fund has multiplied and is present astir halfway via its eighty- to 90-day shoot, but a accumulation proviso says it’s doubtful whether the manufacturing tin determination up arsenic deliberate. 

Representatives for Coppola did present not respond to a petition for remark successful clip for publication.

Coppola assembled a starry solid which see Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Voight, Talia Shire, Shia LaBeouf, Jason Schwartzman and Dustin Hoffman. The movie centers connected an designer who seeks to rebuild New York metropolis arsenic a utopia aft a catastrophe. Sources accidental Coppola archetypal of each hired caller integer manufacturing procreation akin to that utilized on The Mandalorian. But arsenic the demanding situations and charges of that method installed, the ones resources accidental the manufacturing is trying to pivot to a little steeply-priced, other accepted inexperienced-display surface method. “There’s nary desirable reply here,” says a accumulation government. “[Coppola] is going to walk plentifulness much wealth than helium intended. You tin ideate however tons he’s already were fixed invested. It mightiness beryllium a precise sour pill not to implicit it.”

Sources accidental Coppola, who has successful nary mode made an results-heavy movie, fired astir his full ocular consequences radical Dec. 9, with the relaxation of that subdivision rapidly following. Mark Russell, a seasoned whose recognition dwell of In the Heights and The Wolf of Wall Street, turned into main the radical arsenic ocular outcomes manufacturing supervisor. (Coppola famously fired his machine graphics subdivision on Dracula 30 years earlier.)

More these days, the accumulation clothier Beth Mickle and supervising artwork manager David Scott person departed. Between firings and resations, a root says the movie present has nary artwork branch. Russell, Mickle and Scott did nary longer respond to requests for comment.

“The Art Directors Guild supports each Art Departments to marque definite close staffing and scheduling and is presently looking into the authorities of affairs with Megalopolis to find the consequent steps,” a spokesperson for the Art Directors Guild, which reps each artwork directors and accumulation desers, said successful a assertion. “We haven't immoderate successful summation remark astatine this factor.”

One skills typical whose lawsuit go amongst the ones fired says the dismissal turned into a blessing successful hide. “It became implicit insanity, being connected set,” this idiosyncratic says.

Despite the squad exits, Coppola is continuing on, hiring caller squad of workers this week successful measurement with sources.

In March 2022, Coppola advised The Hollywood Reporter helium became placing his ain currency into the film, which has nary distributor, to marque it his manner. Said Coppola: “There’s a definite mode perfectly everyone thinks a movie indispensable be, and it rubs successful absorption to the atom erstwhile you person immoderate different idea. People whitethorn beryllium precise unaccepting, but connected juncture the alternate thought represents what’s coming wrong the destiny. That is worthy of being considered.”

Coppola’s techniques person yielded a fig of what critics bash not hide immoderate of the top movies of each time, inclusive of The Godfather (1972) and its 1974 sequel, some of which received first-rate photograph astatine the Oscars. Yet helium hasn’t had a occurrence connected the grounds that Dracula and last helmed the 2011 homicide thriller diagnostic Twixt, which starred Val Kilmer and Bruce Dern and turned into mostly a home leisure play.

The manager has an extended records of hard productions. He self-financed the 1982 philharmonic romance characteristic One from the Heart, which failed to perform, and accompanied it up with The Cotton Club, the 1984 all-famous idiosyncratic transgression drama. That film, besides a bomb, go notoriously recognized nary longer conscionable for a acceptable — unit person been each astatine erstwhile fired — but besides for a revolving doorway of financiers.

But determination was nary other famously calamitous Coppola accumulation than the making of Apocalypse Now, a grueling sprout that mirrored its communicative of a descent into madness and chaos. The 1979 movie went connected to triumph Oscars and became a conventional.

At that yr’s Cannes Film Festival, the filmmaker reflected, “We were successful the jungle. We had get introduction to to excessively overmuch money, excessively overmuch gadget, and measurement by measurement we went insane.”

— Katie Kilkenny and Borys Kit contributed to this tale.

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