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

Francis Ford Coppola’s latest movie, the sci-fi-tinged Megalopolis, has descended into chaos, according to aggregate sources. The movie, presently half-way done shooting successful Atlanta, has successful the past week mislaid cardinal originative endowment including its production decorator and supervising creation director. That’s connected apical of losing the full ocular effects squad successful the archetypal portion of December.  

To galore insiders, the self-financed accumulation is giving terrible Apocalypse Now redux vibes, 1 successful which the iconoclast 83-year-old manager is breaking a cardinal Hollywood rule: “Never walk your ain money.”

Megalopolis has been a passionateness project, decades successful the making for the filmmaker, who turned heads successful the autumn of 2021 erstwhile quality broke that helium would beryllium self-financing the $120 cardinal film, partially with the tens of millions helium made selling his fashionable bluish California wineries. The film’s fund has expanded and is present astir halfway done its 80- to 90-day shoot, but a accumulation root says it’s unclear whether the accumulation tin spell guardant arsenic planned. 

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

Coppola assembled a starry cast including 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 disaster. Sources accidental Coppola initially employed caller virtual accumulation exertion akin to that utilized on The Mandalorian. But arsenic the challenges and costs of that attack mounted, those sources accidental the accumulation is attempting to pivot to a little costly, much accepted green-screen approach. “There’s nary bully reply here,” says a accumulation executive. “[Coppola] is going to walk a batch much wealth than helium intended. You tin ideate however overmuch he’s already got invested. It would beryllium a precise bitter pill not to decorativeness it.”

Sources accidental Coppola, who has ne'er made an effects-heavy movie, fired astir his full ocular effects squad Dec. 9, with the remainder of that section soon following. Mark Russell, a seasoned whose credits include In the Heights and The Wolf of Wall Street, was starring the squad arsenic ocular effects accumulation supervisor. (Coppola famously fired his peculiar effects section on Dracula 30 years earlier.)

More recently, the accumulation decorator Beth Mickle and supervising creation manager David Scott person departed. Between firings and resignations, a root says the movie present has nary creation department. Russell, Mickle and Scott did not respond to requests for comment.

“The Art Directors Guild supports each Art Departments to guarantee due staffing and scheduling and is presently looking into the concern with Megalopolis to find the adjacent steps,” a spokesperson for the Art Directors Guild, which reps some creation directors and accumulation designers, said successful a statement. “We person nary further remark astatine this point.”

One endowment typical whose lawsuit was among those fired says the dismissal was a blessing successful disguise. “It was implicit madness, being connected set,” this idiosyncratic says.

Despite the unit exits, Coppola is continuing on, hiring caller unit this week according to sources.

In March 2022, Coppola told The Hollywood Reporter helium was putting his ain wealth into the film, which has nary distributor, to marque it his way. Said Coppola: “There’s a definite mode everyone thinks a movie should be, and it rubs against the atom if you person different idea. People tin beryllium precise unaccepting, but sometimes the different thought represents what’s coming successful the future. That is worthy of being considered.”

Coppola’s methods person yielded immoderate of what critics see immoderate of the top films of each time, including The Godfather (1972) and its 1974 sequel, some of which won champion representation astatine the Oscars. Yet helium hasn’t had a deed since Dracula and past helmed the 2011 execution enigma diagnostic Twixt, which starred Val Kilmer and Bruce Dern and was mostly a location amusement play.

The manager has a agelong past of challenging productions. He self-financed the 1982 philharmonic romance feature One from the Heart, which failed to perform, and followed it up with The Cotton Club, the 1984 all-star transgression drama. That movie, besides a bomb, was notoriously known not conscionable for a troubled acceptable — unit were abruptly fired — but besides for a revolving doorway of financiers.

But determination was nary much 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 2 Oscars and became a classic.

At that year’s Cannes Film Festival, the filmmaker reflected, “We were successful the jungle. We had entree to excessively overmuch money, excessively overmuch equipment, and small by small we went insane.”

— Katie Kilkenny and Borys Kit contributed to this story.