Francis Ford Coppola recently screened his film Megalopolis on IMAX for the first time 20 years after he conceived the idea, Deadline exclusively reported.
The screening was held at the Universal CityWalk IMAX Theater for buyers and distributors. Coppola also had family and friends in the audience which included Anjelica Huston, Nicolas Cage, Andy Garcia, Spike Jonze, Al Pacino, Jon Favreau, Colleen Camp, Roger Corman, Darren Aronofsy and Cailee Spaeny. Shia LeBeouf and Talia shite, who are also in the film, were also in attendance.
The film had a running time of two hours and 13 minutes. The movie follows the story of Cesar (Adam Driver), an architectural idealist, pitted against Mayor Frank Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito).
Both argue whether they should build a utopian city using renewable materials versus rebuilding with all the usual materials, as well as the status quo of corruption and power brokering. Caught between the two men is the mayor's daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), a young woman in search for more in life.
Is this Francis Ford Coppola's Roman Empire?
The characters' names are based on historical figure from the Roman Empire. As a child, Coppola was stricken with polio and witnessed Jonas Salk's vaccine essentially wiped out the disease. The filmmaker uses the film as the vehicle of his appreciate of the human ingenuity in order to adapt and solve most problems. And speaking of the Roman Empire, the movie also serves as a cautionary tale of what happens to an empire when corruption, greed and narcissism takes hold.
The film also stars Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Chloe Fineman, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, D.B., Sweeney, Jason Schwartzman, Baily Ives, Grace Vanderwaal and James Remar.
Coppola has a mission statement before the screening began which reads:
Dear Friends,
As heard from me before: “I believe in America.”
If I could leave you with one thought after you see my new film, it would be this: Our founders borrowed a Constitution, Roman Law, and Senate for their revolutionary government without a king, so American History could neither have taken place nor succeed as it did without classical learning to guide it.”
The 84-year-old filmmaker has stated that the movie isn't his last.
He said, “One way I knew Megalopolis was finished is that I've begun work on a new film. It won't be cheap by any means, but I don't know it can be called ‘an epic film.'”
No details have been shared on who ends up distributing Coppola's passion film. There have been no reports if the film will make its way to the Cannes Film Festival which will run from May 14 to May 25. If not, there's always the Venice Film Festival which will be held later in the year from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7.
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