From the sound of it, famed director Francis Ford Coppola has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
Variety reported that during an interview at Cannes, the famed director expressed that he may edit The Godfather and that he's already working on the next film. Plus, he got a little bit into the current state of studios and politics, too.
Francis Ford Coppola speaks about his work at Cannes
The short clip shows Coppola responding to a question about his work and editing completed projects. He was asked if he'd revisit Megalopolis someday.
“The reason I often re-edit is because I own them,” he answered. “I mean, if you ask, ‘Why do I own Apocolypse Now?' the answer is no one wanted it. And so, when you own a movie, you tend to think, ‘Oh, I understand it better.' I would never re-edit the conversation because I like the way it is.”
“I never re-edited The Godfather, although there is a scene I might add someday,” he revealed as well, not indicating details on exactly what scene he was referring to.
“I'll be here in 20 years, I think,” he continued. “If there's a way I can make a film a little better, I will try. But I know that I'm done with it [Megalopolis] because I've already started writing another film. And that's a good sign that I'm finished.”
Additionally, in the interview, the director had some choice words about the current studio system.
“I fear that the film industry has become more of a matter of people being hired to meet their debt obligations because the studios are in great, great debt,” Coppola said. “And the job is not so much to make good movies, the job is to make sure they pay their debt obligations. Obviously, new companies like Amazon and Apple and Microsoft, they have plenty of money, so it might be that the studios we knew for so long, some wonderful ones, are not to be here in the future anymore.”
Also, he shared his thoughts on politics and where he feels the world is at with them.
“Men like Donald Trump are not at the moment in charge, but there is a trend happening in the world toward the more neo-right, even fascist tradition, which is frightening because anyone who was alive during World War II saw the horrors that took place and we don't want a repeat of that,” he said. “So again, I think it's the role of the artist, the films, to shine light on what's happening in the world.”
He also added, “If I may say, one of the things about our wonderful cast is that they reflect all sorts of political ideas. This is not one notion.”
Megalopolis divided the Cannes audience after its premiere on Thursday. It received a seven-minute standing ovation, but some were a bit turned-off by the shocking scenes.
Critics also have mixed reviews of the film.
“Ultimately, this isn't the car crash it could have been. It is, though, deeply flawed and very eccentric,” Geoffrey Macnab of Independent UK said of the film.
“Imagine a Paco Rabanne perfume ad mixed with the voyeuristic lady-gazing of a Sorrentino film, and that will give you a whiff of Francis Ford Coppola's latest — and almost definitely last — film,” Jo-Ann Titmarsh of London Evening Standard stated.
“What does it all mean? It's clear that Coppola is feeling some anguish over the way certain honorable American ideals — essentially human ideals — have become distorted and warped, maybe even discarded altogether,” Stephanie Zacharek from Time Magazine said in her take of the film.
Whatever the thoughts on Megalopolis are, it sounds like Francis Ford Coppola has more on the way. Hopefully, we'll know more about this new film he's writing sooner rather than later.
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