The work of director Francis Ford Coppola stands as some of the greatest cinematic efforts in history, the crime epic of The Godfather to exploring man's inner darkness in Apocalypse Now. Coppola is now poised to return to theaters in 2024 with his sci-fi epic Megalopolis, and the first look at the film teases a world, and man, at the edge of life and time.
Coppola shared the first clip from his next film to his official YouTube channel on Saturday, with star Adam Driver front and center in the clip.
It shows Driver as a man standing atop a skyscraper, possibly the Chrysler Building in New York City, who inches to the edge as if he is going to jump off. Just as he is about to fall, the man yells “time, stop,” effectively pausing everything around him but himself as he regains his footing before snapping his fingers to start time again.
A description for Megalopolis confirms the name of Driver's character is Caesar who is described as a visionary similar to “notably great men of history” with the same name such as the Roman general Julius Caesar or California labor leader Cesar. Driver's Caesar is among “a few bold dreamers” pushing back against a world slowly decaying from “unchecked greed, self-absorption, and political propaganda.”
While not seen in the clip, Driver's nemesis will be to be Franklyn Cicero, who will be played by veteran stage and screen actor Giancarlo Esposito. Cicero serves as mayor of the retro-futuristic city the film is set in and is determined to maintain the status quo that keeps him in power.
Cicero's daughter Julia, portrayed by Game of Thrones alum Nathalie Emmanuel, who is teased to be a wild card-type character caught between Caesar and Cicero.
These three will lead Megalopolis' ensemble cast that includes names such as Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Talia Shire, Laurence Fishburne, and Dustin Hoffman among many other names.
40 Years in the Making
Coppola originally conceived of Megalopolis in 1979, but did not begin working on it in any real way until 1983. He previously described the script's development to Vanity Fair over 40 years not as him simply writing and rewriting it, but instead he “was collecting notes and clippings for a scrapbook of things” to use that he “found interesting.”
While Coppola would attempt to get development on Megalopolis rolling during the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, it would typically get put on the backburner due to the director prioritizing other projects or lack of interest from any major studios. Things would finally come together in 2019, though, when Coppola confirmed the project was alive once again and would be his sole focus.
Filming for Megalopolis began by November 2022 and wrapped in March 2023, with reshoots taking place a short time after thanks to an interim agreement with SAG-AFTRA that allowed the reshoots to take place despite the ongoing strikes.
“It’s my dream that Megalopolis will become a New Year’s Eve perennial favorite, with audiences discussing afterwards not their new diets or resolutions not to smoke, but rather this simple question: ‘Is the society in which we live the only one available to us?'” Coppola told Vanity Fair.
Megalopolis does not have an official release date, but is scheduled to be screened at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2024.
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