Megalopolis has been in theaters for a week and although it hasn’t shown a strong performance at the box office, Francis Ford Coppola is still ready to engage with the film’s audience (or anyone really) in a discussion over the movie and what it means to the art of cinema. Coppola’s ambitious passion project has been divisive from the start and the Godfather filmmaker is seemingly basking in that reaction in hopes that it challenges the viewers. However, his directing peers have glowed about the film in some recent reactions, including Guillermo Del Toro stating, “Francis is still the same bold, fearless, inventive filmmaker that he was in his 20’s. I was Swept by Megalopolis!” and Steven Soderbergh exclaiming, “WOW! This might be the craziest thing ever shot on American soil. Certainly, one of the most sustained acts of pure imagination I’ve ever seen. I dreamt about it all night—it was inspiring!”
Coppola has now taken to his social media to open up a forum of spirited discussion on the film and art as a whole. He posted, “This is Francis Ford Coppola. It should be reiterated that the core purpose of #MEGALOPOLIS was to spark a conversation and advance the art of cinema. Over the last 7 days I have been overjoyed by many kind words, realizations, and humble understandings of this piece of art. To celebrate the spirit of DEBATE in the film, I invite you to ask a question in the replies so that we may have a conversation – I’ll be responding tomorrow 10am PT / 1pm ET.”
Much like Adam Driver’s character, Caesar, in the film, Coppola is willing to explain his philosophical intent with the film and what he hopes it does with cinema in general. Granted, with the movie leaving viewers divided, it’s natural there could be a bevy of critics and trolls as he opens up communication. However, Coppola has shown in the past that he doesn’t walk on eggshells around topics, so it will be interesting what he chooses to address and how bold he feels about addressing it.
Our EIC, Chris Bumbray, kept an open mind and the film still couldn’t resonate with him as he hoped, saying in his review, “In the last forty minutes, Megalopolis becomes a real disaster, with so much jam-packed into the movie’s third act that it becomes almost impossible to keep up with it. It becomes nonsensical as it races towards its ending. Again, one can’t fault Coppola for his ambition. He financed the movie with money he earned, so he had every right to make exactly the film he wanted to make. But it’s hard to imagine this ever connecting with anyone other than hardcore Coppola devotees or maybe connoisseurs of bad cinema.”