- Coppola's "Megalopolis" is coming out in late September.
"Megalopolis," the grand project of 85-year-old legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola ("The Godfather," "Apocalypse Now"), is set to hit German cinemas at the end of September. The film will be released in Germany on September 26, according to Constantin Film.
The science fiction film, directed by the five-time Oscar winner and two-time Cannes winner, stars Adam Driver in the lead role. "Megalopolis" is an epic, sprawling, grotesque film filled with ideas, drawing parallels to the Roman Empire. Also featuring are Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, and Dustin Hoffman.
Coppola had been pursuing the idea for a film about the future of humanity for decades. However, investors found the project too ambitious. In the end, Coppola reportedly invested over 100 million euros himself.
The story unfolds in a city called New Rome, modeled after New York. A power struggle ensues between Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) and visionary inventor Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) over how the city should be governed and redesigned. While Cicero wants to maintain the status quo, Catilina has utopian ideas. Caught in the middle is Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), who falls in love with Catilina.
The film is anything but subtle. Its visuals are heavily digitally enhanced, filled with sparkling visual effects. The characters, sometimes cartoonishly exaggerated, often speak in philosophical quotes. This results in a scene where Adam Driver walks on a giant clock in the sky, contemplating the future of humanity.
To avoid any misunderstanding, Coppola has prefaced the film with a prologue stating that "Megalopolis" is a "fable." The message, reminiscent of "Apocalypse Now" in its anti-imperialist stance, is clear: the U.S. Empire is not so different from the Roman Empire. Are the USA doomed? This question may spark interest among many, especially ahead of the presidential election in November.
The epic film "Megalopolis," set to premiere in German cinemas, is a critique of the United States of America, as director Francis Ford Coppola draws parallels between the movie's city, New Rome, and New York. This thought-provoking plot, featuring Adam Driver, raises questions about the future of democracy and the USA heading into the presidential election in November.
