YOU DON’T GET movies like Megalopolis every century. That was the gist of the coverage surrounding the production and release of 85-year-old Francis Ford Coppola’s bizarre new epic. The film, which Coppola has been developing for over four decades, had its initial production disrupted by the September 11 attacks; the final cut features never-before-seen Ground Zero footage shot by the original crew. The reportedly $120 million dollar budget was entirely self-financed by Coppola, who sold a portion of his own vineyard with seemingly no expectation of recouping that cost. Lionsgate is putting the film in theaters, yet as part of that deal, Coppola has had to market it on his own dime. There are three decidedly “problematic” actors with prominent roles. A recent trailer falsely attributed AI-generated pull quotes to Pauline Kael. A lawsuit has been filed over a trade paper’s account of the working conditions on-set. All of this lead-up felt almost naively glamorous, like it should spin into frame on a newspaper headline.
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