Francis Ford Coppola believes that "Megalopolis" detractors have conspired against him because the film "doesn't play by Hollywood's current rules."
Lionel Hahn/Getty Images
Francis Ford Coppola's self-funded sci-fi saga Megalopolis premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this week, giving a select group of worldwide press a chance to finally view the project that the legendary director has spent almost half a century crafting.
Described in its official logline as a "Roman Epic fable set in an imagined Modern America," the film stars Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, and Laurence Fishburne, as well as Coppola's granddaughter, Romy Mars, daughter of filmmaker Sofia Coppola.
It reportedly received a seven-minute standing ovation from the Cannes audience that featured a mix of boos and cheers, perhaps summing up feelings toward Coppola's supposed magnum opus, which has yet to find a US distributor and has been marred by bad press in recent weeks.
Coppola has responded to the negative reaction, expressing his belief that detractors have conspired against him because the film "doesn't play by Hollywood's current rules."
Referring to the anonymous sources who dismissed the film as potentially unmarketable and indulgent following an industry screening in late March, he told Air Mail: "If you look at each and every mixed or negative notice it's always something heard from an unknown source."
"I really feel it's unpardonable to attack a movie because it doesn't play by Hollywood's current rules, by quoting unnamed sources who probably weren't at the screening and may not exist."
"It's a cold, meaningless business," he added.
"You'd think, Why would anyone want not to root for Megalopolis? An accepted filmmaker using their own money to fund an ambitious movie. Well, there are plenty of interests who would," he continued.
He then dismissed those who had pejoratively called the film a "passion project," stating, "I've never made a film that wasn't a passion project."
"Who wants to see a film that someone made without passion, or even a meal that the chef had not prepared passionately?"
Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival
Following its premiere at Cannes, "Megalopolis" has been given a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score of 51% based on reviews from 37 critics, meaning it debuted with a rotten rating (to have a fresh score, more than 60% of the reviews need to be positive).
"'Megalopolis' is stilted, earnest, over the top, CGI ridden, and utterly a mess," Esther Zuckerman wrote in her review of the movie for The Daily Beast.
Meanwhile, The Guardian's critic Peter Bradshaw called the film "megabloated and megaboring," and film critic Jessica Kiang described it on X as "a folly of such gargantuan proportions it's like observing the actual fall of Rome."
However, some critics lauded the film as innovative and unlike anything they'd ever seen before. Little White Lies's David Jenkins wrote that "Megalopolis" is a "celebration of unfettered creativity and farsightedness" and features "a script of toe-tapping word-jazz."
"It will inspire just as many artists as the audiences it will alienate," Deadline's Damon Wise noted in his largely positive review.
"The Godfather" director poured $120 million of his own money into bringing "Megalopolis" to audiences, previously telling GQ in 2022 that he "couldn't care less" if it was a box office flop.
"I know that Megalopolis, the more personal I make it, and the more like a dream in me that I do it, the harder it will be to finance," he said at the time.
Asked if he was worried whether "Megalopolis" would flop like 1982's "One From the Heart," the director said: "I couldn't care less about the financial impact whatsoever. It means nothing to me.
To fund "Megalopolis" Coppola sold a significant share of his Northern California wine empire, according to GQ.
Days before the film's premiere at Cannes, The Guardian published a report on the film's production in which several crew members detailed alleged inappropriate on-set behavior from Coppola, including sitting women on his lap and attempting to kiss extras who were topless during a scene.
In response to the allegations, Darren Demetre, the executive co-producer on "Megalopolis," said he "was never aware of any complaints of harassment or ill behavior during the course of the project."
