In case you’ve been living in, you know, the real world the last couple of years and haven’t spent too much time paying attention to the wacky shit that gauntlet-throwing auteurs do in their final years, you might not have noticed that Francis Ford Coppola’s got a new movie coming out. It’s a passion project of his entitled Megalopolis, which he’s been aiming to make for years and years, and he finally got tired of waiting for the funding to come through. So, Coppola sold a hefty portion of his very profitable wine business and self-funded the production, spending nearly $100 million to make this bizarre-looking sci-fi epic about a Roman-like future empire trying to rebuild one of its major cities after a disaster.
It stars Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Shia Labeouf, and many other famous faces. In honor of his recently departed wife (and a ferocious documentary filmmaker in her own right) Eleanor’s birthday, Coppola dropped a small preview on Saturday before the full-length teaser hit the internet on Tuesday morning.
And boy howdy, what a fucking trailer.
Take a look:
Here’s a synopsis straight from the Cannes program:
“‘Megalopolis’ is a Roman Epic fable set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina, a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero, the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.”
As is usual with thunderously anti-commercial passion projects like this, we’ve got zero news as to when you may finally be able to check out Megalopolis. It’s premiering later this week at the Cannes Film Festival, and we’re sure that every motherfucker out on the Rivera is gonna write some wacky shit. The audience will likely give it a ten-minute standing ovation or boo the hell out of it. Some people might even faint or puke, which will be great publicity. Either way, we’re hoping that at least the applause is long enough or that dry cleaners in the area get a lot of extra business because any reaction means all audiences might get a chance to check this one out.