Francis Ford Coppola claims ‘Megalopolis’ is the “best work” of his career
Ahead of the premiere of Megalopolis later this week, director Francis Ford Coppola has claimed that his new feature film is the greatest work of his career.
Megalopolis has been decades in the making, with Coppola first conceiving of the film during the making of Apocalypse Now in the late 1970s. After being subjected to a series of delays, production on the ambitious project finally began in late 2022. The film is set to premiere this Friday at Cannes Film Festival.
A teaser trailer for the long-awaited project has now arrived, with some accompanying words from the director himself. “Our new film Megalopolis is the best work I’ve ever had the privilege to preside over,” Coppola wrote.
The trailer opens with shots of the New York City skyline and a foreboding voiceover. “When does an empire die?” a voice asks, “Does it collapse in one terrible moment? No. No. But there comes a time when people no longer believe in it.” A soaring score punctuates his words.
The clip also provides a glimpse at the film’s impressive ensemble cast, with the likes of Adam Driver, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza and Giancarlo Esposito all making appearances. Jason Schwartzmann, Nathalie Emmanual and Dustin Hoffman will also star in the film.
After a minute and a half of grand visuals and Driver’s ruminations on utopia, the teaser fades into a title screen that reads, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, a fable. It’s an exciting early glimpse at the epic new film, though Megalopolis has some fierce competition to earn the title of Coppola’s best work.
The filmmaker first found success with The Godfather in the late 1970s, a gangster genre classic which has come to be considered amongst the greatest films of all time. Coppola also took home a ‘Best Picture’ Oscar for his second entry into the Godfather trilogy.
As the decade came to a close, Coppola delivered another all-time great with Apocalypse Now, which is widely accepted to be the greatest depiction of war in cinematic history. The ensemble cast for the film included Fishburne, whom Coppola is still collaborating with over four decades later.
Coppola has honed one of the most well-known and well-respected filmographies in Hollywood, so his promise that Megalopolis is his best work brings high expectations.
The science-fiction film will premiere at Cannes this Friday, but a wider release date is yet to be confirmed. Watch the teaser trailer below.
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