Francis Ford Coppola on his “fascination” with the Roman Empire
While the debate continues to rage on across social media about how often men think about the Roman Empire, legendary director Francis Ford Coppola has waded into the topic.
Taking to Instagram, Coppola revealed the Roman Empire is an inspiration for his upcoming film Megalopolis, therefore, it’s never far from his mind. “Quite a lot. As the Roman Republic served as the example for my country America and its institutions, and was the inspiration for my upcoming film [Megalopolis],” he wrote on Instagram.
The director continued: “My fascination with the Roman Republic is based on the struggle between the political parties during which the interest of the Republic yielded to the ambitions of a few powerful men who espoused the aims of political parties to establish their own fortunes and authority by relying upon armed forces to achieve those ends, dealing the final blow to a constitution already tottering to its fall.”
Megalopolis has been a film which Coppola has discussed making for many decades, but now, he’s finally set to make his dream come true. The movie focuses on an architect who is tasked with rebuilding New York City following a disaster which shreds to city to pieces and sets out to turn it into a utopia.
Actors who are signed up for the project include Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Voight, Talia Shire, Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman and Dustin Hoffman.
Coppola previously revealed he was set to self-finance the project, which is speculated to cost $120million. He previously told The Hollywood Reporter of his decision: “There’s a certain way everyone thinks a film should be, and it rubs against the grain if you have another idea.”
He added: “People can be very unaccepting, but sometimes the other idea represents what’s coming in the future. That is worthy of being considered.”
While there’s no release date confirmed for Megalopolis, the movie is expected to arrive next year.
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