The movie that left Francis Ford Coppola in an “enormous financial hole”
Very few have the same amount of experience as Francis Ford Coppola when it comes to struggling against financial constraints while making art. Throughout his illustrious career, Coppola has battled through arduous productions and emerged with timeless masterpieces such as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.
Even his latest work, the sci-fi epic Megalopolis, generated more discourse for the wild stories about its ballooning $120million budget throughout its production period compared to the reception it got after it premiered at Cannes. Despite boasting a star-studded cast and the years that went into its making, the public perception of Megalopolis is definitely marked by Coppola’s legendary tenacity for overcoming such obstacles rather than the substance of the movie itself.
Although most fans immediately associate his greatest successes with Coppola’s name whenever he is brought up in a discussion, the New Hollywood auteur also had a few duds that have been overshadowed by the greatness of his other movies. One such example is his 1982 musical One from the Heart, featuring the likes of Nastassja Kinski and Harry Dean Stanton.
Revolving around the breakdown of a relationship set in Las Vegas, it not only drew scathing reviews from critics but failed to even break $1 million in revenue against its considerable $26m budget. During a conversation with DGA, Coppola opened up about the impact that failure had on his career and how he managed to eventually move past it.
The filmmaker revealed: “One From the Heart left me with an enormous financial hole, and I was able to retire that debt, rather than losing my home and all of my property, by making one film every year and paying off an enormous annual repayment to the bank. But even when I was in that mode, I always tried to find something to fall in love with.”
He added: “I never made a film where I couldn’t tell you what it was that made me fall in love with something about it. Some worked better than others, but when you’re making a movie every year because you have a payment coming up, it’s a unique situation. But even then, I continued with my idea of, every time I made a film, asking what was the theme and doing some kind of experiment that I could learn from.”
Since Megalopolis hasn’t had its theatrical release yet, it’s tough to say how Coppola’s latest project will fare with mainstream audiences, but when it comes to Coppola, one thing can never be denied. The man knows how to follow his passions against all odds.
