Megalopolis has been making headlines for years, but the movie has been in Francis Ford Coppola’s head for decades.

The science fiction epic, which is in theaters Sept. 27, stars Adam Driver as an idealistic architect who challenges the regressive status quo set by the corrupt mayor of New Rome (Giancarlo Esposito). Coppola, who directed The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, first came up with the idea for the movie in 1977. He sold a portion of his winery to inject $120 million of his own funds into the production of Megalopolis so he could make it outside of the studio system.

Coppola told Yahoo Entertainment at the Toronto International Film Festival that he took time off from filmmaking after writing and directing the 1997 movie The Rainmaker to try to learn more about “what cinema was and what [his] kind of cinema was.”

“Megalopolis is the result of what I learned about myself, and a full-out expression of how I work when I’m part theater director, part movie director, part grandpa, part philosopher and not afraid of risk,” he said.

The ultimate ‘Megalopolis’ experience includes a live actor

Coppola’s experience in theater and fascination with technology made him want to try something new: giving a member of the audience at a movie screening a chance to ask one of the characters an onscreen question, and allowing that character to respond with a customized message. He compared it to Amazon’s Alexa technology, which he told the Telegraph he was trying to utilize for the film, but the team working on the project was laid off in 2022.

“Technology will ultimately allow us to do things [like that] in cinema. Cinema is not … going to stay the same. [Studios] want it to stay the same, because they want to sell it to you,” Coppola said. “They want to sell you something you’re addicted to, like a certain kind of potato chip that you can’t stop eating. That’s their dream. That’s why they make franchises.”

The live actor element of Megalopolis that made it to theaters isn’t exactly what Coppola envisioned, but it’s still unique. In screenings billed as “The Ultimate Experience,” a person in the theater approaches the screen and asks Driver’s character a question during a “press conference.” After about two minutes, the live actor exits, and the movie continues normally.

Why Driver and Esposito joined the cast

Megalopolis has had a long journey to theaters. Coppola began working on the script in the 1980s and finally held table reads in 2001 — but the film’s plot, which includes a catastrophe that destroys New Rome, was a little too similar to the 9/11 terrorist attacks for him to comfortably continue.

He revived the project in 2019, and by 2022, it was finally in production after hundreds of script rewrites.

Driver told Yahoo Entertainment that people might expect Coppola to be “dictatorial” on set because he’s had certain shots “in his head for 20 years,” but he wasn’t. He praised the director for being “collaborative.”

“With all films, there’s pressure … when someone’s spending a lot of money for us to be here, it all has to be kind of great,” Driver said. “But it dissipates quickly because of the environment the director sets up.”

The actor initially declined the starring role in Megalopolis because he was “getting a little run down” from filming so many other projects. Then Coppola sent him a new copy of the script overnight with a new version of a scene they had discussed.

“In him doing that — how articulate he was about it and how generous he was — I’m like, this is too great,” Driver said. “Then he made it so I got to go home … every weekend.”

Esposito, who plays the rival of Driver’s character, told Yahoo Entertainment that he read the script for Megalopolis “many years ago.” He worked with Coppola on his 1984 film The Cotton Club and said the director is exactly the kind of person he likes to collaborate with.

“I want to work with people who are exploratory, who have great visionary ideas, who I would consider auteurs and who are looking to discover what film is through their interaction and relationship to the actors who are rendering their words truthful,” he said.

“I like Francis. I actually love Francis, because he’s just so comfortable in his own skin and has so much knowledge and enthusiasm for the story he’s trying to tell,” Esposito continued. “He tells you stories to allow your brain to expand, and isn’t that inspiration?”

The many controversies of ‘Megalopolis’

Once the film had been made, the controversies surrounding Megalopolis did not cease. The movie received mixed reviews after its Cannes premiere, and the trailer had to be pulled in August for including fabricated quotes from critics. Crew members reportedly complained about the “old school” environment on set, and Coppola was accused of behaving inappropriately toward female extras. He has denied misconduct allegations.

In August, Coppola told Rolling Stone that he didn’t want Megalopolis to be “some woke Hollywood production.” He said the cast features people who have been “canceled,” including Shia LaBeouf and Dustin Hoffman. They have both been accused of sexual assault.

“It’s always crazy to me, what you’re allowed to do and not allowed to do,” Coppola told Yahoo Entertainment about filmmaking. “I think artists should be allowed to make whatever is in their heart, and that’s what I’ve always tried to do.”

Coppola’s ultimate vision

Driver might be the star of the film, but to him, it’s Coppola’s movie.

After Megalopolis debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, a clip showed Driver redirecting a camera’s focus from him to Coppola. Driver told Yahoo Entertainment that he did it partially because having a camera on you while people are clapping is “nice, but a little uncomfortable.” (He also went viral at the 2021 premiere of Annette for smoking a cigarette mid-ovation.) The main reason, though, was that Coppola “was the one that made it.”

“He would say the opposite — that we all made it together,” Driver said. “Everybody in that room was affected by films that he’s made, and here he is trying to make this thing for 20-plus years … he’s kind of a remarkable human.”

Coppola said his favorite line he wrote in the Megalopolis script is one that Driver’s character delivers at the end: “You can be anything, and you must.”

“We’re all one family. You’re my cousin. All these children are our children,” Coppola said. “I wanted a film to express hope in the fact that we are a genius species, that there’s nothing we can’t solve … if we understand that we can.”

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