Francis Ford Coppola has opened up about why he still hasn’t released his divisive epic Megalopolis on streaming or on DVD.
The film, which stars Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, and Shia LaBeouf, is a futuristic fable that draws parallels between modern day America and the fall of Rome. Critics were divided over the film when it was released last September.
In a new interview with GQ, Coppola was asked why he hadn’t approved a home release of the movie.
“Because the film is still being shown in theaters,” responded the director. “I don’t want anyone to own it.”
He continued: “After the election, people are selling out screenings of Megalopolis—the way it was intended to be seen. Being that it was so prophetic or prescient to say America is like Rome—it’s going to maybe lose its republic—now people are rushing to see it in theaters.
“We sold out three screenings in Boston recently, in Detroit, and people are really lining up.
“It’s just like what happened with Apocalypse Now. Apocalypse Now was a big flop, it got terrible reviews, everyone said it was the worst movie ever made. And yet people never stopped going to see it. The same thing is now happening with Megalopolis.”
In a three-star review for The Independent, Geoffrey McNab wrote: “Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola’s self-funded $120m (£94m) epic, certainly isn’t another Godfather or Apocalypse Now, but it’s at least bursting with ideas.
“The filmmaker spent decades trying to get Megalopolis off the ground. What if it was no good? And what to make of the many claims of chaos on its set? Ultimately, this isn’t the car crash it could have been. It is, though, deeply flawed and very eccentric…
“Visually, Megalopolis is often dazzling. Skyscrapers are shown in golden-hued light, while the film’s futuristic cityscape rekindles memories of Fritz Lang’s silent era classic Metropolis, as well as those playfully kitsch fantasies that French film pioneer Georges Melies used to turn out in the early days of cinema.
“Coppola is also making plenty of well-observed points about the ‘broken’ US political system, and the media’s voracious appetite for scandal.
“You can’t help but marvel at his gumption (and folly) in making a blockbuster in which town planning features so prominently, and characters quote ancient philosophers like Plutarch and Marcus Aurelius at length.
“Box office prospects for Megalopolis look wretched, though it will be no surprise at all if the film achieves cult status by dint of its wondrous oddity.”
