First Footage Arrives For Francis Ford Coppola’s Sprawling Epic Megalopolis

Francis Ford Coppola has revealed the first footage for his upcoming epic Megalopolis, which premieres at Cannes later this month. A wide release date has not been announced. This film is Coppola’s passion project, so much so that he finally spent $120 million of his own money to finance it. While it was filmed from November 2022 to March 2023, it’s something he’s been trying to get off the ground since 1983 (after having the idea in 1979).

The film stars Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Giancarlo Esposito, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Chloe Fineman, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, DB Sweeney, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Bailey Ives, Grace Vanderwaal, and James Remar.

Here’s a synopsis: An accident causes the destruction of a New York City-like metropolis that is decaying anyway, bringing clashing visions of the future. On one side is an ambitious architectural idealist Caesar. On the other is his sworn enemy, city Mayor Frank Cicero. The debate becomes whether to embrace the future and build a utopia with renewable materials, or take a business-as-usual rebuild strategy, replete with concrete, corruption and power brokering at the expense of a restless underclass. In between their struggle is the mayor’s socialite daughter Julia, a restless young woman who grew up around power and tires of being a tabloid fixture looking for meaning in her life.