Auteur Francis Ford Coppola has landed his second making-of documentary and, regardless of its pun-ny title, “Megadoc” is billed as a critical look into the controversial and convoluted manufacturing of Coppola’s current function “Megalopolis.”
The $120 million self-funded (and Coppola-described Roman epic) premiered at Cannes 2024. The long-gestating movie went on to “win” two Razzie awards, encourage a slew of GIFs with Adam Driver demanding to “return to the membership,” launch a questionable advert marketing campaign that was rumored to be created by synthetic intelligence, and arguably assist usher within the period of Jon Voight being a Trump-appointed ambassador to Hollywood.
Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Laurence Fishburne, Chloe Fineman, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, D.B. Sweeney, Jason Schwartzman, Baily Ives, Grace Vanderwaal, and James Remar additionally star.
Whereas there have been claims of inappropriate conduct on set by Coppola (who has refuted the entire allegations) and a free type of filming, with Plaza evaluating it to being a part of a theater troupe, it’s clear that “Megalopolis” may need had some shades of Eleanor Coppola’s seminal “Hearts of Darkness” to it. Fortunately, “Leaving Las Vegas” director Mike Figgis was there to seize the making-of course of on movie, turning it into “Megadoc,” which can sound like a “Sharknado” crocodile spinoff however is, in truth, a Coppola-sanctioned function. Coppola is protecting the distribution of the movie all within the household, as his nephew Robert Schwartzman’s firm Utopia has acquired the North American rights for the movie.
Utopia additionally helped launch “Megalopolis” within the U.S. with Coppola’s American Zoetrope and Lionsgate; “Megadoc” will probably be in theaters this fall. Selection first introduced the acquisition, with a supply claiming that “Megadoc” is not going to “put a shiny shine on ‘Megalopolis’ and Coppola, [and will] dig into the nice/dangerous of all of it as nicely.”
“Eleanor Coppola’s iconic function documentary, ‘Hearts of Darkness,’ gave audiences an unbelievable look and entry to the making of ‘Apocalypse Now’; a movie that, in time, grew to become extremely considered one of many most interesting cinematic experiences of the period and past,” Schwartzman mentioned in an official assertion. “Mike Figgis’ ‘Megadoc’ will probably be that to ‘Megalopolis,’ opening as much as audiences a behind-the-scenes journey spanning 40 years, the place we are going to watch one of many biggest filmmakers at work.”
In accordance with Coppola, “Megadoc” will showcase the various variations of the reality about what it actually was wish to movie “Megalopolis” in Georgia. “The nice filmmaker Mike Figgis shot the making of ‘Megalopolis’ as he noticed it,” Coppola mentioned. “Curiously, there are numerous interpretations of what actually occurred and it’s all within the documentary though the documentary doesn’t at all times say which is what. It’s for the viewer to behold and interpret.”
“Megadoc” is produced by Tara Li-An and James Mockoski. The documentary first began after Coppola invited Figgis to the “Megalopolis” set previous to the primary day of principal pictures. Figgis went on to have unrestricted entry to the manufacturing; the function is described as having a “distinctive look into the artistic means of probably the most revered administrators of all time, and backstage of probably the most formidable movie of his profession,” with Coppola “granting [Figgis] permission to doc no matter he wished.”
Figgis mentioned in a press assertion, “Francis gave me entry to the whole lot, together with the wonderful archive materials he’s gathered of the various readings of the script because it went from one model to a different. I used to be roughly free to go the place I needed. The solid had been open concerning the working scenario and the way they had been coping with the idiosyncrasies of Francis and his very particular person working strategies. What a privilege to be a witness to such a second in movie historical past.”