After batting around the mind of Francis Ford Coppola for nearly half-a-century, Megalopolis was bestowed upon the world yesterday at the Cannes Film Festival. While reactions were expectedly divisive (read our review here), we’ve now gleaned more insight from the director’s process thanks to the official press conference. Coppola, who was joined by the film’s cast and crew, among them a handful of members of his own family, talked about the communal process of making the epic.
When asked about the political state of the world with the reign of Trump, Coppola responded, “Well, men like Donald Trump are not, at the moment, in charge but there is a trend happening in the world towards the more neo-right even fascist tradition, which is frightening, because anyone who was alive during World War II saw the horrors that took place and we don’t want a repeat of that. It’s the role of the artist of films to shine light what’s happening in the world.”
When asked if he’d ever re-edit Megalopolis or his other films, Coppola also mentioned how he’d never touch The Conversation or The Godfather (but he says he may add a scene one day). “I’ll be here in twenty years, I think,” said the 85-year-old filmmaker. “If there’s a way I can make [Megalopolis] a little better, I’ll try. I know I’m done with it because I’ve already started writing another film and it’s a good sign that I’m finished.”
Speaking to putting up his own funds for the $120 million epic and taking risks, he said, “I knew the film was not like other films that are out. I couldn’t say, ‘Well, let’s make it more like such and such,’ because I didn’t have an example. It’s how I felt the film should be and since I was paying for it, I thought I was entitled to… in the end, there’s so many people when they die they say, ‘Oh I wish I had done this, I wish I had done that.’ But when I die, I’m going to say, I got to do this and I got to see my daughter win an Oscar and I got to make wine and I got to make every movie that I wanted to make. And I’m going to be so busy thinking of all the things I got to do that when I die I won’t notice it.”
Watch below, along with more videos from Cannes.