Francis Ford Coppola ‘not interested’ in broadcasting ‘Megalopolis’

It’s been a very long road for Francis Ford Coppola Major citiesThe movie he wanted to make for 40 years. Finally, at Cannes on Thursday night, it received its first screening, to rapturous applause before and after the film, the latter lasting about seven and a half minutes.

“It’s a little surreal,” Coppola said. “When you find yourself in that situation, and you also realize that, well, after everything that’s happened, this is the moment of truth where I’m going to find out whether or not this has all gone away. So you can imagine, it’s been a little bit like a dream. Of course I hope that “It’s going well and from my perspective, it’s been going very well, so I was very appreciative of that.”

Much talk has surrounded the film, with Coppola deciding to finance himself to the tune of $120 million, and the film currently lacking a distribution deal in the United States. Mixed, but mostly positive reviews have emerged since the film’s debut at the festival, but they have also come on the heels of much gossip.

In an interview Friday with Deadlines’s Cannes Studio show, Coppola was asked what he thought of all the talk.

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He said: “I don’t know.” “I realize that we live in a post-internet time where many things are changing. One of the things that is changing is journalism. It is going through a shock, how will journalism survive? So many things, how can it survive?”

He also explained the state of the film industry. “What will happen to cinema? Will it remain as it is, or will it forever devolve into making sequels and the same film over and over again? If the people who are the gatekeepers then the film must have certain commercial elements or it cannot be produced. Does this mean that Can’t certain films be produced anymore?

Coppola said that given the experience of facing many obstacles throughout his career, he “tried not to play by the rules, and tried to live by my own rules.”

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“When I was young, I remember wanting to do a musical, and being told, ‘Well, you know, musicals don’t get made anymore.’ And I said, ‘Well, why not? Is it because they decided musicals aren’t good…’ And then, I wanted to make a Western, and I was told, “Well, Westerns aren’t really being made now. I developed a whole Western that I thought was a really great script with the writer who wrote it, and no one – they said they don’t make Westerns so.” I lost it, but fortunately, Clint Eastwood bought the script and made it into the unforgiven. This was the scenario no one would let me set up. So I don’t understand the idea that certain films, certain films, can be made I cannot made. Why can’t what is alive be made? And so, I tried to live my life in a way that made that possible, at least for me.

Major cities The film centers on Coppola’s vision of a new Manhattan in Rome, with Adam Driver as Catalina, the future-oriented head of the design agency. Catalina clashes with the city’s mayor, Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who opposes Catalina’s utopian plan to rebuild the city with renewable materials that would uplift the lower classes, while Cicero wants to preserve tradition and concrete.

RELATED: Global Imax release of ‘Megalopolis’ will be limited; September is awaited by 20 American cities

Called driver made Major cities “One of the best photography experiences I’ve ever had.” This wasn’t the first time he’d seen the film, he said, “but I hadn’t watched it with an audience and I hadn’t seen it, in this case, with D.B. Sweeney walking into the interactive press conference part” — referring to the moment Coppola breaks the wall. Fourth in the movie.

“Whenever I saw it, it was the same aspect ratio,” Driver continued, “so, I was really moved by it in ways I had never been before, which I think is a testament to the films that Francis makes. He’s very principled in making scenes and dialogue and has characters that show and don’t tell.” That’s partly why his films have such longevity, because there’s always something to discover about them and yet also, I’m moved at times when I haven’t been exposed to them before.

As the mayor’s daughter, Julia, who falls in love with Catalina, Nathalie Emmanuel said making the film was a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

RELATED: ‘Megalopolis’ debuts at Cannes to 7-minute standing ovation

“It was a really special and unique experience and nothing I had ever experienced before,” she said. “And to be trusted to play a character in a movie that was an idea 40 years ago, it was a huge responsibility and it was really special. The actors and Francis and everyone were so helpful and supportive. The thing I will take away from this is how dedicated everyone was, and the sense of service to this vision that Francis brought. Just This is a real commitment, and everyone has really thrown themselves in and surrendered to this process.

Aubrey Plaza plays Wow Platinum, an aspiring journalist who is first romantically involved with Catalina, then married to Jon Voight’s wealthy Hamilton Crassus III. I fondly remembered the games the actors played on set. “Lots of toys,” she said. “I’ll never forget Francis made Jon Voight and I play a game where we had to intertwine our bodies.” “I think we did that too, right before we did our scene,” Plaza told him, pointing at the driver. “Where we had to become one organism and talk the same thing and say the same thing at the same time and move our limbs and become some kind of creature. And I love things like that.” .

The premiere was Plaza’s first time seeing the film. Were there any surprises? She said: “The whole thing was a surprise, it was amazing. It was very emotional, very exciting, but beautiful. It was very surprising to see it that way the first time. I’m happy that’s the way I saw it.”

Deadline understands that in recent European distribution deals, Coppola has withheld TV and VOD rights from buyers. Is a streaming deal something he would ever consider? “Since I’m taking the risk, I want to own it, which I do, so I’m not interested in selling that to someone else. I want to be able to control it,” he said.

RELATED: Francis Ford Coppola on the film industry: ‘Streaming is what we use to call home video,’ but the major studios may be extinct – Cannes

“Live streaming is a funny word,” he said. “Back with The GodfatherI was sent by Paramount, who made it The Godfather At that time, to go on tour to introduce the public to the idea of ​​home video. I went everywhere and showed, “This is it.” The Godfather On disc.” And then it became DVDs, and streaming became just home video. I don’t know why they call it streaming, it’s home video. Everyone knows what that is. And of course, people now have nice TVs in their homes that sound good. Of course there’s going to be life So but that’s where you spend money in the long run on movies it’s 40 years of people buying the same movie over and over again, which is what happened Apocalypse now“.

Deadline Studio is presented by NEOM.