20/29
Coppola completely dropped the project in 2007 and didn’t start developing it again until 2019
Plot
The city of New Rome is faced with the duel between Caesar Catiline, a brilliant artist who is an advocate of a utopian future, and greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them is Julia Cicero, with her loyalties torn between her father and her lover. Francis Ford Coppola wrote the script in the early 1980s, but the film was put on the back burner partly due to his financial debts. Pre-production finally began in 2001 after shooting 30 hours of second unit footage and holding a table read with Paul Newman, Uma Thurman, Robert De Niro, James Gandolfini, Nicolas Cage, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Edie Falco and Kevin Spacey, but the project was scrapped after the 9/11 attacks, because a scene in the script (page 166) “predicted” the attacks.
It’s just the same footage flipped and slightly tilted
The security video of Cicero entering Ceasars office is supposed to be two different cameras, as indicated by the small text in the top left corner. Hamilton Crassus III: What Do You Think About This Boner I Have? The “Ultimate IMAX Experience” version of the film features a live actor asking questions during the filmed press conference. Mentioned on The John Campea Show: Adam Driver to lead Francis Ford Coppola’s new film Megalopolis (2022).
Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel had no chemistry
My Promise Written by Grace VanderWaal Performed by Grace VanderWaal Courtesy of Columbia Records By arrangement with Sony Music Entertainment Produced and orchestrated by Kris Kukul. This movie reminded me of The Room, with Adam Driver’s performance being more Tommy Wiseau-like. Cringeworthy dialogue and bad writing that couldn’t fake it. Since this was filmed during a pandemic, I wonder if they met before being cast or were just cast over Zoom.
The cinematography looked like a 2003 made-for-TV movie edited in Windows 95
I’m betting now that Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Aubrey Plaza will all get Razzie nominations and may even win. I’ve never seen a group of actors so “talented” that they lack so much self-awareness that they embarrass themselves and make us question if they’re actually talented. I left before the end because I couldn’t stand the bad dialogue, it was like the actors were talking to a wall and had learned their lines five minutes before. That opening speech by Hamlet was one of the worst I’ve ever seen.
This was pretentious, shallow, and a waste of money
It’s not even that bad, it’s good because I couldn’t follow the plot because it was all over the place. Check out our list of exciting new films from this year’s film festivals, including Venice, TIFF, the New York Film Festival and more.
