At the start of the year, it was reported that Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited sci-fi flick Megalopolis might finally see the light of day. That day appears to be pretty soon, because Coppola’s production banner American Zoetrope released first-ever footage of the film that gives an idea of its scope.
In the clip, Adam Driver’s Cesar heads to the roof of a New York skyscraper. Absolutely terrified out of his mind, he eventually works up the courage to take a step off the ledge, only to nearly plummet to his death before shouting, “Time, stop!” Time does indeed stop—along with gravity, it seems, allowing him to get back on his feet and not wind up a pancake. With a snap of his fingers, time resumes once again, and Cesar’s awestruck at his own power—whatever it is.
Megalopolis has been previously described as a sci-fi love story between Cesar and Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel). Caught between Cesar and her father Frank’s (Giancarlo Esposito) opposing visions for New York, she embarks on a journey to figure out her own path as the two men still fight over the city. Screenings were recently held for studio executives and some press, and impressions were reportedly mixed across the board: some respected how imaginative and “unflinchingly batshit crazy” it was, others thought it went all over the place and a likely dud at the box office.
At time of writing, Megalopolis doesn’t have a North American distributor—Amazon MGM and Apple have both reportedly shown interest—but it is set to premiere at Cannes on May 17. However things shake out, Coppola’s proud of it: the film is dedicated to his late wife Eleanor Neil, who passed last month, and considers the preview above a “gift on her behalf.”
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