In just three days' time, Francis Ford Coppola's self-funded passion project Megalopolis — a film over forty years in the making — will make its world premiere at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. But whilst most of us sadly won't be living it up with Coppola and co on the Croisette this week, we are at least starting to glimpse the fruits of The Godfather filmmaker's labours. Last week we got a first clip of the film, and yesterday — following the news that the mega-budget epic has finally secured UK distribution — Coppola dropped a brand new teaser trailer for his opus. Check it out below:
Missiles raining over the Statue of Liberty. Laurence Fishburne's inimitable tones asking, "When does an Empire die?" Aubrey Plaza eating fruit on a chaise longue like Cleopatra reincarnate. Ben-Hur-evoking chariot racing and Blade Runner-esque cyberpunk tech. Adam Driver serving brooding looks over epic, sweeping shots of an imagined alt-Modern America. Yeah, we're thinking Francis Ford Coppola is back. Megalopolis cost Coppola $120 million to make, and every last cent of that money can be seen in this deliciously lurid, Bram Stoker's Dracula-level grandiose first trailer for the legendary director's present-set Roman Epic. Do we know exactly what's going on here? Absolutely not. But are we sold on the prospect of Adam Driver playing a visionary artist (who may or may not have the power to stop time) trying to create a utopia from the rubble of a rapidly collapsing society? Hell yeah! We think...
While this trailer is fairly plot-light and hugely tone-heavy, we do at least have an official synopsis to help paint the picture of what on Earth Megalopolis is going to be — and it's nothing if not wildly ambitious: "Megalopolis is a Roman Epic fable set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.”
Boasting a stacked ensemble featuring *deep breath* the aforementioned Plaza and Fishburne, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D.B. Sweeney and Dustin Hoffman, this is shaping up to be something of a cinephile's Avengers: Endgame. And with one of the greatest filmmakers the world has ever seen at the helm in the shape of Francis Ford Coppola, you just know that this long-gestating cinematic event is going to be mega(lopolis).
Megalopolis launches in Cannes on 17 May.