Francis Ford Coppola's Rambling Megalopolis Q&A + IMAX Premiere Event

[zodgory]

Now we are all Wow Platinum.

It was a blast having Francis Ford Coppola, Spike Lee, Robert De Niro, and select cast on hand to present @megalopolismov: The Ultimate @IMAX Experience last night!

View exclusive photos from the star-studded evening: https://t.co/B3BRZUM7f3 pic.twitter.com/85y5HSvDDW
- New York Film Festival (@TheNYFF) September 24, 2024

Francis Ford Coppola's upcoming (flop) film Megalopolis had a special panel at the New York Film Festival where the filmmaker spoke with Robert De Niro and Spike Lee in a livestreamed Q&A (that was seen in 65 other theaters across the US) before the IMAX presentation of the film. Much out of touch rambling courtesy of Coppola was had.

• When asked how Spike Lee and FCC first met, neither of them seem to specifically remember. For some reason FCC starts talking about how he owns Apocalypse Now off the back of this question which then leads into how he ended up financing Megalopolis thanks to his wineries.
• De Niro participated in a table read for Megalopolis nearly 30 years ago alongside Uma Thurman and Paul Newman. He didn't read the script back then though and doesn't remember what that iteration looked like.
• FCC: "Also, my films are a little present. They relate to the future. [...] And people always said to me, What do you want to make a movie about America as Rome? Well, today America is wrong, and they're about to go through the same experience for the same reasons that Rome lost its Republic and ended up with an emperor. [...] this is going to happen in a few months. [...] The senators were actually very interested in their power and their own wealth than they were managing the country. Well the same thing has happened here. Our senators and our representatives are all wealthy and manipulating their own power rather than running the country."
• After FCC talks about Rome, Lee asks if Romans ate cats and dogs to which FCC talks about a deleted Haitian subplot from Megalopolis, how sweet and beautiful the people are, donating equipment to them, and a brief mention of the movie Freda.
• When asked about the future, FCC says he's an optimist. De Niro voices concerns about the country if Republicans and Trump win the election to which FCC starts rambling about the creativity and genius of individuals. Lee reminds people to register to vote and show up to which FCC says, "I deliberately got people to make this film who disagree. There's actors in the movie that are voting another way and there are people who’ve been canceled. In the movie, we all work together together happily and creatively. I didn't want them to say it's some woke movie - we’re above politics in making of the film. And yet still we all liked each other and participated and made this film together. So I'm hopeful that we can work with people who disagree with us, to move to a higher goal."
• De Niro: "Just imagine Donald Trump directing this movie. It'll never go anywhere. It would be total craziness. So that's all I'll say.[...] He wants to destroy the country and he couldn't do this movie. He couldn't do anything that has a structure." To which FCC brings up that he and Trump went to the same military academy and stayed in the wealthy section that had special privileges, but then the moderator calls time before he can really go into rambling detail.

Click to view

There's also a transcript of the Q&A if the video audio isn't clear enough.

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Some of the cast also attended the IMAX event.


Summary: The city of New Rome is the main conflict between Cesar Catilina, a brilliant artist in favor of a utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them is Julia Cicero, her loyalty divided between her father and her beloved.

Aubrey Plaza in Dolce & Gabbana
https://instagram.com/p/DAT_QtXv7FY

Nathalie Emmanuel in Chanel
https://instagram.com/p/DATsIA4vphb

Grace VanderWaal
https://instagram.com/p/DAUG3U-yhCL

Chloe Fineman in Versace
https://instagram.com/p/DAUBrWFSg__

Giancarlo Esposito
https://instagram.com/p/DAT5Hh8ySIT

source: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8