Francis Ford Coppola has announced the cast of Megalopolis, a film over two decades in the making. Megalopolis will feature Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Voight. The Godfather director has sold a piece of his Francis Ford Coppola Winery to fund his dream project. The budget is set at just under $100 million. Coppola has written the script and will direct the feature film which takes place in a utopian version of New York City. In a recent interview with journalist Zach Baron for GQ magazine, Coppola explained the movie’s plot as follows:
Coppola became a sought after director after the 1972 release of The Godfather. He has won five Oscars for his work on The Godfather, The Godfather II and Patton and has also won numerous other awards including a British Film Academy Award for Apocalypse Now and six Golden Globe Awards for American Graffiti, Apocalypse Now and The Godfather.
“It’s a love story. A woman is divided between loyalties to two men. But not only two men. Each man comes with a philosophical principle. One is her father who raised her, who taught her Latin on his lap and is devoted to a much more classical view of society, the Marcus Aurelius kind of view. The other one, who is the lover, is the enemy of the father but is dedicated to a much more progressive ‘Let’s leap into the future, let’s leap over all of this garbage that has contaminated humanity for 10,000 years. Let’s find what we really are, which are an enlightened, friendly, joyous species,” Coppola said during the interview.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Megalopolis’ All-Star Cast
Coppola has, undoubtedly, brought together a group of heavy hitters for his upcoming film.
Driver last appeared in House of Gucci as Maurizio Gucci. The Oscar and Emmy Award nominee was a regular on HBO’s Girls and played Ben Solo/Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Driver’s upcoming projects include White Noise, 65, and Ferrari, where he will star as Enzo Ferrari.
Emmanuel, a popular theater actress, is best known for her portrayal of Missandei on HBO’s Game of Thrones. In 2012, she joined the Fast and The Furious franchise as Ramsey. She recently wrapped filming on the horror flick The Bride.
Fishburne began working with the iconic director when he was just 14. He played 17-year-old, Tyrone Miller, on Apocalypse Now. It was later revealed that Fishburne had lied about his age to be cast in the film. In 2023, he will appear in John Wick: Chapter 4 with Matrix co-star Keanu Reeves.
Whitaker made his film debut in Amy Heckerling’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High. In 2006, he starred in The King of Scotland. He was recognized for his work on the film and won multiple awards including an Oscar for Best Actor. He is next set to play boxing trainer Doc Broadus in Heart of a Lion, an upcoming biopic about George Foreman.
Jon Voight became a well-known actor in the late 1960s, after his main role on Midnight Cowboy. Since then, he has continued to consistently work on film and television and has won multiple awards for his work on Midnight Cowboy, Coming Home, Runaway Train, and Ray Donovan.
Production of Megalopolis is scheduled to begin this fall.
