Buzz continues to grow for Megalopolis, the decades-in-the-making movie from director Francis Ford Coppola. The movie, which the 85-year-old director funded himself, has yet to find a U.S. distributor. With first-look photos released earlier this week, as well as today’s trailer, its fortunes might soon change: according to Coppola, the $120 million epic will be offered up to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival, where it will officially premiere in competition on May 16.
The movie boasts a vast cast that includes Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Giancarlo Esposito, Shia LaBeouf, Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, and Laurence Fishburne. What it’s about is far harder to quantify: writing to Vanity Fair, the director cited H.G. Wells, the September 11 attacks, and a 63 BC battle between Roman politician Cicero and an insurrectionist named Catiline.
“The story would take place in a somewhat stylized New York City, portrayed as the center of the power of the world, and Cicero would be the mayor during a time of great financial upheaval, such as the financial crisis under former Mayor Dinkins,” the director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now wrote to explain the 40-year evolution of his Megalopolis script.
“Cesar, in turn, would be a master builder, a great architect, designer, and scientist combining elements of Robert Moses, as portrayed in the brilliant biography The Power Broker, with architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Raymond Loewy, Norman Bel Geddes, or Walter Gropius.”
We don’t see any of that in the clip, which shows a black-clad Driver stepping off the edge of a domed skyscraper and then seemingly stopping time. Those who attended an April screening in Los Angeles might have more insight into how the teaser might play into the final film, in which Driver’s character—an architect intent on rebuilding a ruined city—goes up against a corrupt mayor (Esposito) who prefers the status quo.