there appears to be no general FRANCIS COPPOLA thread

("lots of writers had been saying" = hadn't)

1980 or '81, and lots of famous people are dropping in to look at the new Zoetrope compound.

Twenty-four-year-old Michael Lehmann had the honor of giving the War Room tour to Robert Wise, esteemed director of West Side Story and The Sound of Music.

"I don't know how knowledgeable you are about the details of the editorial process..." Lehmann offered to Wise.

"I edited Citizen Kane."

"Oh. Okay, good."

At that point, hopes for the studio were still high before Coppola made 3D Stake From the Heart.

I still haven't seen One from the Heart. I'm just running out the clock, hoping I die before I talk myself into it.

I saw One From the Heart in 35mm during its 2002 re-release. It looked stunning, but I hate that Coppola cut material out of it, and this new cut is even shorter. There are at least 4 versions of it now.

The Wasson book isn’t nearly as good as his Bob Fosse bio or book on Chinatown. Too fawning and doesn’t really have nearly enough insights into what the fuck happened with Coppola/Wenders on Hammett. Some interesting material on unmade projects that were being developed by Zoetrope pre-THX-1138 and post-Apocalypse Now, though. The material on Carroll Ballard, who is a longtime favourite of mine, was interesting as well

The Wasson book isn’t nearly as good as his Bob Fosse bio or book on Chinatown.

Didn't read the Fosse book, but agree completely with the second half of that. It's been a real slog for me, with some point of interest now and again.

Looks like Megalopolis got screened the other week:

The project, which Coppola first began writing in 1983, cost a reported $120 million to make — funded in part by the sale of a significant portion of his wine empire (the 2021 deal was reportedly worth over $500 million). Clocking in at two hours and 15 minutes, the film follows the rebuilding of a metropolis after its accidental destruction, with two competing visions — one from an idealist architect (Adam Driver), the other from its pragmatist mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) — clashing in the process. References to ancient Rome — including Caesar haircuts on the men — abound.

Coppola, 84, has said no decisions will be made regarding a festival bow until a distribution plan is put in place. But while there was no shortage of curious suitors there — in addition to Rothman and Sarandos, Warner Bros.’ Pam Abdy, Disney live-action boss David Greenbaum, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Paramount’s Marc Weinstock were all spotted — multiple sources inside the screening tell The Hollywood Reporter that Megalopolis will face a steep uphill battle to find a distribution partner. Says one distributor: “There is just no way to position this movie.”

“Everyone is rooting for Francis and feels nostalgic,” adds another attendee. “But then there is the business side of things.”

A third attendee noted “a conspicuous silence at the end of it,” but stopped short of writing off the film as a failed exercise. “Does it wobble, wander, go all over the place? Yes. But it’s really imaginative and does say something about our time. I think it’s going to be a small, specialized label [that picks it up].”

(More at the link, including what sounds like a, how to put it, questionable scene involving Jon Voight.)

Megalopolis scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZL3U1j3K1c

Trying to make sense of the Megalopolis descriptions in Sam Wasson's book--which starts present-day--was a real chore. That clip is sort of interesting, I guess, but hard to gauge much unless characters are interacting--Coppola's masterpieces in the '70s had great performances top to bottom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU1QyAYa60g

Reading reports on Twitter, this sounds terrible

Midnight Cowboy reunion! (True: I momentarily wondered if Voight and Hoffman had ever done a film together and googled it.)

good screen slate podcast with vadim rizov sharing impressionss: https://www.screenslate.com/articles/episode-38-megalopolis-vadim-rizov

as someone who thought the teaser looked awful, i'm glad to have been right. though the people who have been annoying about this film will continue to be so.

David Ehrlich and Bilge Ebiri both liked it

https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/megalopolis-review-francis-ford-coppola-1235005694/

https://www.vulture.com/article/review-francis-ford-coppolas-megalopolis-is-totally-nuts.html

i'm more interested in interesting failures than boring ones so this sounds like it might be along those lines.

Two of my favorite film writers.

surprising no one i predict i will love this

I've read some really scathing reviews, but it does sound interesting

Those reviews are a big red flag for me. "Fever dream" turns up in both; "...the beautiful, woozy, unforgettable, financially dead-on-arrival One From the Heart." For some people, I guess; I thought most of it was embarrassing.

looks cool to me. though I liked Twixt so am naturally excited to see what the director can do with a bigger budget.

Speaking of One From the Heart, Driver's haircut resembles Frederic Forrest's cut from OFTH.

I didn't like One From the Heart but I have more patience in this MU-dominated world by expensive auteurist farragoes. I'll watch this gladly.

by=for

Crassus’ sociopathic court jester of a son, Clodio Pulcher (a palpably malevolent Shia LaBeouf)

glad the head start got coppola to this first

the people who have been annoying about this film will continue to be so

new board description, surely