Francis Ford Coppola says Megalopolis isn't 'woke,' features actors 'who were canceled'

Francis Ford Coppola continues to build anticipation for his new film Megalopolis in... unique ways.

The 85-year-old cinema legend recently touched on some of the controversies surrounding the film, including the casting of actors with conservative views, like Jon Voight. "What I didn’t want to happen is that we’re deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers," Coppola told Rolling Stone. "The cast features people who were canceled at one point or another."

The only other "canceled" member of the Megalopolis cast appears to be Shia LaBeouf, who was accused by former girlfriend and singer FKA Twigs of "relentless abuse" in a 2020 lawsuit.

The Apocalypse, Now and The Godfather  director continued that "there were people who are archconservatives and others who are extremely politically progressive" on the Megalopolis set. "But we were all working on one film together. That was interesting, I thought."

Adam Driver stars as a modern version of Julius Caesar, presiding over the titular New Rome. The stacked cast also includes Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Dustin Hoffman, and the filmmaker's sister Talia Shire and nephew Jason Schwartzman. The 138-minute epic divided critics when it premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, a reception that ultimately led to one of the production's many controversies.

A trailer for the film released on Aug. 21 contained several excerpts of negative critiques of past Coppola films by esteemed critics like Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris. "True genius is often misunderstood," Fishburne says in voiceover, positioning Megalopolis in the lineage of great works of art that took time to be appreciated.

The quotes, however, were all made up. Lionsgate recalled the trailer and issued an apology, later stating that the marketing consultant hired to produce the trailer used AI to generate the false statements.

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Coppola was also accused of inappropriate behavior on the Megalopolis set in May, including kissing female extras. Videos documenting what was purported to be an example of that behavior followed in August, with conflicting responses later coming from female extras seen in the video. There were also reports of "chaos" on set that the director addressed to Rolling Stone, boiling those rumors down to "disagreements that had to do with the studio I was shooting at in Atlanta," conflict over what "money was being spent on," and a hectic shooting schedule.

"It’s all so ridiculous," Coppola said, claiming the first reports came "right before we’re about to premiere the film at Cannes. They’re just trying to damage the picture."

Coppola has been working on Megalopolis since the late 1970s, with stars like Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Uma Thurman, and James Gandolfini all attached at various points in development. It is Coppola's first film since 2011's Twist, and was self-financed by Coppola and his production company American Zoetrope.

Megalopolis releases in theaters on Sept. 27.