NEW YORK (AP) ā Francis Ford Coppola believes he can stop time.
Itās not just a quality of the protagonist of a visionary architect named Cesar Catilina ( ) who, by barking āTime, stop!ā can temporarily freeze the world for a moment before restoring it with a snap of his fingers. And Coppola isn't referring to his ability to manipulate time in the editing suite. He means it literally.
āWeāve all had moments in our lives where we approach something you can call bliss,ā Coppola says. āThere are times when you have to leave, have work, whatever it is. And you just say, āWell, I donāt care. Iām going to just stop time.ā I remember once actually thinking I would do that.ā
Time is much on Coppolaās mind. Heās 85 now. Eleanor, his wife of 61 years, āMegalopolis,ā which is dedicated to her, is his first movie in 13 years. Heās been pondering it for more than four decades. The film begins, fittingly, with the image of a clock.
You have by now probably heard a few things about āMegalopolis.ā Maybe you know that Coppola financed the $120 million budget himself, using his lucrative wine empire to realize a long-held vision of Roman epic set in a modern New York. You might be familiar with the filmās in May, some of whom saw a grand folly, others a wild ambition to admire.
āMegalopolis,ā a movie Coppola first began mulling in the aftermath of in the late 1970s, has been a subject of intrigue, anticipation, gossip, a and sheer disbelief for years.
Here's details and excerpts of and the film's stars.
COPPOLA ON THE FILM'S RISKS
If Coppola has a lot riding on āMegalopolis,ā he doesnāt, in any way, appear worried. Recouping his investment in the film will be virtually impossible; he stands to lose many millions. But speaking with Coppola, itās clear heās filled with gratitude. āI couldnāt be more blessed,ā he says.
āEveryoneās so worried about money. I say: Give me less money and give me more friends,ā Coppola says. āFriends are valuable. Money is very fragile. You could have a million marks in Germany at the end of World War II and you wouldnāt be able to buy a loaf of bread.ā
WHAT THE āMEGALOPOLISā CAST SAYS ABOUT THE FILM
āOn our first day of shooting, at one point in the day he said to everybody, āWeāre not being brave enough,ā Driver recalled in Cannes. āThat, for me, was what I hooked on for the rest of the shoot.ā
Giancarlo Esposito, who first sat for a reading of the script 37 years ago with Laurence Fishburne and Billy Crudup, calls it āsome deep, deep dream of consciousnessā from Coppola.
Esposito was surprised to find the script hadnāt changed much over the years.
Every morning, he would receive a text from the director with a different ancient story. On set, Coppola favored theater games, improvisation and going with instinct.
āHe takes his time. What weāre used to in this modern age is immediate answers and having to know the answer,ā Esposito says. āAnd I donāt think Francis needs to know the answer. I think the question for him is sometimes more important.ā
COPPOLA ON THE STATE OF HOLLYWOOD
āIām a creation of Hollywood,ā says Coppola. āI went there wanting to be part of it, and by hook or crook, they let me be part of it. But that system is dying.ā
COPPOLA'S VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF FILM
In recent years, Coppola has experimented with what he calls ālive cinema,ā trying to imagine a movie form thatās created and seen simultaneously. In festival screenings, āMegalopolisā has included a live moment in which a man walks on stage and addresses a question to a character on the screen.
āThe movies your grandchildren will make are not going to be like this formula happening now. We canāt even imagine what itās going to be, and thatās the wonderful thing about it,ā says Coppola. āThe notion that thereās a set of rules to make a film ā you have to have this, you have to have that ā thatās OK if youāre making Coca-Cola because you want to know that youāre going to be able to sell it without risk. But cinema is not Coca-Cola. Cinema is something alive and ever-changing.ā
HOW TO SEE āMEGALOPOLISā
āMegalopolisā will be released by Lionsgate in theaters Friday, including many IMAX screens.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
