Francis Ford Coppola has released the first teaser trailer to his epic, self-funded passion project Megalopolis.
In the clip that dropped on Monday night, we see more of the scale and ambition of the project, with the large ensemble cast, dynamic shots of a utopian society and protests.
The film, which will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, is a Roman epic set in an imagined modern America, according to early descriptions.
Adam Driver leads Megalopolis, and the film’s cast includes Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D.B. Sweeney and Dustin Hoffman.
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Coppola first began writing Megalopolis in 1983, and the film reportedly cost $120 million to make, which was funded in part by the sale of a significant portion of the director’s wine empire. He hosted a screening of the project at the end of March for potential buyers, with Universal’s Donna Langley, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Sony’s Tom Rothman all attending.
However, over a month later, the film is still seeking distribution, as several of the screening’s attendees told The Hollywood Reporter that Megalopolis will face an uphill battle. One distributor said, “There is just no way to position this movie,” while another noted that while “everyone is rooting” for the director, “there is the business side of things.”
