Francis Ford Coppola looks set to finally make his dream project – and it could cost around $100 million of the director's own money, Deadline reports.
The movie, titled Megalopolis, has been in the pipeline for some time, but the director is hoping to finally start production in fall 2022.
"The concept of the film is a Roman epic," Coppola told Deadline. "This story takes place in a new Rome, a Roman epic set in modern times. The time set is not a specific year in modern New York, it’s an impression of modern New York, which I call New Rome."
The director is reportedly in discussions with Oscar Isaac, Forest Whitaker, Cate Blanchett, and Jon Voight to star, with Isaac and Whitaker in the two lead roles, and he hopes to get Zendaya, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Jessica Lange on board as well.
"This film I want to make, I believe is an exciting change from the kinds of movies being offered to the public," Coppola added. "Mainly because it puts forward a fundamental message that it’s time for us to consider that the society we live in isn’t the only alternative available to us."
The filmmaker is looking to investors to help fund the project, which has been over two decades in the making. But, should he not find the right people to get involved, Coppola is ready to pay the money himself, having made a small fortune from his own wine business, which was recently bought by the company Delicato. Megalopolis is getting made – one way, or another.
Coppola is known for directing movies like The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and The Rainmaker. His last movie was Twixt, a horror movie released in 2011 that starred Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, and Elle Fanning.
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