Update: the trailer has been taken down! The critic quotes in it were fabricated.
Francis Ford Coppola could make almost any movie he likes, but this one is so ambitious it took him a long time to get it together. Megalopolis, a science fiction drama starring Adam Driver and Giancarlo Esposito, hits the screens next month
MEGALOPOLIS is a Roman Epic set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor's daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.
I like that the high concept of it didn't pass muster with almost anyone but himself. I like the impression it gives that he's unfamiliar with science fiction yet has a perfect command of the contemporary aesthetics of mainstream sci-fi cinema. I like that it's poisoned by camp right down to the first 45 seconds of the trailer being a pre-emptive attack on movie critics. I love how it insists upon itself.
