He also said that he did not make the movie in New York as he claimed the state subsidy requires you to “do certain things through New York studios and institutions, which are way overpriced”.
In the 1970s, the director also self-funded Apocalypse Now, which is considered a modern classic. The set of this film was notoriously chaotic, with crew drinking sessions, tropical storms, and an insurgency disrupting filming.
Megalopolis transposes a conspiracy to overthrow the Roman Republic to a futuristic US, where an architect, played by Driver, attempts to build his perfect city.
He also said that the US is modelled on the Roman republic and that inspired the film’s setting in a place called New Rome. Coppola added that he “had no idea that the politics of today” would make the Roman setting so “relevant”.
“What’s happening in America, in our republic, in our democracy is exactly how Rome lost their republic thousands of years ago,” Coppola said, warning of a potential repeat of the fall of the Roman Republic.
“Our politics have taken us to the point where we might lose (our) republic and so it’s not people who have become politicians, who are going to be the answer, I feel it’s the artists of America because the role of the artist is to illuminate contemporary life, to shine a light on it, to be the headlights,” he said.
He added: “There’s a trend happening towards the more neo-right, even fascist tradition, which is frightening.”