Megalopolis (film)

Megalopolis is a 2024 American epic science fiction drama film written, directed, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola. The film features an ensemble cast including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D. B. Sweeney, and Dustin Hoffman. Set in an alternate 21st-century New York City (restyled "New Rome"), the story follows visionary architect Cesar Catilina (Driver) as he clashes with the corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Esposito), who opposes Catilina's plans to revitalize New Rome by building the futuristic utopia "Megalopolis". The film draws on Roman history, particularly the Catilinarian conspiracy of 63 BC and the decay of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

In 1977, Coppola had the idea to make a film drawing parallels between the fall of the Roman Republic and the future of the United States by retelling the Catilinarian conspiracy in modern New York. Although he began plotting the film in 1983, the project spent decades in development hell. Coppola attempted to produce the film in 1989 and again in 2001, but each time, the studios refused to finance the film, due to Coppola's string of late-career box-office disappointments and the September 11 attacks, respectively. Disillusioned by the studio system, Coppola did not produce Megalopolis until he built a large fortune in the winemaking business. He spent $120 million of his own money to make the film. Principal photography took place in Georgia from November 2022 to March 2023.