Francis Ford Coppola is reportedly planning for his next film to be a “strange ‘30s-style musical”.
READ MORE: ‘Megalopolis’ review: as mad and memorable as everyone is saying
The veteran director, who established his reputation with the likes of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, helmed the critically-reviled box office flop Megalopolis earlier this year, a passion project that he financed with his own money.
Undeterred, the 85-year-old is already focusing on his next major project, speaking to The Washington Post about how he intends to start production on new film Glimpses Of The Moon in London in the new year.
He has described the film as “a strange ‘30s-style musical” and “a very odd confection” that has “strong dance and musical elements”. He added that this time around, he has funded the film “the conventional way, with the help of national subsidies, because I’m all borrowed out”.
Francis Ford Coppola at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2024. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images)
“It won’t be cheap by any means,” he continued, but said that unlike Megalopolis, it will not be an “epic”.
Glimpses Of The Moon will be an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel of the same name, and will incorporate elements of the 1937 screwball comedy The Awful Truth, with both stories telling the tale of a married couple splitting up, only to regret their decision.
Coppola has even said that he already knows what his film after Glimpses Of The Moon will be – Distant Vision, he says, will be his final film, and will be “more ambitious than Megalopolis.
Megalopolis was released in September, a sci-fi fable set in an alternate present-day version of America, where Adam Driver’s futuristic architect Cesar Catilina, who has the ability to pause time, is clashing with the conservative mayor of New Rome, Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito).
The project was riddled with controversies, with an extra from the film saying she was left “in shock” after being kissed by Coppola on the set, and a trailer that included fake quotes from critics leading to a marketing consultant being fired.
It has also been met with mixed reviews, including a somewhat hostile reaction at Cannes. In NME’s two-star review of Megalopolis, Lou Thomas wrote: “The whole piece is so uneven, that at times it’s akin to watching a toddler being given free rein as an interior decorator. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you always should.”
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