Making a Mess: a History of Megalopolis

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Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis recently premiered in theaters...42 years after he originally conceived of the film. I dug into biographies and newspapers to learn all I could about the storied history of Megalopolis in order to prepare myself to actually see it. In this video, I’ll tell you everything I’ve learned: why the film took so long to make, the ideas behind it, the various controversies surrounding its release, and, finally, my thoughts on how it turned out.
A lot of footage in this video comes from this One From the Heart Documentary, which I highly recommend for a more detailed look at Zoetrope Studios: • The Dream Studio - ONE...
The Godfather Pt 3 Disaster: • Sofia Coppola and The ...
Patrick Willems on Coppola: • How Francis Ford Coppo...
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[@joylipumano]

I’m really sad that Zoetrope Studio failed. It sounded like Francis Ford Coppola wanted a Hollywood studio to not be run by businessmen, and run solely on creative passion, but ironically he had to be a businessman to keep the studio running.

[@kurtwagner350]

What’s wild is that if he actually had the money to absorb a couple bombs, the studio probably could’ve made something great and turned a profit. So many innovations are limited by having no runway to see their vision through til it works.

[@sabretoo]

I'm not an expert on this history, but there seems to be some irony in Coppola and Lucas' relationship: Coppola helped Lucas get started and work more independently, but then Star Wars reframed cinema into moneymaking IPs which limited creative independence for all directors. By substituting studios for franchises, did they become the very thing they hoped to destroy?

[@LordJagd]

Lucas still had creative control over Star Wars until he sold it. He even put the money down for Empire Strikes Back and clearly made the prequels without any studio input (for better or for worse lol), the studio system has always been around, it just changed form.

[@GemAndMoth]

The problem with a movie that was conceived over 25 years ago is that it will undoubtedly feel dated no matter how many rewrites. Especially one written by a man who experienced his greatest highs in the 70s. Artists like Coppola have been told for so long how genius they are…they can no longer make something truly universal because they’ve become so isolated by their status, they have no idea how to relate to “regular people” - not even getting into the obvious misogyny that was rampant in the 70s. (also…How can you sue a publication for libel for publishing a video?!)

[@verawarren2893]

You are so right!!

[@LordJagd]

I think Coppola is a pretty humble guy. His depiction of “genius” in Megalopolis is silly but he normally talks about the greatness of other filmmakers and he said the highlight of his life was making wine and movie and watching his daughter win an Oscar. His movies have become more experimental and personal for decades and Megalopolis feels like the natural progression of that. And he sued them for publishing a video that was framed as something it was not. The woman in the video even said the shoot was a great experience and Variety publishing the video was a breach of privacy since it was supposed to be a closed set.

[@MrKadirbey]

Oh I'm seated

[@ericfasold805]

Even though she won an Oscar, do you think you could do a video about Mary Pickford? you're overdue.

[@marcus6918]

your comedic timing again is amazing on this one

[@timelessdays]

There's something funny about Adam Driver being the protagonist of two films that were in development for decades which ended up being pretty meh to bad.

[@rickardkaufman3988]

@@timelessdays Silence by Martin Scorsese was good.

[@timelessdays]

@@rickardkaufman3988 I was referring to The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

[@rickardkaufman3988]

@@timelessdays Oh, I see. Gilliam's movie is mid. Interesting how Adam Driver has been a part of a total of 10 film projects by auteurs that went through development hell before coming out. Guess he's a lucky charm.

[@katiemedarling]

@@timelessdays(even though i dont agree) you could argue ferrari fits this mould too

[@RyanRemigio]

Adam did star in the last Ridley Scott movie I really enjoyed

[@annemarson4144]

The poster for Megalopolis looks like an Ayn Rand paperback. It’s enough to scare me off. But I’ll probably still watch it out of morbid curiosity.

[@iammraat3059]

Such a fool

[@autumntaylor2533]

It's like Rand in major key

[@ArgerichStan]

I saw this in an arthouse cinema in Berlin, and about half the theater walked out before the end. If the audience at an arthouse cinema in Berlin is bored/bothered by a film, you KNOW there must be something wrong with the movie.

[@MasterBotttle]

I really wish that zoetrope studio actually succeeded

[@Horsemanray]

Using a piss yellow filter for the whole film was certainly a choice.

[@ErnestoMaldonado-mq8mx]

Um... let's call it "Apple Cider" shall we?

[@florinivan6907]

Coppola wants to compete with Ridley Scott in the 'old directors who should retire but won't' category.

[@FlyingFocs]

Having seen the film myself (fun fact, it was the only movie I can think of in which I saw people walk out), and I gotta say... I clicked on this video the moment I saw it, because "how it was made" had to be more interesting than the film itself.

[@ludovicoc7046]

Megalopolis: A Coppola Lapse Now.

[@misterlemons111]

BKR YOU'VE NEVER FAILED ME i haven't clicked this fast ever p.s. never expected to get an extension on my roman history and rethoric classes on a Megalopolis video

[@JamesBrown-gv1vg]

I don't actually care what the critics said, I just didn't see it because I don't support Shia LaBeouf, I stand with FKA Twigs.

[@TF2Fan101]

I think the best comparison for this movie is like Rapture from Bioshock. An ambitious idea by an ambitious man that ultimately collapsed.

[@katherinealvarez9216]

And they're still trying to get that made. 😂

[@rickardkaufman3988]

Less of Ayn Rand and more of what if Neil Breen made Southland Tales set in the Roman Republic.

[@FlyingFocs]

Ooh, good parallel. It's also different in that while Megalopolis seems to suggest that men are capable of making a utopia, BioShock... laughs at that.

[@KayGee-r5o]

I would describe this film as if Ayn Rand finally sat down to write Atlas Shrugged but took acid and watched Gladiator and then someone gave her 150 million dollars to produce it.

[@CatharticCreation]

that sounds highly entertaining tho

[@DustinReckling]

SO EARLYYYYY! Thank you, queen.

[@xTenshiko]

Great video! All that footage of him surrounding himself/his fictional stand-in with children.. Coppola's vision of himself as some kind of patron of young artists, guiding children to embrace their artistic voices, is kind of hilarious in the context of his repeated defense of Victor Salva.

[@bkrewind]

Exactly…it will never make sense

[@robertgoyette5863]

YESSSSSSSS more coppola content please!!!!

[@janethayes5941]

Finally, the one place where I can trust the view of this film.

[@UDontTakeMeSeriously]

Hearing the stuff he wrote out of context makes him sound like a Bioshock villain

[@Joselitty]

I cannot wait to watch this when I'm home. I saw this high with a friend last Saturday and her and I were talking about how we lowkey had fun with how bizarre this movie was. Eggsited to hear your thoughts

[@dominicgamboa2554]

Seeing clips from 'One from the Heart' for the first time is crazy; would have thought that it could have been made this year - absolutely gorgeous stuff.

[@postmodernrecycler]

That's probably its strongest redeemable quality. The performances are okay (outside of the singing). I'd say it's not as bad as its reputation, but it's not a great watch.

[@bkrewind]

Agreed, I’ve only seen the re-edit. Gorgeous but not great.

[@MariaVosa]

I see this in my feed - click immediately Then immediately pauses, goes to make a big glass of G&T and a grab a bowl of popcorn. Here. We. Goooooooo!!! 🍸🍿

[@nicholasseifriss6350]

Now this is the video you wait a month for ❤

[@Anynom]

I am so fascinated by passion projects gone badly. So many times you see it coming and the creator doesn't to make it better

[@iammraat3059]

How has it gone badly ? The film is here

[@PersonOfTheInternet280]

On letterboxd Coppla's account rated Megalopolis 5 stars, that made me sad.

[@jonathaneilbeck2263]

Megalopolis: Never have you seen an intense conflict about planning permission as this one.

[@VeeLondon1449]

Francis Ford Coppola’s lifelong vanity project. Let’s go.. 🤦🏽‍♀️

[@Mr.StevenKerr]

His money, his creativity....who cares? Why hate on someone for making something he wants to?

[@bloohazze]

Clearly not a creative.

[@kurtwagner350]

Bro just wants to make one last piece of art?

[@pansepot1490]

⁠@@Mr.StevenKerr who’s hating? If people continue to label as “hate” any harmless and legitimate opinion they disagree with, the word hate will become meaningless very soon.

[@xbjrrtc]

I was hoping you'd make this! Love this channel 😍

[@jlee4039]

The problem with vanity projects is that they’re typically created by old men who wield tremendous power and influence over those around them, and that power imbalance not only ruins the project, it makes the lives of those involved (the crew, the cast, the viewers) worse, whether catastrophically or incrementally, but always worse.

[@katherinealvarez9216]

Is there an example where the end result is good or you get into it because it's fun and the people involved had fun with it?

[@RunningP123456]

Coppola has power and influence? Lmao

[@pssurvivor]

@@katherinealvarez9216 midnight mass was a project that mike flanagan had been trying to get made forever. turned out great

[@joshuagregoire9504]

yet scorsese, miyazaki, flanagan, wim wenders newest projects and up being good. But lets place the blame on old man 😒

[@wetwatermusic-vf1zk]

is that the problem with vanity projects? i had no idea. don't know why I had thought it might be about-uh the vanity.

[@rebeccacarolan262]

Hey movie friends ❤

[@Lensman864]

A profoundly important document of cinema history; very well done. It's so nice to view creativity aimed at intelligent adults!

[@brunosalada7790]

the blind items about the production of this movie were depressing at best and disastrous at worst

[@jo_jo_jo]

What I'm getting from this video and Coppola's many projects is that he was a better storyteller than a director. Yes, he can tell a story, but he is unable to organize anything.

[@imtheonewhobroughtthebeans915]

Maybe the real Megalopolis was the studios we bankrupted along the way ❤

[@CinnamonGrrlErin1]

"Bold yet fatally flawed" is one of my favorite classes of film. I can forgive a lot of "bad" movies, but boring is the worst cinematic sin imo.

[@saraghhh]

I have a soft spot in my heart for Coppola after spending weeks studying the film score and filmmaking for Dracula as a musicology research assistant in university nearly 20 years ago. I thought it was a bit of a jokey movie because of the reputation it garnered over the years since it was released. But learning about all of the incredible historical details he put in the film and the early film techniques he used, as an artist I fell in love with the film. Silly accents aside, that film was and is more brilliant artistically than it’s given credit for.

[@breannajames7896]

I never been this early for a video. uploaded 2 mins ago from when I'm commenting. 😅

[@ReelPodcasts]

The best way I can describe watching this movie is that it's similar to watching bad Shakespeare. Like I get what you're trying to do but you're doing all the worst possible ways.

[@artleitch]

Another greatly enjoyable video, and a perspective on the new movie that I didn't know of/hadn't heard before

[@PoetryJesusY2K]

At least it failed in a spectacular way that no other film is allowed to fail like anymore.

[@nad613]

He sounds like he just wanted a film equivalent of a jam session, it's interesting since that sounds super hard to pull off

[@HBarnill]

Adam Driver has the unfortunate distinction of being in 2 $100m movies that only made $4m at opening weekend: The Last Duel and Megalopolis.

[@qixxxz]

WOW! What a great review!

[@ukulelepopstar1019]

Literally have my bowl of popcorn ready to go

[@rockersunite122]

42:41 I’m saving this for when I eventually see this. Cause I get the feeling this is gonna be the best way to describe this.

[@RichardHannay]

Omg, thus is gonna be a banger of a watch!!! 😱

[@TheHollywoodCrone]

Superb, as always, thank you~

[@marabanara]

Here we gooooo!

[@itsjuanpacheco]

11:08 Well, at least “One from the Heart” beat out “Soggy Bottom USA”. That’s something.

[@ticktockbother6]

I KNEW BKR was gonna make a vid of Megalopolis which is why I waited to see this video before I saw the film 😊

[@cvill03]

Not even a month in, you drop the 🎤, decided the make the Oral History of MEGALOPOLIS

[@iammraat3059]

Glazing is insane here

[@xbjrrtc]

Thanks!

[@bkrewind]

Thank you!

[@amirmohamad2270]

Someone should have just sent him play throughs of Bioshock Games

[@tatehildyard5332]

Fun fact; that NY 2nd unit footage shot during the 2000s scrapped after 9/11 was shot by DP Ron Fricke, the cinematographer of Koyanisquatsi (which Coppola and George Lucas produced).

[@violetslit]

you titling part 1 "mega flop" girl you already got me HOOKED

[@gisellepoppy]

SAME IJBOL

[@Xepscern]

Ah, my favorite Neil Breen movie

[@EviePontecorvo]

Truly the best cinema!

[@jillhoffman9179]

😅 Vanity projects and staggering ego COMBINED.

[@Sweetthang9]

How does someone recover from something like this emotionally?

[@pssurvivor]

i would compare it to me finishing my PhD thesis. in the end it meant very little to the world, no one cared, no one outside of the people in my committee will read it and even they found it "normal" nothing groundbreaking or anything. but it was the fruition of 5 years of blood, sweat and tears (literally) and i was immensely proud and relieved to get it out of me

[@CatharticCreation]

it is a very tragic thing to go through i imagine

[@dornravlin]

God I just love your videos great presentation. Thought provoking your such a boss

[@stephenleblanc4677]

OMG, this is a 1 hour prologue!

[@cunnobelinescall]

gonna watch this video thrice more go see megalopolis again and then watch this

[@ghosttrain9022]

Aubrey Plaza is Wow Platinum

[@ah7910]

I have two things in life I am obsessed with. Film and cake. ‘BarakBigButt’ is my favorite OF page and Be King Rewind my favorite frickin KZbin Channel!!!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

[@tablemold]

Reminds me of a slightly les out of touch The Fountainhead, minus the Randian fascism lol

[@kurtwagner350]

I’m torn. On one hand I want to watch Megaopolis blind, on the other a new Be Kind Rewind video dropped about it...

[@AUUA-p5v]

Idc as a artist hearing your elders going through anything it takes to create a vision is inspiring don’t care if it’s ass happy for him

[@CatharticCreation]

it is pretty tragic to have failures later in life. how many films will coppola make after this? it’s a lot easier to recover from failure when you’re younger. i feel bad for him.

[@redluis369]

Yes

[@cariander]

So what you're saying is that you think one year of researching Coppola's life entitles you to plow through the riches of his Emersonian mind?

[@Microphonunlock]

here we goo

[@idil3879]

oh im seated

[@mcolville]

WOW

[@mcolville]

Wow.

[@SheldonPicklyk]

It's still better than Joker 2.

[@BlackZynfyndel]

The streaming docuseries about this flop is going to be epic

[@gisellepoppy]

watching this instead of the movie cause i didn’t wanna give francis ford coppola my money LMFAO, if i’m gonna hate watch i’ll just🏴‍☠️

[@jade_tayla]

Watched this last night and was completely baffled by everything I saw…. One of the worst movies I’ve ever seen but I can’t hate on FFC’s commitment to getting it made.

[@Matt.Minton]

I'M SAT. Seated. Sitting. All the things.

[@TonyRocha-gp3cv]

Hoping they release here in Brazil.

[@Tolstoy111]

1997 was the last time he had made a feature film on any sort of scale (The Rainmaker)

[@borncluelesstv9407]

"Lawrence Fishburn was Lawrence Fishburn" lolll

[@Nikki-tx6kh]

I don't know why, but I was weirdly convinced you'd be talking about Maggie Smith next. I suppose I was wrong.

[@johnboyle382]

All I wanna know is…why not a Peggy Sue Got Married sequel instead??!!

[@katherinealvarez9216]

36:36 I have. Lord I have.

[@teamogaga]

omg, won't watch your vid till I check the movie first, (still not available in my country), but THANK YOU queen for feeding us 🩶

[@pssurvivor]

young f f coppola looked like quinton reviews (sorta)

[@delanocarson7544]

what is going on with Cataline's hands in the painting tho....

[@ewyeth7713]

i am specifically only a roman history person for the work of mary beard so seeing her name pop up made me jump

[@BugVlogs]

This movie felt like Sharkboy and Lavagirl for pretentious cinephiles

[@WaverBoy]

You say that like it’s a bad thing

[@edwardd4]

I feel like this is in the same vain as Everything Everywhere All At Once. It’s like a new genre of movie.

[@DaniTrueartgirl]

I mean, he has nothing left to prove so why not have fun with a weird movie.

[@hexyoutubeaccount]

yesssssssss mother

[@asiabrew81]

I have a simple rule: Any film that is designated as an auteur director's masterpiece or vanity project 9/10 times will be at best, not your fave in that director's oeuvre or be an absolute trainwreck of art fit for snarky meme fuel at worst. I have yet to be letdown by this assessment,

[@stephenleblanc4677]

Like a family. You mean like Michael and Fredo?

[@jo_jo_jo]

So, after such a long and well-researched video, I wondered how I would summarize it, and all it came to mind was something along the lines of: "A rich privileged man throws a tantrum after no longer being praised. And, instead of reflect on his own failures and learn a lesson, links himself to some historical figure in a self-congratulatory tour de force. Then, proceeds to narrate the story of such figure, but in modern age, only to pat his own self-indulgent ego. "You're a star and, if someone doesn't agree, it is because they're unable to comprehend YOU", whispers a voice in his ear. Dear lord, what a mess.

[@bkrewind]

HA! Hmm I mean I don’t think Megalopolis self-congratulatory so much as it is wish fulfillment (thematically and literally). He doesn’t write Cesar as flawless, which I think is important to note. It’s probably fair to call it an ego thing, but I personally have a lot of empathy for needing to express through art the frustration of having your dream blow up so publicly and fantastically…especially since I think his mission to found an artist-forward studio was a good one ultimately, even if he was incapable of seeing it through.

[@drhall343]

Stupidly rich guy thinks he knows how society should be run. Also is notoriously shitty to people who work for him. 😂

[@FishareFriendsNotFood972]

The film was so, so, sexist tho. All the female characters were shockingly two dimensional, either the scorned mistress, or the perfectly earnest good girl Madonna, who exists merely to be a prize for a man. And then the pop star auctioning off her first time? Ewww. The whole thing just screamed 'inside the head of a creepy old man' the whole time. I don't suggest seeing it, I don't want to give money to a message that so very clearly is at least partially 'women are subhuman set dressing'.

[@bkrewind]

^^ I talk about it

[@FishareFriendsNotFood972]

@@bkrewind My point is that's where my discussion of the movie would begin and end. There are no artistic merits if it doesn't pass the Bechtel test. If we stop treating this type of misogyny as a footnote, and instead a reason to not see films, studios will green light less of it. I want the next generation of girls to soak up less of these messages subconsciously, just have it less normalized. So on that basis, I would boycott this film

[@iammraat3059]

You are a silly person

[@FishareFriendsNotFood972]

@@iammraat3059 Why?

[@iammraat3059]

​​@@FishareFriendsNotFood972 the women and men are not people but archetypes. They are not just socialites, it's what you think it is. Also, in a fallen world, virginity has a higher prize.

[@abdulazizmohammed6832]

31:36 oh youre so wrong for that