Documentarian Mike Figgis was offered total access to Francis Ford Coppola’s set and archive for a Megalopolis doc. The results could be interesting.
Oscar-winning documentary maker Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) has made “a secret fly-on-the-wall making-of doc” about Francis Ford Coppola’s infamous passion project, Megalopolis, Variety reports.
The film certainly sounds like it’s earned the interest. Over what we’ll euphemistically describe as an “eventful” production and release cycle, the Godfather trilogy director’s $120m sci-fi epic spawned accusations of on-set misconduct, Coppola out of his depth, and Adam Driver on damage control.
This, in turn, spawned a bizarre editorial tit-for-tat between Hollywood trade stalwarts Variety and Deadline (in which the latter accused its Penske Media Corporation stablemate of publishing “pseudo-salacious” rumours “for clicks”), a disastrous industry screening (“there is just no way to position this movie,” said one executive) and a Cannes debut which turned “mixed reviews” into an artform. That’s before the film arrived in cinemas with a splash which sounded a lot like a bellyflop.
Read more: Megalopolis review | A towering, steaming pile of art | Film Stories
If ever a film warranted a behind-the-scenes doc, then, it’s this one. Acquired by Megalopolis co-distributor, Utopia, Coppola’s long-term friend Figgis was reportedly given complete access to the film’s set for the entirety of its production, and is understood to delve into the good and bad of the legendary auteur’s 50-year passion project, according to Variety.
“The great filmmaker Mike Figgis shot the making of Megalopolis as he saw it,” Coppola said. “Interestingly, there are many interpretations of what really happened and it’s all in the documentary although the documentary doesn’t always say which is what … it is for the viewer to behold and interpret.”
“Francis gave me access to everything, including the amazing archive material he’s accumulated of the many readings of the script as it went from one version to another. I was more or less free to go where I wanted,” Figgis said. “The cast were open about the working situation and how they were dealing with the idiosyncrasies of Francis and his very individual working methods. What a privilege to be a witness to such a moment in film history.”
Coppola, of course, is no stranger to the making-of documentary – Eleanor Coppola’s Hearts Of Darkness, which bust open the doors of the director’s equally beset epic Apocalypse Now, is regularly cited as one of the most impressive behind-the-scenes docs of the 20th century.
Utopia are said to be planning a theatrical release for the documentary this autumn. No word on a UK release plan as yet.
