Originally, Francis Ford Coppola wanted to use an Alexa device to let audiences interact with his epic, Megalopolis. Then job losses at Amazon blew the idea.
When Megalopolis made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, several reviews described a fascinating detail. At a certain point in Francis Ford Coppola’s fantastical epic, an usher walked up to the front of the cinema and began directly addressing the screen in a brief back-and-forth with Cesar, the character played by Adam Driver.
So what’s that all about?
A fascinating interview by Robbie Collin over at The Telegraph has the answer. In it, Coppola explains that, while he was readying production on Megalopolis in 2021, he had the idea of allowing the audience to interact with the movie, at least in one specific scene. To achieve this, he made a deal with Amazon to produce a specialised version of its Alexa device, specifically designed to listen for reactions from audiences and play one of several pre-recorded sequences that most closely matched their responses.
“Imagine!” Coppola said of the concept. “You could see Megalopolis five times in its opening week and it would be different each time! It would have been the future of the movies and ancient theatre rolled into one!”
Unfortunately, fate intervened: Amazon made a series of job cuts in 2022, and the team working on the custom Alexa units for Coppola were among those who were made redundant.
With the interactive idea now out of the question, Coppola – following a suggestion by Driver – came up with a less high-tech solution: have someone in the cinema address the screen with pre-scripted questions.
Read more: The mega problems of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis
As Megalopolis' general release date approaches, however, the question becomes: will cinema chains reliably have a member of staff on hand who’s willing and able to trudge into each screening to shout at Adam Driver’s massive face? It’s fair to say the quality of those performances could vary wildly depending on each usher’s acting ability, energy level and commitment to their job.
A sci-fi fantasy about a visionary architect’s dream of rebuilding a shattered New York, Megalopolis is a passion project that Coppola has had in the works in one form or another since the 1980s. Funded in large part by the sale of the filmmaker’s own wine-making business, its production has been marred by reports of chaos on its set, more serious allegations of sexual assault (something Coppola has denied), and most recently, a bizarre, hastily-withdrawn trailer filled with made-up quotes from respected film critics.
Megalopolis, which may or may not feature a tired-looking usher shouting at the screen, will arrive in UK cinemas on the 27th September. Perhaps Coppola could revisit the interactive idea for its Blu-ray release.
