A behind-the-scenes clip from Megalopolis, published by The Film Stage on Thursday, September 18, reveals a fractured set.
It shows actor Shia LaBeouf bickering with director Francis Ford Coppola as they try to work out how to film a particular scene — and neither of them seems particularly happy with the process.
“What are we inventing a whole step for?” asks Coppola. “Where did that come from? Who is the director who came in here and started to stage the scene?”
“You’re obviously the director,” LaBeouf replies.
“But I’m not having a chance to,” says Coppola.
Meanwhile Jon Voight chimes in occasionally, at one point telling the camera prophetically to “say a prayer.”
The clip is taken from Megadoc, Oscar-nominated director Mike Figgis’ making of Megalopolis. Figgis’ relationship with Coppola dates back to 1996, which is how he was granted permission to film during the entire shoot.
What followed was a chronicle of the chaotic production of Megalopolis. The Godfather director’s self-financed passion project failed to recoup its costs, grossing only about $14.3 million worldwide against a budget of $120-136 million after its release in September 2024.
“I’ve become obsessively fascinated by process,” Figgis tells The San Francisco Chronicle. “Sometimes I see a really bad film, and I find it fascinating. I just go, ‘Wow, wow. What a choice,’ you know? So watching Francis at work, I’m kind of, ‘Wow!’ I read the script and I thought, ‘How’s he gonna shoot this?'”
Megadoc opens in theaters on Friday, September 19. There’s one detail it won’t include, however.
Megalopolis was embroiled in controversy when accusations emerged Coppola made inappropriate advances with extras while filming. Megadoc steers clear of this for one important reason. “The reason it’s not in Megadoc is because I didn’t have any footage to support that,” said Figgis. “You know, I was there watching like a hawk all the time. Francis, an old-school filmmaker, has his, let’s say, his bipolar larger-than-life personality. The tensions that I saw were so dominated by his wanting to make the film in a certain way.”
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