Megadoc

It doesn’t matter if you hated or loved Megalopolis, or even if you didn’t see it at all - you will be fascinated by Megadoc.

When Francis Ford Coppola finally started work on his retrofuturist ancient Rome drama-parable Megalopolis (the $120 million, self-funded passion project he had been nurturing for decades), he invited another director to be a fly on the wall and make a record of his work in progress. The result is Megadoc, a compelling and intimate account of a great director at work.

Mike Figgis’ portrait of Coppola’s creative process weaves together archival material, unfiltered cast interviews, and a close-up view of how the legendary filmmaker drew from Roman history, political allegory, and his own singular vision to shape the world of Megalopolis. The indomitable Coppola is captured in full rhetorical flow: schooling one and all on what happens when a film is made and how glorious it is to spend and even lose money in the service of cinema.

This isn’t a record of a production on the brink, it’s a personal memoir unfolding in real time.

Screening from April 9 at Luna Leederville.