Update: Lionsgate has pulled the Megalopolis trailer from circulation after many pointed out the critic quotes at the beginning were either falsified or inaccurate in their depiction.
“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for ‘Megalopolis,’” Lionsgate said in a statement to Variety. “We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our vetting process.We screwed up.We are sorry.”
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A new trailer for Megalopolis reveals a look at the next feature film from legendary director Francis Ford Coppola. Megalopolis has been in the making for years, as Coppola has resorted to funding the project himself to see its completion. But the star-studded movie will finally arrive next month, featuring a cast that is headlined by Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and Nathalie Emmanuel. The newest Megalopolis trailer even gets off to an interesting start, referencing decades old negative reviews of Coppola’s past works such as 1972’s The Godfather, 1979’s Apocalypse Now, and 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
The Megalopolis trailer begins with Adam Driver’s Cesar Catilina gazing down at the City of New Rome from ledge of a high-rise building, with Laurence Fishburne narrating. “Imagine today’s society as a branch of civilization. About to reach a dead end,” Driver says. “Is this the way we’re living? The only one that’s available to us? My plan is a city people can dream about.”
This is the major conflict in Megalopolis, as Driver’s Cesar Catilina wants to remake the city and prepare it for an idealistic future, which is in contrast with Giancarlo Esposito’s Mayor Franklyn Cicero, who wants to keep things the way they are – corrupt, regressive, and in a constant state of chaos. The trailer shows off some of the spectacular visual elements in Megalopolis, teasing the long-awaited epic that fans have been waiting for.
What is Megalopolis about?
Megalopolis is a Roman Epic set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.
Writen and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the movie stars Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, and Dustin Hoffman. Megalopolis opens in theaters on September 27th.
