“To do a Roman epic set in modern America, I had no idea that the politics of today would make that so relevant,” Francis Ford Coppola said Friday in Cannes about this $120 million 40-years-in-the-making epic Megalopolis.
The movie follows The City of New Rome, an allegory for New York City, in which Adam Driver’s architect Cesar Catilina squares off with a regressive status quo mayor, Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) as well as radical renegade Clodio Pulcher (Shia LaBeouf) in the hopes of building a utopian society.
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“What’s happening in America, in our republic, in our democracy is exactly how Rome lost their republic thousands of years ago,” The Godfather filmmaker said during a press conference for the movie after it’s Cannes world premiere on Thursday night.
“Our politics have taken us to the point where we might lose a republic, and so it’s not people who have become politicians who are going to be the answer, it’s the artists of America.”
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“The role of the artist is to illuminate contemporary life, to shine a light on it, to be the headlight. So, to make art that does not illuminate contemporary life is like making a hamburger that you eat that has no nutrition in it, which is also going on,” continued Coppola.
Coppola was asked how afraid he is of the future, and especially politicians like former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Coppola emphasized, “Men like Donald Trump are not at the moment in charge, but there is a trend happening in the world … there is a trend toward the more neo-right, even fascist division, which is frightening. Anyone who was alive during World War II saw the horrors that took place, and we don’t want a repeat of that. Again, I think it’s the role of artists of films to shine a light on what’s happening in the world.”
Coppola then pulled his Megalopolis actor Jon Voight, known for his conservative views, into the conversation. “Jon, you have different political opinions than me…”
“One of the things I might say about our wonderful cast is that they reflect all sorts of political ideas,” said Coppola.
Voight has spoken out for Trump and in a recent video that’s made the rounds has defended Trump, saying he had been “ridiculed” and “destroyed as Jesus.” Voight also has said that Trump was “targeted for his information that can knock down the corrupt swamp” and is “the only man that can destroy the negative propaganda that has been sworn into this office.”
Today on the global Cannes stage, however, Voight kept his remarks mostly apolitical, telling Coppola that the filmmaker’s focus “is to make a better world.”
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Voight continued, “Where are we going? I think we’re all at this moment asking that question of ourselves. Where are we going and what can we do? I’m a little older now –some of you may have noticed that — and have a limited amount of time. And I think to myself, what can I do to encourage us toward a better world to protect these kids? That’s exactly what I’m doing, it’s in my head every second of the day to see what can we do to make this world better. I know it’s possible.
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“I agree with this film, Francis’ vision that human beings are capable of solving every problem we get ourselves into. We can do it; that’s what the last moments of the film that Adam is saying. We can do it. We must bond together, we must help each other, we must listen to each other and we must take this on and make a better world. We’ve been through quite a lot. We have experience and we know many things. We have to do our best and we have to do our best to appreciate those people who step out and attempt to show us the way a little bit.”
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Voight said he has been privy to Coppola’s Megalopolis idea for some 25 years.
Said the Oscar-winning Coming Home actor, “It’s a vision that has bothered him to express — he had to do it.”