The most awaited film this year at the Cannes Film Festival, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, had its world premiere Thursday night, with the dystopian epic decades in the making landing a seven-minute standing ovation, Deadline reports.
Coppola, the 85-year-old director and five-time Oscar winners, bowed as the lights came up inside the Grand Theatre Lumiere. He was congratulated by his Cotton Club star Richard Gere and got a hug from Cannes boss Thierry Fremaux as the ovation carried on.
Said Coppola to the crowd finally: “Thank you all so much — it is impossible to find words how I feel.” He then introduced those around him — including his granddaughter and son and collaborator Roman Coppola and sister Talia Shire. He called his cast “family” and emphasized the movie’s end message: “We should pledge allegiance to our families…that children should inherit a beautiful world from us.”
Anticipation has been at its peak for Coppola’s first feature film in 13 years. It was evident even before the screening at Cannes’ famed Palais: The director of so many indelible films from The Conversation to Palme d’Or winner Apocalypse Now and the seminal Godfather trilogy got a three-minute-plus standing ovation from the audience before the screening ever started, as he took his seat surrounded by his cast including stars Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza.
Megalopolis is a Roman epic fable, set in an imagined modern America, where the city of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.
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