The awards, family pictures, and massive collection of vintage zoetropes are all in the lobby.
It looks like a cross between a museum wing and the worlds most artfully decorated man cave.
He has just returned from a two-week trip to China.
“The Godfatheropened up the world to me,” Coppola (right, with Marlon Brando) tells Rolling Stone.Steve Schapiro/Corbis/Getty Images
Hes not sure where hes going to be next week.
Do we want to go see them?
(This is apparently not the first time hes done this tour with members of the media.)
Because this is whats at stake if this movie doesnt succeed.
This is whyMegalopolisreally has to succeed.
(Its set to hit theaters on Sept. And, in a way, I have nothing left to lose anymore.
Youve been talking aboutMegalopolissince the late 1970s.
And I thought that what the movie was about ought to determine what style itd be in.
But I started to think, When Im an older, elderly person, what will my style be?
I thought they would show me what my true style was.
Now, I wasnt trying to writeMegalopolisover 40 years.
Its more that these scrapbooks were going on for 40 years.
They had gladiators and conspiring crazy people like Caligula or Nero.
I believe that we all get a gift.
What are they?A good imagination, fantastic memory, and Cassandra-like ability to see the future.
Those are my three talents.
I think Steven [Spielberg] has that gift.
I only can write a script as if Im going to rewrite it 100 times.
But its happening right now in our lives.
What I didnt want to happen is that were deemed some woke Hollywoood production.
There were different periods where I took stabs at it.
Whats the name of the actor inThe Sopranos,the main one?
James Gandolfini?Yes!
He gave me a lot of great suggestions, actually.
He read the part of the mayor back when I did a reading of a draft in 2001.
And you were about to start production when9/11 happened.
I couldnt write my way out of it.
So I abandoned the project.
Around 2017 or so, Anthony Bourdain invited me to come on to his travel show.
This is not healthy for me.
You dont see any 85-year-old, 300-pound men running around.
I realized that even though the script was 20 years old, I could still do it.
You have an art department with five art directors.
I want to cut one of them.
Well, if you cut one, well all resign.
I did, and they did.
I had Aubrey Plaza.
I had Nathalie Emmanuel.
I didnt have Adam.
It was a very creative, interesting week of rehearsals.
You could see the actors find the characters.
Shia [LaBeouf] really took to it.
The cast features people who were canceled at one point or another.
There were people who are archconservatives and others who are extremely politically progressive.
But we were all working on one film together.
That was interesting, I thought.
Would you say theMegalopolisshoot was closer toThe GodfatherorApocalypse Now?Apocalypse Now.No helicopters this time.
Thats the big difference [laughs].
Have you ever felt like the success ofThe Godfatherbecame like an albatross around your neck?No.
Which has been a gift, because Ive met some incredibly wonderful people as a result.
Some of the very worst people in the world, too, but thats another story.
All I ever wanted out of the film industry was just to be part of the group.
I believe that we all get a gift.
You were part of a group, though.
It became this maverick thing, and people love mavericks.
Totally full of inaccuracies.
Of course,Megalopolisis going to open and Im very optimistic about whats going to happen.
And Eleanor said, Im not doing chemo.
Its in your actions that they will remain alive.
So I take a stab at do things that she would do.
That would be her nature, though.
So I do things to attempt to be more like that, to keep her in me.
Lets go back toThe Godfatherfor a second.
Somehow, everything just lined up.
Which is funny, because its a small thing.
And then he raised television storytelling to the level of movies, and maybe surpassed them.
Its kind of amazing.
I would end up eating Kraft macaroni-and-cheese dinners, which is why I got so fat.
Its like a million-to-one shot how that happened.
It caused some problems, too.
Hes Nicolas Cages father.
I just wanted to be his kid brother.
He was such a wonderful older brother.
Hes the one who took me to see all those movies.
Your success changed the dynamic between you two?I still worshiped him.
He died not talking to me.
[Long pause.]
Do you know the story about the first preview forThe Godfather: Part II?
It would be 10 minutes in one story, then wed switch to 10 minutes of the other story.
We had finished the mix on the movie and were all set to open.
We previewed it in San Francisco and it was a disaster.
The audience hated it.
I didnt go to bed.
I went under the bed and I hid.
And in that state, under the bed, I realized that 10 minutes wasnt long enough.
They stayed up all night for two nights and made the changes.
We took it back to San Diego and it was a different story entirely.
The audience loved it.
They were wildly impressed.
Originally, they hated the acting.
Now, it was the best acting they had ever seen, they said.
It was the same acting [laughs]!
Im going to have a go at understand what making movies is.
And I did that by self-financing some very small, low-budget movies.
Then I went to Argentina and I madeTetro[2009], same thing.
People said, You fell off the map.
Those films were not successful.
They werent meant to be successful.
They were meant to teach me what making movies really was.
And I learned a lot during that period about acting.
I did unusual rehearsals.
There were reports from theMegalopolisset that you kissed and touched extras in a way some people found inappropriate.
And the truth of the matter is, they were looking for some sort of dirt.
Its all so ridiculous.
Look at the timing of that article.
Its right before were about to premiere the film at Cannes.
Theyre just trying to damage the picture.
I want to start a conversation.
You cant have a utopia without a conversation.
Well, what about Francis?
He doesnt follow your rules.
Well, look, whats going to happen to him, hes going to have a failure.
Im trying to do something different here.
What really closed the door wasHeavens Gate[the 1980 film that eventually bankrupted United Artists].
Everyone got scared after that.
And he said, Well, were getting really bad reviews….
Everywhere else I go, Im reminded of her all the time.
I would finance it with whateverMegalopolisdoes.
Ill want to do another roll of the dice with that one.
Megalopolisis a film about the death and rebirth of a republic.
Maybe the War of 1812.
That was dicey, too.
They burned the White House.
This movie wont cure our ills.
I made this film to contribute to that.
And all I want is for this movie to start a conversation.
You cant have a utopia without a conversation.
