Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
Glad tidings from Napa, where Francis Ford Coppola still makes wine and movies and has let it be known that his latest has secured a French distribution deal. The film's full title is "Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis". It's billed as a Roman epic that sweeps forward into a dystopian American future. It's been in gestation for 40-odd years and Coppola has sold some of his winery to help raise $120 million to fund it. Which is why the French deal matters, and why the 85 year-old director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now will be hoping more distributors pile in after the new film's premiere in Cannes in two weeks' time. But will they? The big prize is US distribution and even though the film has been shown to distributors there, none bit. "It's so not good," the Hollywood Reporter quoted one studio chief as saying. Sleeper hit, or shades of Ishtar? We'll find out soon.