“The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola said he’s run out of money after self-financing his vanity project, “Megalopolis.”
The 85-year-old filmmaker discussed his financial woes during a recent episode of Rick Rubin’s podcast, per SF Gate. “I don’t have any money because I invested all the money, that I borrowed, to make ‘Megalopolis.’” Coppola said. “It’s basically gone. I think it’ll come back over 15 or 20 years, but I don’t have it now.”
The Academy Award-winning filmmaker added that any future self-funded projects would have to be made “very cheap.”
“As a director, I don’t care if I lose all the money I have,” he told Rubin. “I didn’t do this to make money, I did this to do something more beautiful than making money.”
Fans and critics were underwhelmed by the overly expensive project, which premiered in September. In February, Coppola won a Golden Raspberry Award for worst director.
The Adam Driver-led apocalyptic sci-fi drama cost $120 million to make and earned just $11.5 million worldwide. “Megalopolis” was self-funded by Coppola after he had initially conceived of the concept in the late 1970s.
“Megalopolis” stars Driver as architect Cesar Catilina, who has dreams of building a utopian city after a catastrophic incident destroys an urban area resembling New York. His plans receive pushback from various characters and support from others.
Coppola sold a large portion of his California vineyard holdings to help finance the film. “I couldn’t care less about the financial impact whatsoever. It means nothing to me,” the director told GQ in 2022 of his decision to self-finance the project. “It’s not as if $120 million is the extent of what I have.”
“Megalopolis” mainly received negative reviews. It currently has a 45% critics score (Tomatometer) and a 35% audience score (Popcornmeter) on Rotten Tomatoes.
“With so little to show for its staggering ambition to synthesize modern New York with the fall of the Roman Empire, Francis Ford Coppola’s all-star, self-financed passion project is a mess,” ABC News reviewer Peter Travers wrote.
