In July 2010, I was housesitting for my friends Will and Diane in San Francisco’s East Bay. They were in Tanzania, where Will, an accomplished mountain climber, was ascending Mount Kilimanjaro.
After their return to California, I stayed for a few more days to hang out with them, and Will and I went to filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola’s Napa Valley vineyard in the tiny community of Rutherford (current population 107). I had been there before a few years earlier, but Will had not. The centerpiece of the vineyard is the 19th-century Inglenook chateau. There are other houses on the vast property, including Coppola’s own large Victorian Era home, where he and his writer-director wife Eleanor raised their family.
As we exited the immense chateau, where we had tasted wine and looked at Francis’s movie memorabilia, I was thrilled to see Coppola himself sitting alone at a table in the courtyard. He was wearing a colorful Hawaiian shirt, khaki-colored shorts, and sandals. A cigar was in one hand and a thick book was on the table. I had been around him once before on the set of his film “One From The Heart,” in which I am an extra.
I was in Los Angeles for a while at that time, and a person in Francis’s American Zoetrope casting office was from Buffalo. She told me she needed extras and that I should do it. I readily agreed. I would be getting paid to sit in a Hollywood soundstage and appear in an already-great director’s upcoming movie. Years later, I also interviewed Coppola one-on-one via satellite for WIVB-TV for which I was covering the entertainment scene. Coppola was promoting his movie “Jack,” which stars Robin Williams and Diane Lane.
At the vineyard, there was no way I wasn’t going to talk to Francis. On the other hand, Will, who is a major movie fan, preferred to just breathe in the rarified Coppola air, and he took a seat away from where the director was relaxing.
I went up to Francis, introduced myself, filled him in on the background details I have mentioned above, and had a lovely conversation. I noticed that the book he was reading was a dog-eared, Post-it notes-filled copy of “The Power Broker: Robert Moses And The Fall Of New York” by Robert Caro. Published in 1974, it is a 1,336-page biography of a man who would exert excessive power over statewide public works projects, including in Niagara Falls.
I asked Coppola if he would sign bottles of his wine. He said, “of course.” I went back into the chateau and purchased two bottles of wine and a VHS copy of “Tucker: The Man And His Dream,” Francis’s wonderful 1988 film about Preston Tucker, which stars Jeff Bridges as the inventor and automobile manufacturer.
When I arrived at the table, Coppola had been joined by Eleanor. He introduced me, filled her in on some of the details, and I happily said that I had reviewed her book “Notes: The Making Of Apocalypse Now” for a Buffalo newspaper. We chatted a bit more and I said, “well, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me.” From the bag, I took out the wine and the copy of “Tucker,” from which I had removed the shrink-wrap and handed a bottle to Eleanor. She signed it, and I then handed it to Francis. He waved his hand and said: “No, you asked her first.”
There was an awkward pause, and Eleanor laughed and then so did Coppola. He called me “a well-raised Italian fellow.” Some of his and my relatives had emigrated to the United States from the same region in southern Italy, which is Basilicata. On the drive back to Will’s house, I filled him in on everything and, later, Diane as well. Why didn’t Will want to meet the director? He was too much in awe.
I thought about Francis having “The Power Broker” with him that day after I saw his movie, “Megalopolis” in a theater. It’s become wonderfully controversial, which is just as it should be. The epic feature is about a power broker — an architect named Cesar Catilina. Clearly the director was exploring the aforementioned book to understand the human condition and how some men rise to a position of overwhelming control. Coppola is one of the world’s greatest filmmakers, and he understands fully that some movies take time to be appreciated by audiences.
Decades after he first thought about the idea for this new picture, we now have a film alluding to Roman history set in the present day. It’s about a once-civilized society on the brink of collapse. Powerful and wealthy elitists, all of them entrenched in their roles, control the city of New Rome. The old guard is facing a rebellion from a younger generation. “Megalopolis,” which Coppola also wrote, draws parallels with the Catilinarian Conspiracy of 63 BC, during which Lucius Sergius Catilina fought to dispose of the Roman consuls.
The movie focuses on architect Catilina, played by Adam Driver, who can stop time because of a unique substance called Megalon, which can also move people, heal wounds, create ordinary goods, and make New Rome a utopian paradise.
The movie has numerous side-stories and subplots, and it never ceases to amaze visually. Operatic and sprawling, “Megalopolis” is steeped in dramatic family tension, Shakespearean references, and strong sexual dynamics. Conspiracies abound. Simply put, this is a fascinating epic about the control of a fragmented society and it’s worth seeing.
The superb cast includes Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Nathlie Emmanuel, Talia Shire, Jon Voight, Shia LaBeouf, Romy Mars, Chloe Fineman, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman and Grace VanderWaal.
Production values are eye-popping. The golden-hued cinematography by Mihai Malaimare Jr., the costumes by Milena Canonero, and the sweeping music score by Osvaldo Golijov are always alluring and magical.
“Megalopolis” was made with Coppola’s own money to the tune of $120 million. The budget is on the screen, and the visual delights the director has generated with it never cease to surprise. One bit of advice, stay especially alert during the first half-hour when names and faces and relationships flow by. I never once felt the picture’s 138-minute length. This is partly because of the crisp editing by Cam McLauchlin and Glen Scantlebury.
What kind of film is “Megalopolis?” Grand, not grandiose. And crafted to be seen on a large theater screen. It’s passionate filmmaking on another level and a must for anyone who claims to be a true movie lover, and certainly a committed cinephile. Everyone else? Take a chance on something completely out of your comfort zone.
By the way, regarding the wine bottles that Francis and Eleanor signed. They’ve never been opened.