‘Megalopolis’ Director Says He Has No Regrets About $120 Million Film

At the Cannes Film Festival news conference on Friday for his new film, “Megalopolis,” Francis Ford Coppola entered holding hands with his granddaughters.

“When I came here for ‘Apocalypse Now,’ I had Sofia on my shoulder,” Coppola said of his daughter, who also became a director.

That trip to Cannes took place 45 years ago and ended with a major laurel, as “Apocalypse Now” won Coppola the Palme d’Or. It’s anyone’s guess how the new film will fare, since “Megalopolis” premiered at Cannes on Thursday night to wildly mixed reviews and has yet to score a distributor.

A futuristic melodrama about a visionary architect (played by Adam Driver), “Megalopolis” is the first film in 13 years from the 85-year-old Coppola, best known for directing the “Godfather” trilogy. But on the dais at Cannes, he was eager to share credit for the movie with his cast, which also includes Aubrey Plaza, Nathalie Emmanuel and Giancarlo Esposito.

“We made it together — I didn’t make the film,” Coppola insisted. “When you make a film like this, I didn’t know how to do it, let’s face it. The movie makes itself.”

The news conference started 20 minutes late, limiting the number of questions that could be posed, and none of the journalists who were called on asked Coppola about a recent report in The Guardian in which anonymous sources described a chaotic “Megalopolis” shoot and alleged that Coppola tried to kiss some of the female extras featured in a nightclub scene. (Executive co-producer Darren Demetre has said he was unaware of any harassment complaints made during the production, but acknowledged that Coppola gave “kind hugs and kisses on the cheek to the cast and background players.”)