Megalopolis teaser trailer: Francis Ford Coppola promises an exhilarating utopia on the silver screen

Francis Ford Coppola’s long-standing dream has come to fruition. His ambitious project Megalopolis, conceived by him in 1977, came close to being made several times, only to be shelved repeatedly. Finally, the icon took over the production cost upon himself, and the project is all set to compete at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. Ahead of Cannes 2024’s opening day, the trailer of the film has been unveiled giving a glimpse into the mind-blowing scale and imagination of Coppola. 

Adam Driver plays the role of an architect named Cesar Catilina, who seems to have control over time. He aims to create a utopia, which faces opposition from New York City’s Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). Earlier, a clip of Catilina stopping time was released. The new trailer doesn’t delve much into his powers but into his ideology and his desire to create a utopia. 

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The trailer begins with the monologue, “When does an empire die? Does it collapse in one terrible moment? No. There comes a time when people no longer believe in it.” Later, Driver’s Cesar is seen pondering whether reality is the only option available to humankind and he claims even the dialogue about it means that we are already in utopia. 

The images in the promo are exhilarating making it hard for the viewer to differentiate between reality and utopia. Another exciting factor about Megalopolis is its cast. Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D.B. Sweeney, and Dustin Hoffman are part of this mammoth project.