How Often Does Francis Ford Coppola Think About the Roman Empire? ‘Quite a Lot,’ Says Director: It ‘Was the Inspiration’ for ‘Megalopolis’

Michaela Zee
·2 min read
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Francis Ford Coppola is joining the Roman Empire TikTok trend by asking himself the viral question: “How often do you think about the Roman Empire?”

“How often do I think of Ancient Rome? Quite a lot, as the Roman Republic served as the example for my country America and its institutions, and was the inspiration for my upcoming film ‘Megalopolis,'” the “Apocalypse Now” and “Godfather” director wrote on Instagram Friday.

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In the recent trend on TikTok, women ask the men in their lives how often they think about the Roman Empire, with most men claiming that they think about it daily or multiple times a week.

Coppola continued, “My fascination with the Roman Republic is based on the struggle between the political parties during which the interest of the Republic yielded to the ambitions of a few powerful men who espoused the aims of political parties to establish their own fortunes and authority by relying upon armed forces to achieve those ends, dealing the final blow to a constitution already tottering to its fall.”

While specific plot details for “Megalopolis” remain vague, with Coppola often calling it an indescribable enigma, the official logline reads: “The fate of Rome haunts a modern world unable to solve its own social problems in this epic story of political ambition, genius and conflicted love.” The story is reportedly set in an alternate reality version of New York City dubbed “New Rome.”

“Megalopolis” stars Shia LaBeouf, Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Coppola’s sister Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman (Shire’s son), Grace VanderWaal, Aubrey Plaza, Kathryn Hunter and James Remar. Coppola wrote the screenplay for the film in the 1980s, and invested over $100 million of his own money into the passion project.

Production wrapped on “Megalopolis” in March of this year.

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