Megalopolis (film): Difference between revisions

On December 9, 2022, Coppola fired most of the [[visual effects]] team, with the rest of the department, including supervisor Mark Russell, soon following. In January 2023, reports indicated the budget ballooned higher than its initial $120&nbsp;million, which ''The Hollywood Reporter'' compared to Coppola's history of challenging productions, most notoriously ''Apocalypse Now''. Due to an alleged "unstable filming environment", a claim Coppola and Driver contested, other crew members exited the film, including production designer Beth Mickle and art director David Scott, along with the [[art department]].<ref name="Budget" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2023/01/francis-ford-coppola-no-truth-to-apocalypse-on-megalopolis-1235216222/ |title=Francis Ford Coppola: No Truth to Apocalypse on ''Megalopolis'' |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |website=[[Deadline Hollywood]] |date=January 10, 2023 |access-date=January 10, 2023 |archive-date=January 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110203401/https://deadline.com/2023/01/francis-ford-coppola-no-truth-to-apocalypse-on-megalopolis-1235216222/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Coppola replaced Russell with his nephew, Jesse James Chisholm, over a dispute over "live special effects", which he completed with his son and second unit director [[Roman Coppola]] as they had with ''Bram Stoker's Dracula''.<ref name="Production Notes" />{{rp|9}}

Coppola further explained that he hired Mickle for her work onin recreating 1950s New York for [[Edward Norton]]'s ''[[Motherless Brooklyn]]'' (2019) but that creative differences formed "to a degree that it was decided that the best thing would be if I hired a concept artist and came up with frames that showed what I wanted, which I did."<ref name="Empire-Aug29" /><ref name="WSJ-Sept26"/> Working with concept artist Dean Sherriff to translate his vision through [[keyframe]] concept art, which he described as similar in style to that of a woven mural or tapestry, he permitted minimal input from the art department, whose practices, having recently completed athe [[MarvelMCU]] Studios|Marvelfilm ''[[Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3]]'' production(2023), he deemed conventional, expensive, and hierarchical.<ref name="WSJ-Sept26"/><ref name="Production Notes" />{{rp|8}} "The art department was frustrated because they felt I was evolving the look of the picture independently of them," he said, "They wanted giant sets and images. I wanted other elements like costumes and live effects to do some of the work and have it not all be art-department-centric. So, there was disagreement along those lines."<ref name="Empire-Aug29" /> Coppola had originally set $100&nbsp;million for the budget and $20&nbsp;million as [[Cost contingency|contingency]]. As the budget was at risk of rising to $148&nbsp;million (which he said would have "bankrupted me and my family"), he laid off one of five art directors, leading the entire team to resign. Production allegedly wrapped a week ahead of schedule, with the budget close to the planned $120&nbsp;million.<ref name="Production Notes" />{{rp|8–9}}<ref name="RollingStone-0825" /> On firing Russell and replacing him with his nephew Jesse James Chisholm, Coppola said they disagreed over his demand for "live special effects", which he completed with his son and second unit director [[Roman Coppola]] as they had with ''Bram Stoker's Dracula''.<ref name="Production Notes" />{{rp|9}}