Director Francis Ford Coppola doesn’t just want to *make *movies. He wants to change them. This was true in 1969 when he co-founded Zoetrope Studios with George Lucas, and it remains true today at age 85.
We begin with the historical context of his modern-day Roman epic fable Megalopolis) (9:40), his decades-long process developing the film (12:18), and the inspiration he’s taken from Georges Méliès (22:25) and Jacques Tati (24:59). Then, Coppola reflects on the origin of how he became ‘Francis Ford Coppola’ (29:27), the irrepressible spirit he forged in childhood (32:34), and where he sees himself in films like *The Godfather *(38:29), *Apocalypse Now *(41:48), and *Gardens of Stone *(42:17).
On the back-half, we unpack the parallels between the titular city of *Megalopolis *and Zoetrope Studios (50:19), his capacity to keep dreaming, even in the face of financial ruin (53:46), where he believes America is headed in 2025 (54:29), and the lasting memory of his late wife, Eleanor (1:03:25).
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