Director Francis Ford Coppola, right, speaks at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on April 29. Photo by Charlie Johnson
Hundreds of moviegoers alternated between silence and laughter as they watched Francis Ford Coppola’s movie “Megalopolis” at the Coolidge Corner Theatre – and then listened to the director himself talk about the film and his vision for the future of society.
Jack O’Hara of Roxbury said he and his roommate bought tickets as soon as they learned that the 86-year-old filmmaker – who has directed critically acclaimed movies such as “Apocalypse Now,” “The Conversation” and “The Godfather” trilogy – was coming to Coolidge Corner.
“Coppola is definitely a generational talent,” O’Hara said. “I don’t want to miss the opportunity to see someone, who obviously is getting up there in age, present something that’s been divisive, that he’s really passionate about.”
“Megalopolis,” released last September, is set in New Rome, an imagined modern America. Cesar Catilina, an idealistic artist played by Adam Driver, tries to create a utopian future, while Mayor Franklyn Cicero, played by Giancarlo Esposito, fights to maintain the status quo. Socialite Julia Cicero, played by Nathalie Emmanuel, is torn between them.
The movie drew mixed reviews from critics and audiences, and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 45%.
Midway through the movie – in a planned moment – some of the lights in the theater came on and a man walked onto the stage. A scene in which Cesar talks to the camera played on the screen as the man, acting as a reporter, asked Cesar questions to mimic a press conference.
Throughout the movie, audience members burst out laughing at chaotic scenes. Other times, the crowd fell silent, mesmerized by the combination of ethereal music and psychedelic visuals.
“I don’t think it’s the type of movie that you watch one time and understand everything,” Justin Woelfel of Brookline said after the screening. “I think it was pretty good.”
Katherine Tallman, executive director and CEO of Coolidge Corner Theatre, took Coppola’s visit as an opportunity to give him a Coolidge Award when he walked onstage to a standing ovation after the movie.
“There was no way we were going to let him leave without a Coolidge Award,” she said. The award honors film artists who are unique and thought-provoking. Recent recipients include actors Julianne Moore and Michael Douglas.
Juliet Schor, a Boston College sociologist and economist, and composer Osvaldo Golijov, who wrote the film’s score, joined Coppola on the stage – although Coppola did most of the talking.
“It is time to talk about the future in this wreck of world that we’re living in now,” Coppola said.
He recruited a staff member to come onstage and write on a whiteboard 10 things that everyone cares about for the future. The first point he had her write was “Time.” He asked the audience to contribute ideas but ended up solely using his own.
He had her use a red marker to write asterisks for each item once they can be turned into something “pleasurable.”
“We humans decided to make it divided up into minutes, months and weeks,” he said. “But let’s reinvent time.” He added more items to the list – such as “education,” “work-play” and “celebration” – as he fielded questions about filmmaking from the audience.
“If you don’t know how to make a movie, and you listen, the movie tells you how to make it,” he said.
He talked about using acting exercises while making “Megalopolis” to help actors prepare for scenes.
To demonstrate, Coppola asked if there were any actors in the audience. Six actors in the audience came onstage. He had one person pretend to be a ticket salesman while the others pretended to wait in line to get into a movie. Arguing with the ticket salesman, the first person dropped a hat and said, “Pick up my hat.” One by one, the others followed suit. The exercise is supposed to help with concentration.
He ran another exercise in which people pretend to throw an imaginary ball in a circle while yelling out different noises. The exercise helps with identifying hierarchies that are prevalent in everyday life, he said.
“There’s always someone who is the boss,” he said.
Fans swarmed Coppola when he walked to the black Cadillac waiting for him outside. He signed movie posters.
Woelfel got his “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” movie poster signed. He said Coppola is in his top-five movie directors of all time.
“He’s an interesting guy,” Woffle said. “It’s interesting to hear how his brain works and how he views everything.”
O’Hara works in sales for a company that adds subtitles to films for production companies and streaming services like Netflix. On the side, he gets involved with productions on his own. Last week he flew to Los Angeles to act in a short film.
He said he is concerned about the current state of original filmmaking while production companies focus on profit over content and is inspired by Coppola using his fame to push the medium forward.
“Something like this is obviously a huge risk,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what you put out there, it’s going to be appreciated by someone.”