Francis Ford Coppola on Books That Influenced “Megalopolis”

“Megalopolis,” Francis Ford Coppola’s four-decades-in-the-making epic of a decadent society, was launched final week. It stars Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, an aristocratic polymath who has a controversial proposal to revitalize town the place he lives. Coppola drew his story from antiquity—Driver’s character is predicated on a Roman politician, Lucius Sergius Catilina (who lived from 108 to 62 B.C., and is thought in English as Catiline), who tried to take over the Roman Republic and failed. “Megalopolis” transposes Catiline’s story to a future model of New York Metropolis and reimagines him as an advanced visionary with a real want to serve the general public good. A number of days in the past, Coppola talked to us about a few of his literary influences, from Virginia Woolf’s exploration of consciousness and notion in “To the Lighthouse” to David Graeber and David Wengrow’s counter-history of early societies, “The Daybreak of The whole lot.” His remarks have been edited and condensed.

The Dream of the Pink Chamber

by Cao Xueqin

Over the past fifteen years or so, I’ve gotten within the behavior of making an attempt to decide on one thing to learn that’s completely not like what I’m engaged on, to form of have a relaxation. However what occurs whenever you attempt to do that is that it merely bends what you’re engaged on to be extra like what you’re studying. This can be a Chinese language e book, which can be typically referred to as “The Story of the Stone.” In a nutshell, it’s a couple of household in eighteenth-century China who had been somewhat excessive up: they’d some wealth and standing, and one of many essential character’s sisters had change into a consort of the emperor. The protagonist, who’s form of based mostly on the writer, was a boy raised with all these ladies—sisters and cousins and the handmaids they’d in these days. The writer thought that the ladies he grew up with had been so great that he needed historical past to know that they existed. I learn it whereas I used to be engaged on “Megalopolis” after having learn all of Proust (which additionally influenced every part). The e book is admittedly lovely. And one factor about it I took is that, whenever you’re studying, you’re not solely within the story however you’re additionally within the characters’ desires. I assumed, Why can’t I try this?

Twelve In opposition to the Gods

by William Bolitho

This e book is about twelve people who defied the details of their instances—folks like Isadora Duncan, Cagliostro, the Prophet Muhammad. One among them is Lucius Sergius Catilina.

The historian Sallust wrote a report of the Catilinarian conspiracy some many years after it came about. As , people who find themselves in a battle and who win—historical past is written by these folks. Cleopatra and Mark Antony, as an example, as a result of they misplaced their battle with Caesar Augustus, what we hear about Cleopatra is that she was form of a temptress. However she was a outstanding, sensible individual. She wasn’t even fairly, however she could possibly be humorous in lots of languages. Sure, she was a seductress, however not due to her magnificence.

Anyway, since Catiline misplaced the battle, he’s portrayed as a foul man. However studying this e book, I started to assume, Properly, Catiline didn’t write the historical past. What if he had been somebody who would have introduced one thing great, however what often occurs occurred—the standard forces subdued the brand new thought? I began to develop that, after which I considered having a Mayor Koch or Mayor Dinkins character. With Cesar Catilina, I principally mixed Robert Moses with Walter Gropius. Then I started to form up that there was going to be this Cicero character, a conservative and a classicist, towards this enlightened artist opponent, and that will be like a Roman story set in trendy New York. And loads of it got here from this e book.

Administrators on Directing

Edited by Toby Cole and Helen Krich Chinoy

In fact, every part nice with reference to narrative, all of it in the end comes from the Greeks. And then you definitely bounce it off Jean-Luc Godard, who stated that each film will need to have a starting, center, and finish, however not essentially in that order. In our nation, the nice transition got here with a person named George Pierce Baker, who arrange what grew to become the Yale Faculty of Drama. He wrote a really definitive e book on dramaturgy and dramatic construction—I’m not recommending it, as a result of it’s very lengthy—referred to as “Dramatic Method.” However this Cole and Chinoy e book, which has a bunch of administrators writing in it, is a good e book that was essential for me. There’s an article by Elia Kazan on how he approached “A Streetcar Named Want” which influenced me very a lot.

The Chalice and the Blade

by Riane Eisler

This e book is about the concept, for a very long time, we lived in matriarchies. Males are the worst. They arrive in and it’s “I’m king, you’re my slave.” Eisler says that this occurred with the arrival of the horse. Earlier than that, should you needed to stroll 600 miles together with your group of massive robust males, you’ll be exhausted. However, should you might get on a horse, it will be fairly simple to subdue a neighborhood, like within the Kurosawa film.

I had an argument with this girl who was an instructional who was telling me that “The Chalice and the Blade” is hogwash. Nevertheless it makes complete sense to me that we might have lived in matriarchies. I feel ladies run issues higher. Girls are rather more smart and collaborative—they’re life-givers. Even in trendy instances, whenever you have a look at governments—there’s Angela Merkel, Sanna Marin, Jacinda Ardern. That’s why I desire a lady President.

Elective Affinities

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Elective Affinities” is sort of a formulation of the dynamics created by a person, a lady, the opposite man, and the opposite lady once they come collectively as a form of chemical response. It’s an ideal e book. I needed to make a movie of it at one level. Will I? God is aware of what’s occurring—I don’t even perceive my life or why I’m nonetheless doing it.

Goethe is vital to me for one million causes. He was the one who stated that structure was frozen music. There’s a scene in “Megalopolis” the place the principle characters, Cesar and Julia, are strolling round on beams 5 thousand toes above the earth, and Julia says, You taught me that each one artwork is managed time—which I consider. For those who’re an artist, you don’t adhere to actual time. It’s provided that you’re a lawyer that you need to fear about it. As an artist, you possibly can management it. Which I really feel I do on a regular basis. There have been moments in my life once I was so blissful and fulfilled after which I needed to go to work or one thing, and I simply stopped time. I do know I did.