Apocalypse Now. Megalopolis Never
Francis Ford Coppola got a standing ovation at the Dolby Theatre on April 26. He got the AFI Life Achievement Award (see page 42), heartfelt tributes from the likes of Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford and George Lucas, and, toward the end of the night, a glowing speech from Adam Driver, who hailed Megalopolis — the legendary director’s $120 million self-financed, genre-bending epic that stars Driver and pulled in just $14 million during its blink-and-you-missed-it theatrical run in the fall — as “a piece of art.”
What Coppola didn’t get — and apparently doesn’t want — is a distribution deal that lets anyone actually see Megalopolis on a home screen. It’s not on Netflix, Amazon, iTunes or anywhere else with a play button. It can’t even be found on DVD. For all the hosannas recently lavished on it, Megalopolis has become the most celebrated invisible movie of the year.
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There is, it turns out, a (somewhat) logical explanation for the disappearing act. One of the perks of spending $120 million of your own money on a movie is getting to decide exactly how — and where — it gets seen. And according to sources close to Coppola, the last thing the 86-year-old auteur wants is for Megalopolis to be watched on a television set.
“He wants it to play in theaters, the way it was intended,” says one insider.
So, instead of a digital release, Coppola is taking the film on tour. Days after the AFI tribute, he boarded a flight to Boston for a sold-out screening at the Coolidge Theater. Later this month, he’s headed to Detroit.
It may not be the most efficient way to earn back that $120 million, but as Driver reminded the AFI crowd, commerce was never the point. “Believe me, I was there,” he said. “There was no talk about how we could make this more commercial.”
Pedro Pascal’s “Protect the Dolls” Tees Aren’t About Christmas (But Sort of Are)
Still reeling from that brutal Last of Us plot twist? Relax, Pedro Pascal is just fine. The 50-year-old actor has been popping up all over the place lately, often wearing a Conner Ives-designed “Protect the Dolls” T-shirt.
The slogan might sound like an anti-Trump, pro-Christmas jab — especially after the president’s recent Scrooge-y remark that, thanks to his China tariffs, kids this year will find “maybe two dolls” under the tree — but the shirt’s actual message is a bit more nuanced. In the 1980s, drag queens and other members of the ballroom scene were sometimes affectionately referred to as dolls, and Ives — a London-based American designer whose fans include Rihanna and Sky Ferreira — repurposed the phrase for a campaign he launched in February to support trans rights.
The $95 tees are being sold on his site, with proceeds going to the nonprofit Trans Lifeline (so far, they’ve raised more than $300,000). Pascal, whose sister is trans, appears to have started wearing them in protest of a ruling by Britain’s highest court in April that declared biological sex — not gender identity — to be the legal standard. The decision sparked online outrage and a war of words between Pascal and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, a longtime critic of trans activism. After Rowling celebrated the verdict by posting a photo of herself smoking a cigar, Pascal responded by calling her a “heinous loser” and her post “awful disgusting SHIT.” So far, at least, Rowling hasn’t responded publicly. Maybe after she finishes her stogie.
“Naked” and Afraid: David Zucker Blasts Paramount’s Frank Drebin Reboot
David Zucker didn’t need to direct Naked Gun 4. He just wanted a shot at punching up the script. Even a collaborative phone call would’ve been nice. Instead, he got a producer credit offer — and not much else. “I read the script, and I politely told them I wasn’t going to put my name on it,” says Zucker, 77. “They wanted nothing from me except my name. They assume I’m old and using a walker and I can’t do it anymore. I guess talent leaves after age 40 in Hollywood.”
The reboot, directed by Chip ‘n Dale’s Akiva Schaffer (age 47), is being shepherded by Seth MacFarlane and Paramount, with Liam Neeson in the role of bumbling cop Frank Drebin — the part originated by Leslie Nielsen in 1988’s The Naked Gun — and Pamela Anderson as the femme fatale. All it’s missing is the guy who created the franchise.
Zucker — who, along with his brother Jerry, Pat Proft and the late Jim Abrahams, also gave the world Airplane! and Police Squad! — says no one from the new team seriously reached out. At least not since Paramount passed on Zucker’s own reboot version, Naked: Impossible, in which a 30-something “Andy Samberg type” would’ve played the secret-agent son of Nielsen’s Drebin. “We didn’t even want to do it in a police station,” Zucker says. “They don’t make cop movies anymore. When you do parody, you’ve got to spoof something current.”
Instead, Schaffer’s reboot is apparently sticking with the old formula — and an older leading man. “It was also an old idea to use an old guy,” Zucker notes. For the record, Nielsen was 62 when The Naked Gun premiered. Neeson will be 72 when the new one opens Aug. 1. Zucker won’t be at the premiere. — TONY MAGLIO
Clarification
A recent story in Rambling Reporter, “Cell Service: Harvey Weinstein Has a Surprising New Friend,” included the statement, “Candace Owens has denied the Holocaust.” Owens has downplayed the evils of the Holocaust by questioning whether Nazi medical experiments took place and equating the conduct of the Allies with the Nazis’. However, she has not denied that the Holocaust took place (THR, March 6).
This story appeared in the May 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
