Francis Ford Coppola has been working onMegalopolisfor longer than its leading lady, Nathalie Emmanuel, has been alive.
Vogue: Is this your first time going to the festival?
Watching [movies] on that epic screen was kind of amazing.
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Everyones extremely excited to see this film after so long.
How have you tried to describe it?
Its really trying to break barriers and ask big, bold questions.
Adam Driver and Emmanuel inMegalopolis
Its a very artistic and experimental movie.
Lets go back to the beginning.
How did you get involved with it?
[Coppola and I] had an initial meeting that was very informal, and then the pandemic happened.
Did the script come to you under lock and key?
It didnt, I just got it in an email.
But it was quite hefty.
So what can you tell us about your character, Julia?
He dotes on her and theyre very close.
Shes trying to have agency, but at the cost of the relationship she has with her father.
Shes definitely somebody whose experiences I can understand.
Adam Driver and Emmanuel inMegalopolis
Did that help you make sense of her?
We live in a patriarchal system, where any kind of voice or agency is not always given.
I just like that idea of stepping outside of what is wanted for you or expected of you.
Youre no stranger to big-budget projects.
From the outside, so much has been made of this films budget.
Did working on thisfeellike making a blockbuster?
I cant really compare this to anything Ive ever done.
Francis really cared about making things real.
So it doesnt feel like the same [as those other projects].
But what is a blockbuster anymore?
Thats put into question with a movie like this.
Another project with a legend you have coming this year isThe Killerby John Woo, right?
Similarly to Francis, at this stage in Johns life, you feel like the stakes are so high.
He wants to remake his own movie and not many people ever do that.
It felt like an incredibly exciting challenge, but an intimidating one, naturally.
Ive never been given that much freedom, so that was a new experience for me too.
Well, its not long until your face will be beamed onto that gigantic Cannes screen.
It feels like the perfect place forMegalopolisto debut.
Its a crowd that will appreciate an auteur like him.
I mean, we finished shooting that in March last year.
Im excited to finally celebrate what we all made together.
