Francis Ford Coppola: ‘Megalopolis’ cast purposefully includes ‘canceled’ actors

Francis Ford Coppola isn’t shying away from controversy when it comes to his latest feature “Megalopolis.”

While “Megalopolis” has been critically divisive, the film was also plagued by allegations that Coppola was inappropriate to female extras on set, including kissing and hugging actresses against their will. Coppola has deemed the accusations “untrue.”

And that’s not even getting to the eclectic ensemble cast. While Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and Nathalie Emmanuel lead the film, supporting stars Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, and Dustin Hoffman have made for some albeit interesting choices. Voight and co-star LaBeouf have infamously butted heads, but that’s not all: LaBeouf has been publicly accused of assaulting former partners, while Voight has drawn criticisms for his devout support of former President Donald Trump. Hoffman has allegedly assaulted co-stars as well.

Writer/director Coppola told Rolling Stone, however, that his casting choices were intentionally controversial.

“What I didn’t want to happen is that we’re deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers,” Coppola said. “The cast features people who were canceled at one point or another. There were people who are archconservatives and others who are extremely politically progressive. But we were all working on one film together. That was interesting, I thought.”