Background
Filmmaker Mike Figgis met Francis Ford Coppola while making Leaving Las Vegas, through the film's star and Coppola's nephew, Nicolas Cage. Coppola later asked Figgis to be involved with an edition of his magazine All-Story and Figgis stayed in touch with the magazine's editor Michael Ray; when Coppola eventually began production on Megalopolis, Ray mentioned this to Figgis. Having not heard of Megalopolis at the time, Figgis looked it up and, due to its lengthy production history, sent Coppola a message of congratulations. He "added a cheeky PS" saying he was open to documenting the production if Coppola was interested. [3]
In preparing to make the film, Figgis read Sam Wasson's The Path to Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola Story and Notes on a Life by Eleanor Coppola, whom he also asked for advice due to her involvement in making Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, the behind-the-scenes documentary of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. [3]
Filming
Coppola replied to Figgis three weeks before pre-production began [3] on Megalopolis in Atlanta, offering Figgis complete access to the set, albeit in an informal and casual style. The documentary began filming there in November 2022. [4] Besides himself, Figgis had one person, Tara Li-An Smith, [5] acting as both his assistant and producer with him on set. Initially they used a relatively large camera but, and despite Coppola giving them free rein, [3] soon realized that to minimize their impact on proceedings and be agile enough to capture the active environment, they needed a smaller set-up and changed to a Nikon Z8. [5] The cast and crew of Megalopolis were also initially wary of him, besides Aubrey Plaza: in character as newscaster Wow Platinum, Plaza noticed Figgis filming their rehearsals on his first day and "just grabbed [him] and ordered [him] to follow her around" to be like Wow Platinum's cameraman. Figgis was grateful for this, as it made him more comfortable filming the rehearsals before the production got to know him. [3]
He was ultimately given time by other actors like Jon Voight and Shia LaBeouf, though lead actor Adam Driver had requested to not be filmed, which Figgis said he completely understood: "You play differently when you're performing your part for the camera and when you're performing while a documentary camera also shoots you." [3] Driver was interviewed for the documentary, as were others who appear less in candid footage, like Nathalie Emmanuel. [6] Though conflicts and delays frustrated the production of Megalopolis, they provided ample material for Megadoc. Figgis filmed many of LaBeouf's arguments with Coppola, as well as interviewing Coppola during periods when the director had changed his mind and was waiting for the crew to reorganize for his new plans. [4]
Figgis continued filming from rehearsals, throughout the shoot, and during post-production of Megalopolis. [7]
