Francis Ford Coppola Unveils the Trailer for His Epic New Film “Megalopolis”

Francis Ford Coppola has finally revealed the first look at his decades-long passion project Megalopolis.

The new teaser trailer, which Coppola shared on Monday night, reveals the scope and grandeur of the legendary director’s ambition. It paints a vivid picture of an imagined America told in the style of an epic Roman fable in a story about the competing visions of a city that has a chance to rise from the ashes or remain mired in stagnation. There are dreams of a potential utopia pitted against the craven, power-hungry elite whose fortunes rise when the people fail to dream.

Megalopolis is poised to make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, a fitting, starry international setting for Coppola to reveal to the world what he’s been working on for so long (he first began writing the story back in 1983 and ultimately self-financed the film). The story follows an architectural idealist fittingly named Caesar (Adam Driver), who dreams of remaking the city with renewable materials and creating a modern utopia. His opposite is Mayor Frank Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), a realist who deals in graft and corruption and who is unconcerned with inequity and pollution, a man comfortable stoking the very worst in human nature. Caught between them is the mayor’s daughter, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), a woman used to power players vying for supremacy and one who is looking for something real in her life.

Joining Driver, Esposito, and Emmanuel in the cast are Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Voight, Chloe Fineman, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, Shia LaBeouf, D.B., Sweeney, Jason Schwartzman, Baily Ives, Grace Vanderwaal and James Remar. 

“Coppola delivers a big kiss to the possibilities of mankind’s ingenuity to adapt to and overcome most problems,” Deadline‘s Mike Fleming wrote when Coppola screened the film in Los Angeles for studio executives, friends, and family. “He also injects a cautionary tale of what can happen when that rise to the occasion human spirit runs afoul of the greed, corruption, and narcissism that helped topple the Roman Empire. The clash could not be more timely in an election year and a moment of heightened polarization and misinformation meant to spread agendas, sway the public, and influence policy.”

Check out the first teaser trailer for Coppola’s new film below.