Megadoc (2025)

3 Stars (out of 4)

Poo-Abba

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

The gold standard of feature-length behind-the-scenes documentaries about the making of movies are still Les Blank's Burden of Dreams, and, of course, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, co-directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper, and incorporating footage shot by Eleanor Coppola. Both of productions depicted therein — Fitzcarraldo and Apocalypse Now — were notoriously troubled, creating all kinds of turbulence, and, therefore, drama.

The new movie Megadoc, directed by Mike Figgis, shows a relatively drama-free shoot, behind the scenes of Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis, which cost $120 million of the filmmaker's own money to make, opened in theaters a year ago, in September of 2014, and, to date, has grossed a little over $14 million worldwide. It received mostly snooty reviews, although it had its champions, including myself, Manohla Dargis of the New York Times, and Richard Brody of the New Yorker (both of which included it on their lists of the year's ten best films).

There's nothing terribly wrong with Megalopolis, and, as I said in my review, it's a good enough film that perhaps someday people will re-assess it and come around to it. But Megadoc feels very slight. During the production we heard stories about crew being fired, but Figgis downplays this as a simple money-saving measure. And sleazy stories that came out about Coppola behaving inappropriately around women on set are completely ignored.

Moreover, stars Nathalie Emmanuel and Adam Driver apparently refused to allow Figgis to shoot while they were working, so that's another lost opportunity. (Driver agreed to sit for an interview with Figgis, at least.) We do get plenty of footage of Shia LaBeouf and Aubrey Plaza acting cuckoo. In one scene, Plaza is meant to rip a necklace from her neck, and it breaks into pieces. Coppola steams as a prop person hastily tries to repair it (and install a magnet so that it breaks away like it was supposed to). LaBeouf shows off by doing pushups, and Francis calls him "a pain in the ass."

But mostly, things seem to go pretty smoothly. Coppola talks about how he wants everything to be "fun," and that nothing good comes out of work or toil. The movie opens with the actors bonding over traditional theater games, and we see Coppola's traditional "poo-abba" chant that starts every film of his. People speak about what an honor it is to work with Francis. The only hint of trouble comes from producer Michael Bederman. Figgis asks him what kind of safety nets are lacking on the production, and the reply is: "anybody who can say no."

When we consider just how deeply, psychologically and emotionally, Hearts of Darkness managed to dig into Coppola's psyche, it's clear just why Megadoc doesn't work as well. The most revealing moment comes at the very start, even before the opening titles. It's an interview with Francis conducted not by Figgis, but by Francis's late wife, Eleanor (they celebrate their sixtieth anniversary here). Francis says, "Jacques Tati, for his last film, put all his own money into it and lost it. He died broke. But who cares if you die broke if you've made something that you think is beautiful?"

No one knows if that same fate will befall Coppola, or if he will ever get to make any other films ever again. No one knows if Megadoc will help drive people to see Megalopolis — which, as of this writing, has not been released on home video or to streaming — and perhaps put a little further dent in Coppola's $100 million loss. What I do know is that, looking at these actors and images and the work that went into making it, made me appreciate it even more and made me want to see it again.