After 40 years of planning, the science fiction blockbuster film "Megalopolis" has been completed, and 86-year-old master Francis Ford Coppola has something to tell us.

Francis Ford Coppola is a master filmmaker who has left many masterpieces in the history of cinema, including "The Godfather" trilogy and "Hell's Revelation".

Still active at the age of 86, he completed a science fiction blockbuster this year after 40 years of planning.

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In the 21st century, the disparity between the rich and the poor has become a social problem in the American metropolis of New Rome. Caesar Catilina, an architectural genius who is trying to develop a new megalopolis, is at odds with the new mayor, Franklin Cicero, who is obsessed with his own interests amid financial difficulties. Furthermore, Caesar is caught up in a plot by Claudio Pulquer, who is aiming to succeed his family, and Caesar finds himself in a desperate situation.

As soon as "Megalopolis" premiered in Competition at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival in 2024, it made an immediate impact and created a buzz around the world.

The idea for the film was inspired by a book he read in the early 1980s about the "Catilina Conspiracy," in which Lucius Sergius Catilina, a nobleman of the Roman Republic, plotted to overthrow the state. From there, Coppola began work on the screenplay, but was hampered by repeated interruptions in production and problems with financing.

However, as a result, Coppola's private fortune was invested to raise $120 million (about 18.6 billion yen) for the production cost. With the belief that he wanted to make the film he wanted to make, a grand epic was born, the culmination of his efforts.

The main character Caesar is played by Adam Driver, known for his role as Kylo Ren in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (15). His maniacal performance draws the viewer into the depths of the film.

As Caesar's fated opponent, Mayor Cicero, is Giancarlo Esposito of "The Cotton Club" (1984), who has been waiting for the offer since he read the script over 20 years ago. As Caesar's uncle, the wealthy Hamilton Crassus III, is Jon Voight (The Rainmaker, 1997). The film is flanked by great actors.

The two contrasting heroines are seasonal actresses. Nathalie Emmanuel ("Game of Thrones" (13-19)) as Julia, Cicero's daughter in love with Caesar, and Aubrey Plaza ("White Lotus: A Resort Hotel Full of Circumstances (Season 2)" (22)) as the ambitious Wow Platinum The two actors were.

The actors are not the only ones who support this epic story. The visual interest of the film is essential to its gorgeous production design, costumes that coexist with the ancient, the modern, and the future, and special effects that make the city itself seem alive.

And because of its grandeur, the message that viewers will take away from this film is sure to vary. Caesar, who advocates that "to plunge into the unknown is a sign of freedom" and devotes himself to the development of the "megalopolis," the hope of mankind, is a reflection of Coppola himself, who has devoted his life to cinema as a true art form.

In addition, the disparities and divisions depicted in the story show through the shadows of various histories, from the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States to the economic crisis symbolized by the Lehman Shock. The juxtaposition of this with ancient Rome is as if the confusion of the present day had been predicted forty years earlier. It has been sublimated into an antithesis to modern society.

However, the story is not based on dark despair, but on Coppola's own hopes for the future and expectations for the present.

The film opens in theaters today, Friday, June 20. Please come and see this blockbuster film, which will go down in history, on the screen.