- Coppola’s Megalopolis has been panned by critics alongside Todd Phillips’ Joker sequel
- The Godfather director also declared his love for The Hangover
- Joker: Folie a Deux is officially the lowest-rated comic book film of all time
Misery loves company. Or so they say. For Todd Phillips’ sake, let’s hope it loves the company of similarly scathing reviews.
Phillips’ recent Joker: Folie a Deux picture went from being one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year to being one of the most relentlessly ridiculed in the space of one opening weekend.
The same can also be said for Francis Ford Coppola’s self-funded, 40-years-in-the-making disaster Megalopolis.
Which may explain why The Godfather director took to Instagram to declare his love for Phillips’ latest work, as well as one of Phillips’ previous fan-favourites.
Sharing a picture of Joker 2’s official poster to his Instagram feed, Coppola commented on the heavily derided musical, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.
“@ToddPhillips films always amaze me and I enjoy them thoroughly. Ever since the wonderful “The Hangover” he’s always one step ahead of the audience never doing what they expect. Congratulations to Joker: Folie à Deux!
“I am also honored that the films DP, Lawrence Sher, mentioned that the film is visually inspired by ‘One From the Heart’.”
While Phillips’ first Joker, released in 2019, received critical acclaim, an Oscar for Phoenix and the highest gross in history for an R-Rated film (until Deadpool & Wolverine came along and knocked it into second place this year), his second effort with Arthur Fleck has been derided by fans and critics alike, scoring only 33% with the press and 31% with movie-goers on Rotten Tomatoes. Even more damning was the audiences polled for CinemaScore, which saw the film emerge with a final grade of D, the lowest ever given to a comic book film (and think of the ground that covers).
Coppola’s Megalopolis, meanwhile, starring Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Nathalie Emmanuel, Giancarlo Esposito and Shia LaBeouf as well as supporting roles for Hollywood veterans Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, has fared slightly better with reviewers, although that isn’t saying much.
The five-time Academy Award winning director, responsible for such inspirational works as the first two Godfathers, The Conversation, Finian’s Rainbow, Rumble Fish, The Outsiders and Apocalypse Now, poured a substantial amount of his own fortune into his latest project, which he has been attempting to bring to life for 40 years. With a budget believed to be somewhere between $120-$136m, the film has so far recouped only $8.5m at the box office.
Rumours of on-set unrest and unpredictable behaviour from Coppola were rife throughout Megalopolis’ production, with parallels being drawn between that and his hysterically over budget and infamously chaotic production of Apocalypse Now.
So while the two directors may not be sharing any Academy Award nominations for their work on their respective 2024 efforts at next year’s Oscars, they can at least revel in the mutual respect they have for each other’s work. Maybe watch The Hangover together that night, instead?
