WASHINGTON (TND) — Director Francis Ford Coppola, best known for his work on “The Godfather,” told Rolling Stone Sunday he intended to feature “cancelled” actors in his latest film to avoid "woke Hollywood" labels.
Coppola described his latest project “Megalopolis” to the publication as a “Roman Empire epic set in modern America.” The director said he originally planned to create the utopian film in 2001, but scrapped the idea in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The 2024 edition of the film includes names such as Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight and Laurence Fishburne. Coppola explained his selection of actors was deliberate to combat the perception that his film was a product of “woke Hollywood.”
“What I didn’t want to happen is that we’re deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers,” the director told Rolling Stone. “The cast features people who were canceled at one point or another. There were people who are archconservatives and others who are extremely politically progressive."
But we were all working on one film together. That was interesting, I thought," he noted.Coppola said he hopes these decisions will dispel a myth that directors must obey Hollywood’s unwritten rules.
“There’s a prevailing tendency in Hollywood to say, if you follow our rules, you’ll have a better chance of a success,” he said. “I’m trying to do something different here. Film is change. I mean, the movies that your grandchildren are going to make are going to be nothing like what we see now.”
Voight is particularly open about his support for former President Donald Trump. The actor in July alsosaid his daughter Angelina Jolie’s views on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict show "ignorance."
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“She has been exposed to propaganda,” Voight said. “She’s been influenced by antisemitic people. Angie has a connection to the U.N., and she’s enjoyed speaking out for refugees. But these people are not refugees.”
“It comes from ignorance, like everything else,” he added. “It’s like, why are these kids in the universities siding with Hamas, right? It’s because of ignorance. They don’t know the story.”
LaBeouf in 2020 was accused of sexual battery and physical and verbal abuse by his ex-girlfriend, FKA Twigs. The lawsuit filed by Twigs also claims LaBeouf knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease.
At the time, LaBeouf said he was "not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel" and acknowledged his "history of hurting" people close to him.
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