Cinema legend Francis Ford Coppola was so concerned about his upcoming Megalopolis being labeled woke that he made sure to hire “canceled” actors.
In an interview with the disgraced, far-left Rolling Stone, the 85-year-old multiple Oscar winner said:
What I didn’t want to happen is that we’re deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers. 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 is speaking, of course, of Oscar-winner Jon Voight, Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman, and Oscar nominee Shia LeBeouf.
Voight is blacklisted for supporting Trump.
Hoffman is blacklisted for one unfounded allegation of misconduct some 40 years ago.
LeBeouf is blacklisted for an unfounded allegation of abuse and for becoming a Christian.
Coppola said of LeBeouf:
You could see the actors find the characters. Shia [LaBeouf] really took to it. I had no experience working with him prior to this, but he deliberately sets up a tension between himself and the director to an extreme degree. He reminds me of Dennis Hopper, who would do something similar, and then you’d say, “Just go do anything,” and then they go off and do something brilliant.
LeBeouf is an actor I ridiculed mercilessly for years, but he has grown into a legitimate talent. And I don’t doubt Coppola’s description of the tension and edge he brings to a role.
Let’s return to the most important thing Coppola said: “What I didn’t want to happen is that we’re deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers,” he explained. “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.”
He continued, “But we were all working on one film together. That was interesting, I thought.”
Coppola is no right-winger, but he is 1) an old-fashioned tolerant liberal, 2) an artist from head to toe, and most importantly, 3) a man spending $100 million of his own money.
You see, unlike these multinational entertainment corporations and multimillionaire affirmative action hires like Lucasfilm chiefstress Kathleen Kennedy, Coppola needs to worry about the bottom line and making a profit. And a wise man who has been in the business of movies for some 60 years, he knows woke equals box office death. So here he is, wisely and proactively telling the movie-going public he has not poisoned his dream project with woke lectures.
I cannot wait to see Megalopolis.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
