Oscar-winning director slams ‘woke Hollywood’ after casting ‘cancelled’ actors | Films | Entertainment

The Oscar-winning director behind The Godfather and Apocalypse Now is set to debut his passion project blockbuster next month.

After years in development hell, Francis Ford Coppola sold a portion of his California winery to find the $120 million budget of Megalopolis.

A sci-fi drama inspired by Roman history, the film starring Adam Driver premiered at Cannes to mixed reviews.

Speaking with Rolling Stone, the 85-year-old director admitted: “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 cancelled 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.”

The film includes controversial actors like Trump supporter Jon Voight and Shia LaBeouf who was accused of sexual assault three years ago.

Coppola added: “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.”

Megalopolis lands in cinemas on September 27, 2024.