Francis Ford Coppola admits 'Megalopolis' controversial casting

Francis Ford Coppola is putting his weight behind the casting of Megalopolis after some of them were previously embroiled in controversies.

During an interview with Rolling Stone, The Godfather director acknowledges that some actors in the casting were canceled in the past, including Jon Voight, whose conservative views often draw criticism.

“What I didn’t want to happen is that we’re deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers,” adding, “The cast features people who were canceled at one point or another."

"There were people who were archconservatives and others who were extremely politically progressive. But we were all working on one film together. That was interesting, I thought.”

Another divisive cast in the film is Shia LaBeouf, who was accused of sexual assault in 2021, and according to the noted filmmaker working with him was not smooth.

“Shia [LaBeouf] really took to it,” he continued. “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 will arrive in the theatres on Sept, 27.