Francis Ford Coppola penned the screenplay in the early 1980s, but the film was largely shelved partly because of his financial difficulties. Pre-production finally got under way in 2001 after 30 hours of second-unit footage had been filmed and a table read was held with Paul Newman, Uma Thurman, Robert De Niro, James Gandolfini, Nicolas Cage, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Edie Falco and Kevin Spacey, but the project was dropped after the September 11 attacks because a scene on page 166 appeared to 'predict' the events. Coppola fully abandoned the endeavour in 2007 and did not return to its development until 2019.
Francis Ford Coppola funded the entire $120 million film with his own money. He had done the same for Apocalypse Now (1979) and One from the Heart (1981), the failure of the latter forcing him to declare himself bankrupt. All his subsequent films up to The Rainmaker (1997) were produced to help settle those debts.
Laurence Fishburne has said that Francis Ford Coppola was talking about this picture during the making of Apocalypse Now (1979). Rob Lowe likewise recalled him mentioning it while shooting The Outsiders (1983).
Prior to the casting of Adam Driver, Francis Ford Coppola had been keen on Christian Bale for the leading role.
This marks the ninth occasion on which Adam Driver has appeared in a film that spent more than a decade in development limbo, following Lincoln (2012), the Star Wars sequel trilogy (2015–19), Silence (2016), The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018), The Last Duel (2021), House of Gucci (2021), White Noise (2022) and Ferrari (2023).
Aubrey Plaza said she "watched plenty of Fox News while researching my portrayal of a corrupt journalist" for the film.
At the start of 2022, Zendaya, Cate Blanchett, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Caan and Jessica Lange were announced to star in the leading roles. They all subsequently withdrew and were later replaced by Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Grace VanderWaal, James Remar and Kathryn Hunter.
Francis Ford Coppola reportedly dismissed most of his visual-effects team in December 2022, The Hollywood Reporter stated. He had intended to employ virtual production techniques akin to those used on ذا ماندلوريان (2019), but rising costs led the production to rely more heavily on green-screen work. Production designer Beth Mickle and supervising art director David Scott subsequently reportedly left the project, leaving the film without an art department. A spokesperson for the Art Directors Guild told THR that it's "currently looking into the situation" to "determine the next steps."
The film includes Francis Ford Coppola's sister Talia Shire (who also appeared in The Godfather trilogy) and his nephew (Shire's son) Jason Schwartzman.
Francis Ford Coppola's wife, Eleanor Coppola, sadly passed away in April 2024, whilst the film was still in post-production. The film is dedicated to her.
When the film was first announced in the late 1990s, Nicolas Cage, who is Francis Ford Coppola's nephew, was lined up to play Caesar. Russell Crowe was also under consideration; both actors took part in table-read sessions with Coppola before the project was cancelled following the 11 September attacks. In 2007 Coppola revived the project with Leonardo DiCaprio attached to portray Caesar, but he was unable to secure a producer. In 2019 Coppola chose to finance the film himself and cast Jude Law, however production was postponed by the pandemic. Pre-production finally began in 2022; the lead role was offered to Christian Bale, who was unavailable due to prior commitments. Ultimately Adam Driver was cast as Caesar.
This is the fifth collaboration between Francis Ford Coppola and Laurence Fishburne, following their work on Apocalypse Now (1979), Rumble Fish (1983), The Cotton Club (1984) and Gardens of Stone (1987).
Oscar Isaac had initially been cast in one of the leading roles, but later withdrew.
Jack Black dropped by the set purely to observe Francis Ford Coppola at work.
A number of well-known New York landmarks depicted in this film have been mirrored or transposed from their real-life equivalents. The Statue of Liberty is shown holding her torch in her left hand, and Nedick's restaurant in the historic Madison Square Garden is placed on the other side of the entrance.
Giancarlo Esposito took over the role of Frank Cicero from Forest Whitaker.
Nikki Glaser had a one-to-one reading with director Francis Ford Coppola, and later auditioned for a part but did not secure it.
Aubrey Plaza and Jason Schwartzman are teaming up for the sixth time.
The venue depicted for the wedding reception is not Madison Square Garden as of the film's release; rather it is intended to resemble the original Madison Square Garden, which was demolished in 1968. That earlier arena occupied the block between Seventh and Eighth Avenues and between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan, New York.
Although they share only a brief scene, Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight reunite for the first time since the landmark, Academy Award-winning Midnight Cowboy (1969).
This represents Francis Ford Coppola's first foray into science-fiction cinema, apart from his insertion of new material into Battle Beyond the Sun (1959) and an uncredited contribution to Supernova (2000).
James Caan was initially cast in the film; following his death, he was replaced in the role by Dustin Hoffman.
Although the picture bombed commercially, Lionsgate nevertheless turned a modest profit, as Francis Ford Coppola personally footed every bill.
Numerous three-panel sequences aim to evoke the celebrated PolyVision scenes in Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927); the restored reissue of that film was sponsored by Francis Ford Coppola in 1980.
One of the vehicles shown as guests arrive for the party is a Tucker, the subject of Francis Ford Coppola's earlier film Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988).
Lucius Sergius Catilina and Marcus Tullius Cicero were two prominent figures of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. Arch political adversaries, they were poised to face one another in the 62 BC elections when Cicero brought before the Senate a purported conspiracy against the Republic led by Catilina ("Quosque tandem, Catilina abutere patientiæ nostræ ..." Till when, Catilina, will you abuse our patience ...). Having fallen into disgrace, Catilina met his end on the battlefield a few months later.
Jude Law was initially lined up to play the leading role during pre-production in 2019 before the film was shelved.
Scanning any of the QR codes featured at the auction will bring up a message that reads: 'Thank you for your pledge! xoxo, Vesta.'"
The RKO Radio Tower is featured in one of the numerous montages.
Francis Ford Coppola had earlier directed James Remar in The Cotton Club (1984).
Francis Ford Coppola's first feature-length film as director since Distant Vision (2015).
The film takes loose inspiration from the Catilinarian conspiracy of 63 BC, an attempted coup d'état led by the Roman politician Lucius Sergius Catilina. Catilina had joined forces with senators frustrated by the Republic's political order, aristocrats left impoverished by the dictator Sulla's proscriptions, and war veterans who had fallen into debt. He is said to have promised his followers a political programme of debt relief and land reform. The insurrection briefly erupted into armed clashes, but Catilina was killed in battle and his supporters were defeated. Five of Catilina's chief allies were executed without trial by the consul Marcus Tullius Cicero, who was later exiled for putting Roman citizens to death without a trial.
The picture brings together Jon Voight and Shia LaBeouf 21 years on from their collaboration in Holes (2003).
This is the second occasion on which Francis Ford Coppola and Jon Voight have collaborated; their earlier joint work was The Rainmaker (1997).
A blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment: at the 1:00:10 mark, the ghost of Catilina's wife drifts alongside him as he runs down the stairs.
In some of the posters, Adam Driver, who portrays Cesar (the architect), is pictured holding a T-square — a technical drawing implement chiefly used as a guide for drawing horizontal and vertical lines on a draughting table. It is one of the many instruments architects and draughtspersons relied on before the advent of computer-aided design.
The film's cast features two Academy Award winners — Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight — alongside three Academy Award nominees: Adam Driver, Talia Shire and Laurence Fishburne.
Was discussed in an episode of the comedy podcast How Did This Get Made?
This marks the second collaboration between Francis Ford Coppola and D.B. Sweeney, their earlier joint film being Gardens of Stone (1987).
Francis Ford Coppola was aged 85 when he received a nomination for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director for this film, making him the oldest person ever to be nominated. The previous record-holder was Garry Marshall, who was 77 at the time of his nomination for New Year's Eve (2011). Coppola is also the oldest person to have won the award, surpassing Ken Annakin, who was 68 when he won for The Pirate Movie (1982).
As of 1 January 2025, this film had been withdrawn from all streaming services and is unavailable in any format, including on physical media.
Grace Vanderwaal, who portrays the virgin Vesta, won America's Got Talent at the age of 12.
A trailer included snippets from unfavourable reviews of Francis Ford Coppola's earlier films The Godfather (1972), Apocalypse Now (1979), and Dracula (1992), set against Laurence Fishburne's narration, "True genius is often misunderstood." Lionsgate pulled the trailer after it emerged that the reviews had been either misappropriated or entirely fabricated. For instance, Roger Ebert's line attributed to Dracula ("A triumph of style of substance") actually came from his critique of Batman (1989).
With this film, Francis Ford Coppola became the fourth director to have received both an Oscar and a Razzie for directing, following:
- Michael Cimino — an Oscar for The Deer Hunter (1978), and a Razzie for Heaven's Gate (1980)
- Kevin Costner — an Oscar for Dances with Wolves (1990), and a Razzie for The Postman (1997)
- Tom Hooper — an Oscar for The King's Speech (2010), and a Razzie for Cats (2019)
When Julia goes to Cesar to retrieve a letter she had written the previous evening before he read it, he replies, "I already have". The same plot device was employed in The Red Shoes.
