Shia LaBeouf is shown having an argument with director Francis Ford Coppola during the making of 2024’s Megalopolis in a new clip.
The epic sci-fi drama was a passion project of the celebrated filmmaker, who put up some of his own money to get the project made. The movie told the story of an alternate New York City (called “New Rome”) and follows the battle between an architect (Adam Driver) and a corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) over their visions for the future of the city.
The film received poor reviews and was a box office bomb, making $14.4million (£10.6million) against a budget estimated to be between $120-136million (£88.8million-£100.7million).
A new documentary, titled Megadoc, covered the making of the movie, and released one clip showing tension between Coppola and cast member LaBeouf, who played the jealous cousin of Driver’s character.
In the clip from the doc, shared by The Film Stage, we see the director slowly losing patience with the Transformers actor as he tries to change the movement of a scene with co-star Jon Voight. As tensions rise, Voight cheekily remarks to the camera “Say a prayer!”, before Coppola finally chastises LaBeouf for what he perceives as an overstep.
“What are we inventing a whole set up for? Where did that come from? Who is the director who came in here and started to stage this scene?” the filmmaker asked. LaBeouf replied: “You’re obviously the director,” to which Coppola responds: “But I’m not having the chance to (direct).”
In February, the Godfather filmmaker was named Worst Director at the 2025 Razzie Awards, to which he responded on Instagram: “I am thrilled to accept the Razzie award in so many important categories for @megalopolisfilm, and for the distinctive honor of being nominated as the worst director, worst screenplay, and worst picture at a time when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking!”
English (US) · 