'MEGALOPOLIS' ROWS COME TO LIGHT

DOCUMENTARY REVEALS THE DIRECTOR AND HIS CREW WERE DRAMATICALLY AT ODDS.

- STORY: KYLE BUCHANAN

Whether you were a fan of Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis or found the behind-the-scenes drama more entertaining than the film itself, you may be intrigued by Megadoc, a feature-length documentary about the making of the director's passion project that premiered on Thursday at the Venice Film Festival.

Directed by Mike Figgis, who's best known for the Nicolas Cage drama Leaving Las Vegas, this fly-on-the-wall documentary opens with Coppola in high spirits: He's about to begin pre-production on a movie that has taken him decades to mount, a self-financed $120 million (3.8 billion baht) epic about a visionary architect (Adam Driver) who hopes to transform his city with a revolutionary new material he has invented called Megalon.

But the shoot would hardly be smooth. In the time it took Megalopolis to find its way into theatres last fall, rumours emerged of a set in upheaval. A report in The Guardian alleged that as actors fought and key crew members resigned, Coppola frequently sat in his trailer for hours on end with no plan for the day. (In an interview with Deadline. com, he denied the accusations.)