“Who cares if you die broke, if you created something you think is beautiful?” in the documentary megadocthat returns to the genesis of MegalopolisFrancis Ford Coppola evokes Jacques Tati, who died in poverty in 1982. The director of my uncle For him, it embodies this conception of art that transcends commercial success.
Because he was bankrupt, Francis Ford Coppola could go bankrupt. After the failure of his last film, which only grossed $14.4 million with a personal investment of $120 million, the great director was forced to sell his watches to overcome his difficulties. The sale will be hosted by Phillips on December 6 and 7 in New York.
In total seven watches from the Francis Ford Coppola collection will be presented. The centerpiece remains the FP Journe FFC prototype. A custom-made model that director François-Paul Journe commissioned during a dinner at Coppola’s Napa Valley estate in 2012. The idea was to discover if, in all of human history, a clock had used a hand to tell the time. Nine years of work will follow this conversation.
The platinum case therefore features a black titanium needle, inspired by a 16th century prosthesis created by the French surgeon Ambroise Paré. The fingers and thumb extend or retract in sequences that indicate the hours, while a rotating white ring marks the minutes. Journe delivers the unique piece to Coppola in 2021, when filming begins Megalopolis. A similar version with a blue needle, auctioned by Only Watch in 2021, reached 4.5 million Swiss francs (about 4.9 million euros).
Mixed reception
It remains to be seen whether these sales will fill the coffers. Presented at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024 in competition for the Palme d’Or, Megalopolis It received mixed critical and commercial reception. The plot takes place in an alternative New York renamed “New Rome”, where the visionary architect Caesar Catilina, played by Adam Driver, opposes the corrupt mayor Franklyn Cicero in a conflict that mixes Roman history and anticipation. The film is inspired by Catiline’s conspiracy in 63 BC and the decline of the Roman Republic.
Coppola had conceived the idea for the film in 1977, at the end of filming.Apocalypse now. Forty years later he decided to bet everything on this project. To finance the necessary $120 million, the filmmaker dipped into his personal savings and sold part of his winery to Delicato Family Wines.
Source: BFM TV
