Francis Ford Coppola teases a Megalopolis novelization from Colleen McCullough—who died in 2015

Coppola also says a behind-the-scenes documentary and a graphic novel adaptation are in the works

By Sam Barsanti | September 3, 2023 | 10:12pm

Aux News Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola teases a Megalopolis novelization from Colleen McCullough—who died in 2015

Francis Ford Coppola Photo: Emma McIntyre

Francis Ford Coppola has dreamed of making his sci-fi drama Megalopolis for decades, going back to the ‘80s, and now he’s actually doing it—even if he has to pay for it himself and even if it turns into an alleged behind-the-scenes disaster (he and some of the cast have denied that, with Adam Driver in particular having nothing but nice things to say about the experience). But the actual movie isn’t the only part of the Megalopolis expanded universe that Coppola has in the works. As revealed on a recent Instagram post, there will also be a behind-the-scenes documentary from filmmaker Mike Figgis, a tie-in graphic novel from Chris Ryall (former Chief Creative Officer of IDW Publishing), and—curiously—a novelization from author Colleen McCullough, whose Masters Of Rome books inspired Coppola’s film.

McCullough died in 2015, but in the body of the actual post, Coppola is more interested in explaining what a novelization is rather than explaining McCullough’s involvement:

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Novelizations are, in essence, book-length descriptions of movies, typically written not by the author of the screenplay. They are the complete opposite of the more familiar practice of turning a book into a movie.

Fascinating! Even though we all already knew that! You have to scroll through the comments to see Coppola explain what the heck he’s talking about with McCullough, but the answer is pretty straightforward: She wrote the novelization “years ago.” As in, before her death. As in, before Coppola actually started to seriously make the film. That’s how serious he is about this thing, and now, by the time it comes out, the woman who wrote the novelization will have been dead for almost 10 years. That behind-the-scenes documentary is going to be something, right? Imagine the scene where Francis Ford Coppola logs onto Instagram to tell people that Colleen McCullough is writing the novelization only for people to point out that she died. It’s gonna be awesome.

Megalopolis takes place in some sort of alternate New York that’s inspired by the Roman empire, and its whiplash-inducing cast includes Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Voight, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Shia LaBeouf, Dustin Hoffman, Giancarlo Esposito, Chloe Fineman, and Talia Shire. Again: Behind! The! Scenes! Documentary!