Francis Ford Coppola Battled With Shia LaBeouf During Megalopolis (And You Can Watch It Happen)

Regardless of what you may think about it — and given its critical and commercial performance, the odds are your opinion isn't exactly high — there's no denying that Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis" is one of the most fascinating films of the last several years. That has little to do with the actual content of the film, which blends Golden Age Hollywood aesthetics, Roman history, absurdist comedy, and the stylings of the "epic" into a confounding $120 million smoothie. Rather, the interest comes from the project itself, entirely financed from Coppola's own coffers after decades of the famous director trying and failing to get it made.

That process is being laid bare in the new documentary "Megadoc" from "Leaving Las Vegas" director Mike Figgis. The trailer for the documentary provides glimpses at the often chaotic business behind the scenes, which Figgis and his crew had extensive access to during production. Of note are Coppola's occasionally improvisational approach, and his apparently frequent clashes with Shia LaBeouf on set.

These aspects of the story have been explored a bit in reviews for "Megadoc" following its recent premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and those reviews have been much more favorable overall than the ones for "Megalopolis" itself. The documentary is earning praise for showing one of America's most esteemed yet inconsistent filmmakers at work on his late-career dream project, as well as portraying the drama of a massive indie film production.

The massive independent financing, bizarre production design, campy writing, and confused politics aren't the only controversial aspects of "Megalopolis." From the jump, Francis Ford Coppola almost seemed determined to stir up conversation by casting a number of Hollywood pariahs, including Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, and Dustin Hoffman. LaBeouf has a had a long history of legal issues and public scandals, and in 2020, musician and former partner FKA Twigs sued him for sexual battery and assault — a lawsuit that was recently settled for an undisclosed amount in July 2025.

Voight has built his own reputation for controversy after making himself one of the leading Hollywood supporters of Donald Trump and endorsing debunked far-right conspiracy theories like the idea that the 2020 U.S. presidential election was "stolen." Voight has also been publicly estranged from his more famous daughter, Angelina Jolie, for years. Dustin Hoffman, who has a smaller role in "Megalopolis," has been at the center of a series of sexual misconduct allegations since 2017.

Put all those names together on a set with Coppola — who faced his own accusations of misconduct around the time of the film's release — and it isn't too surprising to hear that there were frequent ego clashes during filming. The full release of "Megadoc" promises to get into those details, as well as the less tense idiosyncrasies of an aging director trying to brute-force a passion project out of his own pocket.

Figgis' documentary will likely only add to the strange legend of "Megalopolis" — a movie that seems determined, by Coppola's own will, to overtake the director's many brilliant films and become the prevailing piece of his modern legacy. The mystique has only been amplified by how difficult it's been to actually watch "Megalopolis" since its release. Different theatrical tours and screenings have continued, but the film's presence on digital rental and streaming platforms has been sporadic at best.

Perhaps the added drama of a behind-the-scenes exposé could bolster interest in the film, which fell flat in theaters despite generating a widespread word-of-mouth campaign. And "Megadoc" isn't the first time Coppola has been the subject of a documentary exploring a messy production. The last one, however — "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" — told the story of a far better film.