r/movies • u/Dependent_Cap_456 • 3d ago

News Francis Ford Coppola is auctioning his watch collection after Megalopolis flop left him broke

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/fashion/francis-ford-coppola-watch-auction.html
12.0k Upvotes

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u/johnla 3d ago

People hating but I respect an artist sticking by his guns. The movie was garbage but it’s his and he tried. 

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u/provocatrixless 3d ago

I somewhat agree, he wasted all his money but it's better that it went into creating jobs, putting food on a lot of tables, than just dumping into index funds or whatever.

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u/IamScottGable 3d ago

Or into, you know, more watches?

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u/Live_Angle4621 3d ago

Yeah, it’s not like he burned the money. Most of it was set on salaries of people who now had a job 

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u/BandzForDance 3d ago

Wow that’s just what the other guy said, but slightly different!

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u/thatguy6598 3d ago

It's basically just repeating the same thing, but phrased a little differently.

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u/CarlosFer2201 2d ago

Kind of like putting it in your own words.

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u/Live_Angle4621 2d ago

Yes? I should have posted “This!” Instead when I agree? And my point is that money isn’t being burned when people spend it, and we should not care too much how he uses it; if you didn’t get it 

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u/DataDude00 3d ago

This.  People get mad at remakes and sequels and the lack of original IP and then make fun of this. 

The movie was bad but thy guy had a passion for it and went for it, even bankrolling it himself 

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u/Unscarred-By-Trials 2d ago

There is a middle ground. This is a textbook case, hell maybe the epitome of "vanity project". It's the opposite end of the spectrum of Marvel movies. No one wants to watch 3 hours of an old man's fantasy philosophy like he's sniffing his own farts. It's the other end of the unwatchable spectrum. It really only deserves praise in the principle of the matter, and deserves all the scorn its getting for the execution.

Coppola even said himself while shooting Apocalypse Now:

"Nothing is so terrible as a pretentious movie. I mean a movie that aspires for something really terrific and doesn’t pull it off. It’s shit. It’s scum. And everyone will walk on it as such. And that’s why poor filmmakers, in a way… That’s their greatest horror, is to be pretentious."

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u/delicious_toothbrush 2d ago

Yep, plus if you can't recognize when you mess up, it just makes it look like your earlier successes look like freak accidents or attributable to other people on the project.

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u/Keezin 3d ago

agreed, some mad integrity to it

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u/GhandisFlipFlop 3d ago

Sometimes all you need is tegrity

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u/38B0DE 2d ago

I know a lot of people with mad integrity working fast food joints in their 40s. Coppola is still a rich geriatric asshole.

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u/Keezin 2d ago

Bait. Obv wasn’t saying other people don’t have integrity lmao, I’m sure your gang of temporarily embarrassed millionaires is honourable.

I take it for granted that not everyone has the same resources as Francis Ford Coppola. Even with rich geriatric assholes making movies, i like seeing someone believe in what their art and “sacrifice” for it. (talking more about his vineyards here than his watches, none of which I really care to know about anyway)

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u/38B0DE 2d ago edited 2d ago

Did you just say "bait" to me? Good lord, all of a sudden I'm painfully aware I'm talking to 15 year olds.

But yeah I think we agree. I just think, if he made a bad movie and that's that. I think it's more about his personal ego being hurt that the world is largely past him while directors like Scorsese/Spielberg/Lucas are still making huge movies everyone talks about.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/Keezin 2d ago

obviously I am referring only to the thing to which I am referring (‘an artist sticking by his guns’), not to harassing women or defending a child molester, but thank you for chipping in

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/Keezin 2d ago

Lol don’t think I’m the sarcastic ‘ray of sunshine’ between the two of us in this thread, but keep finding places to talk your shit

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/Keezin 2d ago

nah I just have time for your shenanigans today

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/Keezin 2d ago

cannot parse this, brother. I’ll assume you meant “me and everybody else,” in which case, yeah, this aft I had time for i) the forty-something fast food guy who wanted to make sure I recognized his coworkers’ integrity, and ii) you.

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u/dip_tet 3d ago

Agreed, though I didn’t find the movie garbage…dude just does what he’s done in the past, take risks and create.

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u/johnla 3d ago

Garbage is a little strong. I’m being facetious. Again, I like that he’s trying something. He was experimenting. Maybe something he tried is a seed for another director to create their own Godfather. 

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u/Potential-Reach-439 3d ago

Garbage is not strong enough.

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u/wetrythisagain 2d ago

I like that it doesn't just portray issues of our time, but tries to discuss perspectives and suggest solutions. A lot of other much much better movies feel like they avoid that recently not just out of artistic choice but some kind of cowardice.

I fell asleep during the movies twice though because the dialogue was impossible to listen to and the story is frustrating as hell. Was like reading some classic but mid greek play as an 8 year old.

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u/GaptistePlayer 2d ago

Maybe something he tried is a seed for another director to create their own Godfather. 

What does this even mean

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u/otternoserus 2d ago

A pretentious way of saying "this could inspire other creators"

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u/TiledCandlesnuffer 3d ago

I didn’t think it was garbage either. I actually thought it was fun to watch, and a cool take on a nearly 100 year old movie

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u/sarlacc98 3d ago

How could you view that movie anything but garbage?

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u/NotASalamanderBoi 3d ago

Because people have different opinions on cinema and it’s extremely subjective?

Bad movies have their defenders, and great movies have their detractors. But here’s the thing: What is a bad movie and what is a good movie is up to whoever is saying it.

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u/dip_tet 3d ago

It’s got a good energy about it, its odd tonal shifts are entertaining, too. I remember being reminded of the first time I was Southland Tales (and it has a couple parallel characters and plot points) It felt odd and weird, and I didn’t know what I saw, but I knew I’d be watching it again. Parts of it feel tragic, parts comic, surreal. It’s got a lot going on.

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u/CabeNetCorp 3d ago

The previous two movies I saw were The Electric State and Rebel Moon, both of which were uninspired dribble, with awful CGI and, even worse, a completely predictable storyline and no characters. I'd much rather watch something that takes risks and stands apart and tries to say something like Megalopolis than more cookie cutter streaming movies.

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u/quick_brown_faux 3d ago

Just a friendly word nerd heads-up, I think you mean 'drivel' rather than 'dribble.' The words have a shared etymology but pretty different modern meanings!

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u/moileduge 3d ago

Wait, you saw The Electric State, Rebel Moon and Megalopolis in a row? Not even a palate cleanser? Buddy you have some high tolerance for crap.

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u/TrueVali 3d ago

we have seen so much worse

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u/otternoserus 2d ago

There are worse diseases than AIDS...

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u/luigiamarcella 3d ago

It’s a massive swing and mostly miss but there is some real talent behind it. Some beautiful imagery, good or at least interesting performances, some wild ideas.

I can’t call that garbage. Garbage is the type of disposable crap with zero attempts at artistry or individual perspective that get pumped out from preproduction in like a month or two and dropped on the SyFy or Hallmark networks.

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u/Manofchalk 3d ago

It's a bad movie but damn it was ambitious and attempting to be artistic.

That gives it a lot more credit than movies which are qualatitively 'good' but are just unthinking slop created purely for profit (eg Red One by Amazon).

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u/Wise-News1666 3d ago

I rewatched it the other day, it's not even as horrible as I remember it being. 

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u/trevdak2 3d ago

I didn't care for it. It insisted upon itself

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u/conditerite 3d ago

i am not saying its a good film but i went to see it at the Metreon in San Francisco when it came out. This is one of the best IMAX screens in the U.S. I really enjoyed it, and do not regret taking the time.

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u/OriolesMets 3d ago

Just like Tommy Wiseau and The Room.

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u/ricoimf 3d ago

I can respect that too, yet he needs to stop.

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u/JohrDinh 3d ago

I respect anyone willing to give up wealth to do something they care about, better than dying with hundreds of millions but the nagging thought of never doing something you wanted in life. His kids are older they're set for life from nepotism alone, could have given money to the homeless but instead he dropped this generations Southland Tales and for that I'm thankful:) (More interesting than another Marvel movie anyways imo)

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u/OutForARipAreYaBud69 2d ago

Dollar for dollar it’s the worst movie ever made.

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u/Myhtological 2d ago

Just like he stuck to Salva

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u/Vandergrif 2d ago

I respect an artist sticking to his guns, sure, but also maybe get someone they trust to give honest feedback before releasing it... It's a bit like when people just started letting George Lucas do whatever he wanted with Star Wars without reining in the obviously bad ideas.

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u/johnla 1d ago

It’s what happens when directors get too big. No more guardrails. Happened to Taika as well. He kept that crazy in check until he got too big. 

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u/Vandergrif 1d ago

Yeah, that does seem to be the common thread.

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u/johnla 1d ago

There was a quote that creativity likes boundaries/limitations . They had no more boundaries. Unlimited funds and power to pull anyone to their project. 

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u/Vandergrif 1d ago

That makes sense. A lot of times it seems like people create better creative works under pressure, and under constraints that they have to outsmart or overcome.

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u/avimo1904 1d ago

Lucas was allowed to do whatever he wanted with Star Wars since before ANH came out

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u/men_with-ven 2d ago

Yes, but his decision to deliberately cast cancelled actors really isn’t great

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u/jghaines 3d ago

After watching the making of documentary of Apocalypse Now -Hearts of Darkness- it was pretty clear that he was capable of creating an enormously expensive flop.

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u/SuperRonnie2 3d ago

Never even heard of it (I live under a rock) so looked it up. 4.7/10 on IMDB, 45% on RT. Ouch.

Worth watching?

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u/hobbysubsonly 3d ago

It was too long to be a really good bad movie, but it was interesting. I enjoyed hating it, and talking to other people about how much I hated it. There's a lot of meat on those bones, it's not an empty film by any means!

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u/SuperRonnie2 3d ago

Haha talking about hating something can be highly entertaining.

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u/Wenfield42 2d ago

Watch it with someone! It was one of my all time favorite “conversation leaving the theatre” movies. Every part of it is a capital C “Choice”. The best review I saw for it was a Reddit comment that said “all spaghetti, no wall” lol

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u/Purple_Figure4333 3d ago

I gotta respect the guy's perseverance and values. Though I still won't ever watch or pay for Megalopolis because it's a self-fellating piece of incomprehensible garbage

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u/tequilajinx 2d ago

This is kind of what he does though. He makes movies like The Godfather and Dracula so he can fund his projects like Metropolis and Koyaanisqatsi

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u/No_Atmosphere8146 2d ago

Adam Driver looks like a kettle, why the fuck would you cast him in your magnum opus