Adam Driver To Star In Francis Coppola's 'Megalopolis'

Actor Adam Driver might just be taking on the most ambitious project of his career.

On Thursday, Deadline revealed the cast behind Francis Ford Coppola’s dream project, “Megalopolis,” which is more than twenty years in the making. The “Star Wars” actor was tapped to star in the primary cast which features another franchise alum.

The two-time Oscar-nominated actor may be best known to “Star Wars” fans as playing Kylo Ren and the redeemed Ben Solo in the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy. He will be joined by Forest Whitaker, who played Saw Gerrera in 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”

Also appearing in the film are Nathalie Emmanuel, who is known for her roles in HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and “Fast X.” Veteran actor Jon Voight and “The Matrix” star Laurence Fishburne will also appear in leading roles. Fishburne, now 60, first appeared in Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” when he was only 14.

Coppola reportedly wrote the script and will be independently financing the project himself. Deadline described the plot of the contemporary drama with the following description: “The fate of Rome haunts a modern world unable to solve its own social problems in this epic story of political ambition, genius, and conflicting interests.”

The budget of the film is reportedly under $100 million dollars, with production beginning this fall. Distribution rights are reportedly up for grabs.

Coppola has won five Academy Awards for his work, but this latest project is deemed to perhaps be the most ambitious of his career. The 83-year-old filmmaker and wine entrepreneur reportedly sold a portion of his wine empire in order to secure the funds to make the film.

In a recent interview, Coppola spoke to Deadline about his dream project.

“What would make me really happy? It’s not winning a lot of Oscars because I already have a lot and maybe more than I deserve,” he said. “And it’s not that I make a lot of money, although I think over time it will make a lot of money because anything that the people keep looking at and finding new things, that makes money.”

“So somewhere down the line, way after I’m gone, all I want is for them to discuss [Megalopolis] and, is the society we’re living in the only one available to us? How can we make it better? Education, mental health?” he continued. “What the movie really is proposing is that utopia is not a place. It’s how can we make everything better? Every year, come up with two, three or four ideas that make it better.”

“I would be smiling in my grave if I thought something like that happened, because people talk about what movies really mean if you give them something,” he added. “If you encouraged people to discuss marriage and education and health and justice and opportunities and freedom and all these wonderful things that human beings have conceived of. And ask the question, how can we make it even better? That would be great. Because I bet you they would make it better if they had that conversation.”

Although the film does pose a financial risk, Coppola is more concerned with the reward of seeing his dream through to completion.

“What’s the worst that can happen to me? I’m going to die and be broke? I’m not going to be broke. My kids are all successful. They’re going to have this beautiful place… You’ve seen Inglenook,” he said. “They’re going to have that. I’m confident that if you can make a film that people can keep getting something out of for 10, 20 or more years, you will not lose money. I look at my movies. They’re all being looked at 50 years later. The Outsiders, Dracula, they are still seen.”

“My films, the more weird they are, the longer they seem to last,” he concluded. “I don’t even know why.”