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In this universe, Christianity doesn’t exist
Chronology
The city of New Rome faces the duel between Caesar Catilina, a brilliant artist in favor of an Utopian future, and the greedy mayor Franklyn Cicero. Between them is Julia Cicero, with her loyalty divided between her father and her beloved.. Francis Ford Coppola wrote the script in the early 1980s, but the film was kept on the back-burner partially due to his financial debts. Pre-production finally began in 2001 after filming 30 hours of second unit footage and holding a table read with Paul Newman, Uma Thurman, Robert De Niro, James Gandolfini, Nicolas Cage, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Edie Falco, and Kevin Spacey, but the project was scrapped after the September 11 attacks, because a scene from the script (page 166) "predicted" the attacks. Coppola fully abandoned the project in 2007, and didn’t begin developing it again until 2019.. At 21:40, Catilina’s character says the phrase "Holy Jesus Christ!" in amazement. Yet, within universe, the city of New Rome stems from a culture based on Roman Mythology (example: 54:47, the dedication to Vesta; 01:55:51, someone says "The will of Cronus", or at 01: 56:49, a statue of Saturn is displayed prominently, while there are many more depictions of Roman deities). There’s no reason Catilina would use the phrase "Holy Jesus Christ!" and in such context..
Julia Cicero: Yeah
Caesar Catilina: *You* wanna help me? And, well, I… well, I want to learn. Cesar Catilina: And you think one year of… medical school entitles you to plow through the riches of my Emersonian mind? Julia Cicero: Entitles me? Cesar Catilina: Yes.Julia Cicero: [scoffs] Entitles me?Caesar Catilina: Yeees!Julia Cicero: Entitles me?Caesar Catilina: YEEEEEES!Julia Cicero: You have no idea about me! You think I am nothing, just a socialite?
And literature, and
Cesar Catilina: No, not nothing, but I reserve my time for people who can think. About science. architecture and art. You find me cruel, selfish and unfeeling? I am. I work without caring what happens to either of us. So go back to the cluuuub, bare it all, and stalk the kind of people that you enjoy.Julia Cicero: Fine! I will.
You can see every cent on the screen
Caesar Catilina: Come back when you have more time!. The "Ultimate IMAX Experience" version of the film features a live actor asking questions during the filmed press conference.. Featured in Amanda the Jedi Show: MEGALOPOLIS is my Nightmare | Explained (2024). My PledgeWritten by Grace VanderWaalPerformed by Grace VanderWaalCourtesy of Columbia RecordsBy arrangement with Sony Music EntertainmentProduced and Orchestrated by Kris Kukul. That’s the good thing about Francis Ford Coppola’s latest and quite possibly last movie. Between the cast, the costuming, and the set design, which reimagines New York City as New Rome, you can see it all. The only question this raises is why was 42nd Street from Third Avenue to Times Square left unaffected, and what about the movie theaters from 7th to 8th Avenue? That said, it is natural to be skeptical of what is essentially an admiring biopic of Robert Moses .
What do I think?
Especially when it has apparently been written by Ayn Rand as a reply to METROPOLIS and then handed to Abel Gance after convincing him he’s making a movie about Julius Caesar instead of Napoleon. And don’t forget the quotations from Marcus Aurelius. It is, in sum, a very learned movie. To appreciate the details, you need to have read extensively in Roman history, seen a lot of silent films, and be familiar with New York City in the second half of the 20th Century, including the flight of the middle and upper classes from the 1950s through the 1980s. Through the vagaries of my upbringing and a chaotic course of self-education, I can claim those things. So. The performances are fine.