CANNES, France (AP) — Francis Ford Coppola on Thursday will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival a film on which he has risked everything, one that's arriving clouded by rumors of production turmoil. Sound familiar?
On Thursday, Coppola's self-financed opus “Megalopolis” will make its much-awaited premiere. Other films are debuting in Cannes with more fanfare and hype, but none has quite the curiosity of “Megalopolis," the first film by the 85-year-old filmmaker in 13 years. Coppola put $120 million of his own money into it.
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FILE - Francis Ford Coppola arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Coppola's film, "Megalopolis" will compete at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Directors Volker Schlondorff, left, and Francis Ford Coppola, winners of the Palm D'Or prize, are shown at the awards ceremony at Cannes International Film Festival on May 25, 1979. Schlondorff directed "The Tin Drum," and Coppola directed "Apocalypse Now." (AP Photo, File)
FILE - American director Francis Ford Coppola and his wife, Ellie, arrive for the world premiere of his movie "Apocalypse Now" at the Cannes International Film Festival in the South of France on May 19, 1979. Coppola is back at Cannes with his latest film "Megalopolis." (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Swiss actress Marthe Keller, from left, U.S. director Francis Ford Coppola "Gold Palms" winner for his film "The Conversation", Marie-Jose Nat with her prize of Feminine Interpretation, U.S. actor Jack Nicholson, best Men Interpretation and U.S. actor Tony Curtis, after the prize ceremony of the Cannes International Film Festival which ended on May 24, 1974 in Cannes, France. Coppola is back at Cannes with his latest film "Megalopolis." (AP Photo/Jean-Jacques Levy, File)
FILE - Film director Francis Ford Coppola appears with his wife Ellie at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 1979. Coppola is back at Cannes with his latest film "Megalopolis." (AP Photo, File)
FILE - American director Francis Ford Coppola, center, carries his daughter Sofia, 8, through the crowd after the formal presentation of the U.S. film "Apolalypse Now", at the Cannes International Film Festival in France on May 19, 1979. His son Gian Carlo, 15, and his wife Ellie are left. Coppola is back at Cannes with his latest film "Megalopolis." (AP Photo/Jean-Jacques Levy, File)
Forty-five years ago, something very similar played out when Coppola was toiling over the edit for “Apocalypse Now.” The movie's infamous Philippines production, which would be documented by Coppola's late wife, Eleanor, was already legend. The originally planned release in December 1977 had come and gone. Coppola had, himself, poured some $16 million into the $31 million budget for his Vietnam-set telling of Joseph Conrad's “Heart of Darkness.”
“I was terrified. For one thing, I was on the hook for the whole budget personally — that’s why I came to own it,” Coppola said in 2019. “In addition, in those days interest was over 25, 27%. So it looked as though, especially given the controversy and all the bogus articles being written about a movie that no one knew anything about but were predicting it was ‘the heralded mess’ of that year, it looked as though I was never going to get out of the jeopardy I was in. I had kids, I was young. I had no family fortune behind me. I was scared stiff.”
Gilles Jacob, delegate general of Cannes, traveled to visit Coppola, hoping he could coax him into returning to the festival where the director's “The Conversation” had won the Palme d'Or in 1974. In his book, “Citizen Cannes: The Man Behind the Cannes Film Festival,” Jacob recounted finding Coppola in the editing suite “beset by financial woes and struggling with 20 miles of film.”
By springtime 1979, Coppola had assembled an edit he screened in Los Angeles — much as he recently did “Megalopolis." When Jacob got wind of the screening, he threw himself into securing it for that year's Cannes.
“Already considered an event even before it had been shown, ‘Apocalypse Now’ would be the festival’s crowning glory," Jacob wrote. He added: “Ultimately I knew it was Cannes’ setting — more than a match for his own megalomania — that would convince him to come.”
But Coppola wasn't so sure. The film was unfinished, didn't have credits yet and he still was unsure about the ending. But after some back-and-forth and debate about whether “Apocalypse Now” would screen in or out of competition, it was decided: It would screen as a "work in progress" — in competition.
At the premiere in Cannes, Coppola carried his daughter, Sofia, then 8, on his shoulders. The response to the film wasn't immediately overwhelming.
“'Apocalypse Now,' one of the most ballyhooed movies of the decade, got only a polite response at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday," wrote the Herald Tribune.
At the press conference, Coppola was defensive about the bad press the film received and the attention given to its budget.
“Why is it that I, the first one to make a film about Vietnam, a film about morality, am so criticized when you can spend that much about a gorilla or a little jerk who flies around in the sky?” asked Coppola.
But “Apocalypse Now” would ultimately go down as one of Cannes' most mythologized premieres. The president of the jury that year, French author Francoise Sagan, preferred another entry about war: “The Tin Drum," Volker Schlondorff's adaptation of the Günter Grass novel. The jury, split between the two, gave the Palme d'Or to both.
“Megalopolis," too, will be premiering in competition on Thursday.
The day after the 1978 Cannes closing ceremony, Jacob recalled running into Coppola at the Carlton Hotel, just as he was leaving.
“A big, black limousine was about to drive off. The back door opened and Francis got out," Jacob wrote. “He came up to me, held out his hand and, as he removed a big cigar from between his teeth, said, ‘I only received half a Palme d’Or.’”
FILE - Francis Ford Coppola arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Coppola's film, "Megalopolis" will compete at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Directors Volker Schlondorff, left, and Francis Ford Coppola, winners of the Palm D'Or prize, are shown at the awards ceremony at Cannes International Film Festival on May 25, 1979. Schlondorff directed "The Tin Drum," and Coppola directed "Apocalypse Now." (AP Photo, File)
FILE - American director Francis Ford Coppola and his wife, Ellie, arrive for the world premiere of his movie "Apocalypse Now" at the Cannes International Film Festival in the South of France on May 19, 1979. Coppola is back at Cannes with his latest film "Megalopolis." (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Swiss actress Marthe Keller, from left, U.S. director Francis Ford Coppola "Gold Palms" winner for his film "The Conversation", Marie-Jose Nat with her prize of Feminine Interpretation, U.S. actor Jack Nicholson, best Men Interpretation and U.S. actor Tony Curtis, after the prize ceremony of the Cannes International Film Festival which ended on May 24, 1974 in Cannes, France. Coppola is back at Cannes with his latest film "Megalopolis." (AP Photo/Jean-Jacques Levy, File)
FILE - Film director Francis Ford Coppola appears with his wife Ellie at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 1979. Coppola is back at Cannes with his latest film "Megalopolis." (AP Photo, File)
FILE - American director Francis Ford Coppola, center, carries his daughter Sofia, 8, through the crowd after the formal presentation of the U.S. film "Apolalypse Now", at the Cannes International Film Festival in France on May 19, 1979. His son Gian Carlo, 15, and his wife Ellie are left. Coppola is back at Cannes with his latest film "Megalopolis." (AP Photo/Jean-Jacques Levy, File)
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A judge on Thursday handed down long sentences to two former police officers for the 2018 murder of Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco, an icon of Brazil’ s political left whose killing sparked outrage.
Ronnie Lessa and Élcio de Queiroz were sentenced to almost 79 years and almost 60 years, respectively, for the March 14, 2018 drive-by shooting that killed Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes. Jurors found that Lessa fired the gun and de Queiroz was the wheelman on the night of the crime.
Lessa and de Queiroz, arrested in 2019, previously signed plea bargains confessing their roles, but the jury had final word on their guilt on homicide and other charges. The verdict, although expected, comes as a measure of solace to the many who saw the martyrdom of the Black, bisexual woman as an attack on democracy, and worried that the crime would go unpunished.
The prosecutors had argued each man should be sentenced to the maximum possible 84 years for the three counts — double homicide, attempted homicide and driving a cloned vehicle.
As Judge Lucia Glioche finished reading the sentence, applause erupted in the room as victims’ families began to cry. Marielle’s sister, Anielle Franco, Brazil’s minister for racial equality, held a long, tearful embrace with her parents and Marielle’s daughter, Luyara Franco. Her father rested his head on the chest of former congressman Marcelo Freixo, who was her political mentor.
Brazilian law does not allow for life imprisonment, and each man will serve no more than 30 years of their sentences. Due to their sealed plea bargains, local media has reported that Queiroz and Lessa may serve 12 and 18 years in prison, respectively, including time already served. Prosecutors have denied their sentenced would be reduced.
Either way, Thursday’s sentencing is seen as only a step toward justice being done, with another trial yet to come for the men accused of ordering her killing. They will also have to pay 706,000 reais ($122,000) in moral damages to several of the victims’ family members and provide an allowance to the young son of Gomes until he turns 24, according to a statement on the court's website.
Known universally by her first name, Marielle, she was raised in one of Rio’s poor communities known as favelas. She became known for her efforts to improve the lives of ordinary residents. Following her election in 2016, she fought against violence targeting women while defending human rights and social programs.
Testimony Wednesday during the first day of the trial offered details about the moments preceding and following the shooting. Franco’s assistant and friend who was also in the car, Fernanda Chaves, was among those giving testimony, as was Franco’s mother and her partner Mônica Benício.
Choked up and often unable to talk, Benício said the last thing Marielle ever said to her was “I love you.”
“We had plans to get married with a wedding party. When Marielle died, what I felt was that they had taken away our promise of the future,” she said, later adding that the right to a just city was one of Marielle’s causes.
“Marielle also defended the right to decent housing from the perspective of the favela, the periphery, this was the theme of the city’s rights agenda.”
Both defendants participated in the trial by videoconference from prison. Lessa is in Sao Paulo while de Queiroz is in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia.
Federal authorities started investigating the case in earnest once leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in 2023.
With Lessa and de Queiroz sentenced, attention will now turn to the men accused of ordering the hit: two brothers with purported ties to criminal groups known as militias, which illegally charge residents for various services, including protection.
Guilhermo Catramby, a Federal Police detective, told the court Wednesday that the assassination was “undoubtedly” motivated by Marielle’s work regarding land rights, especially in the west side of Rio de Janeiro. Her work there was “a thorn in the side of militia interests,” Catramby said.
In March, Federal Police detained the two brothers, federal lawmaker Chiquinho Brazão and his brother Domingos Brazão, a member of Rio state’s accounts watchdog. They have denied any involvement in the killing or with militias and have yet to go on trial.
In his plea bargain, Lessa told police that the politician brothers hired him and informed him that the then-chief of the state’s civil police, Rivaldo Barbosa, had signed off beforehand. Barbosa, who also denies any involvement, was arrested in March.
Marielle’s family and Ágatha Arnaus, widow of Gomes, spoke to journalists after the trial. Holding hands, they said that while the conviction offered some reparation after years of struggle and pain, it was just the first step in a long journey toward justice.
“I wanted my mother here, but today will certainly go down in this country’s democratic history,” said Luyara, the councilwoman’s daughter, holding back tears.
“If the justice system had not convicted these two cruel murderers, we wouldn’t have a moment of peace. But this doesn’t end here,” said Antonio Francisco da Silva, Marielle’s father. “There are those who ordered the crime. Now the question is: when will those who ordered it be convicted?”
Sá Pessoa reported from Sao Paulo.
People attend a rally prior to the trial of former Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco's alleged killers outside the Court of Justice, in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
A woman shouts demanding justice before the start of the trial of councilwoman Marielle Franco’s suspected murderers, outside the Court of Justice, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Former military police officers, shown on screen, from left, Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Queiroz attend via video conference their trial where they are accused of murdering city councilwoman Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes, at the Court of Justice in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
People gather demanding justice before the start of the trial of councilwoman Marielle Franco’s suspected murderers, outside the Court of Justice, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Anielle Franco, left back, and her mother Marinete Silva, center, family members of of slain councilwoman Marielle Franco, arrive to the Court of Justice to attend the trial of Franco’s suspected murderers, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Mother of slain councilwoman Marielle Franco, Marinete Silva, right center, and Luyara Santos, left center, daughter of slain councilwoman Marielle Franco, accompanied by other family members, arrive to follow the trial of former city councilwoman Marielle Franco's alleged killers, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Monica Benicio, center, widow of slain councilwoman Marielle Franco, arrives to the Court of Justice to attend the trial of Franco's suspected murderers, in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
A demonstrator embraces a child while holding a sign with a message that reads in Portuguese: "I want justice for Marielle and Anderson", before the start of the trial of councilwoman Marielle Franco’s suspected murderers, outside the Court of Justice, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Advisor to slain city councilwoman Marielle Franco, Fernanda Goncalves Chaves, pictured on screen, testifies during the trial of Franco's suspected murderers, at the Court of Justice in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
An activist wearing a T-shirt with the image of former city councilwoman Marielle Franco attends a rally prior to the trial for Franco's alleged killers, outside the Court of Justice, in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)