Francis Ford Coppola finally made his “dream project,” a film called Megalopolis. Critics don’t care for it. Coppola has destroyed a lot of goodwill this year too – he’s apparently against all things “woke,” and he’s also been accused of being way too “friendly” and “handsy” with various women on the production. Coppola has sounded deeply problematic and out-of-touch in his interviews this year, but people still want to see him as a Hollywood elder. Thus, Spike Lee and Robert DeNiro came out to support him at last night’s Megalopolis premiere in New York. DeNiro and Spike used the premiere to talk sh-t about Donald Trump. It cannot be overstated: genuine New Yorkers despise Trump.
Robert De Niro posed a hypothetical that made the audience bust out laughing even as the actor remained utterly stone-faced.
“Just imagine Donald Trump directing this film,” he said at Monday’s New York premiere of Francis Ford Coppola‘s Megalopolis. “It’ll never go anywhere, from total craziness. He cannot do anything. He cannot hold anything together … He wants to destroy the country. And he could not do this movie. He could not do anything that has a structure.”
De Niro, Spike Lee and Coppola appeared together in a half-hour Q&A before the screening presented by the New York Film Festival at the AMC Lincoln Square Imax. (The festival kicks off Friday but extended itself for the Imax event given the rare chance to gather prominent guests together with the 85-year-old Coppola.)
Asked about his view on the future of cinema, De Niro instead took things in a political direction, motivated by Coppola’s ruminations on the decline of civilizations and the rise of dictators. “I’m worried,” De Niro said. “I see the things in Francis’ film about that, the parallels and so on. To me, it’s not over ’till it’s over and we have to go at this wholeheartedly to beat the Republicans – those Republicans, they’re not real Republicans – and beat Trump. It’s that simple. We cannot have that type of person. Everybody has to get out there and vote.”
Lee didn’t hesitate to agree. “As my sister says, forward not backward,” he said. “It’s simple: Register to vote and show up. …. This election is going to be very, very close. I’m a big sports fan and, the expression you used, it’s not over ’till it’s over. We cannot just think that the game is over when it’s not.”
DeNiro has done a lot to vocalize his visceral hatred for Trump, while Spike is usually the one biting his tongue and not going off completely. “We have to go at this wholeheartedly to beat the Republicans – those Republicans, they’re not real Republicans.” What even is a “real Republican” at this point? It’s been nine years – the Trump cult has swallowed the Republican Party. There are no “real Republicans” anymore, just cult members and people who will never vote for Trump. Anyway, during this same Q&A session, Coppola was saying sh-t about how he made a point of hiring some MAGA people and DeNiro basically talked over him. Chaotic.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- New York ‘Megalopolis’ The Ultimate Imax Experience Premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Featuring: Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppala and Spike Lee Where: New York, United States When: 23 Sep 2024 Credit: Dave Allocca/Starpix/INSTARimages
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- New York ‘Megalopolis’ The Ultimate Imax Experience Premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Featuring: Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro and Spike Lee Where: New York, United States When: 23 Sep 2024 Credit: Dave Allocca/Starpix/INSTARimages
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- New York ‘Megalopolis’ The Ultimate Imax Experience Premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Featuring: Giancarlo Esposito, Robert De Niro, Spike Lee and Francis Ford Coppola Where: New York, United States When: 23 Sep 2024 Credit: Dave Allocca/Starpix/INSTARimages
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- New York ‘Megalopolis’ The Ultimate Imax Experience Premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Featuring: Robert De Niro, Spike Lee and Francis Ford Coppola Where: New York, United States When: 23 Sep 2024 Credit: Dave Allocca/Starpix/INSTARimages
De Niro like Biden still believes that Republicans are honourable and sane people. They’re not. MAGA is the Republican party.
I actually really appreciate what DeNiro and Lee say here. It’s nice to see two powerful, high-profile men speaking out against Trump.
However, I slightly disagree though in that I don’t think you can call yourself a republican nowadays without being MAGAt–they are on and the same. Maybe right-wingers who hate Trump should just call themselves conservatives instead.
The “sane” Republicans have left, many of them are voting Democratic. And people like Liz Cheney will tell you that this iteration of the Republican party is not at all conservative. They have a point. Massive budget deficits, kissing Putin’s ass, and trying to destroy NATO are not conservative policies. Not to mention economy killing tariffs.
As someone who just got back from voting, I feel pretty good right now. Here it is a Tuesday in September and there was a steady stream of voters at my city hall. Amazing 🤩!
Forgive my ignorance,before i knew more about American parties I used to think that Republicans were the so called elites ,people who were like the Bushes,Martha Stewart,Kennedys. I used to think that’s what Republicans meant. I couldn’t imagine some of these MAGAts being Republican.
Neeve, the Kennedys have always been Democrats–except for Bobby Kennedy’s son. He’s a fruit loop.
Agreed, for a very long time, the Kennedy family WAS the face of the Democrats. With the Clintons and Obamas, they have moved down a little bit in the standings.
The republican party has been off mission since Reagan. Just spouting off fake nonsense and being anti- people (which translates to anti- American) in the most Animal Farm fashion possible.
There is no going forward for them. They will have to regroup and call themselves something else, but hopefully leave the let the corporations rule the world idea behind.