Francis Ford Coppola: Winery Godfather to MegaFlopolis, Part 2 - Magalopolis (2024)

Here’s PART TWO of our coverage of Francis Ford Coppola’s Alpha and Omega of his career. Make sure you check out PART ONE where we cover The Godfather (1972) and the rise, almost fall, then final sell-off of Coppola’s winery empire in Napa, Sonoma, and Oregon.

Here in PART TWO we cover the Omega, MEGALOPOLIS (2024). And taste two well-aged Coppola wines - a 1998 Niebaum-Coppola “Cask” Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2000 Niebaum-Coppola Cabernet Franc! - and say which wine pairs best with which film.

We opened these two bottles at a local “enoteca” (ha ha, a term I just learned about from

Vicky Hampton

’s article that dropped today), Curated Wine Shop (go follow them on IG!) We opened both bottles there to share. We brought them randomly, spur of the moment, this was not planned or mentioned to the Curated folks in advance. And when we arrived, and told them what we had and why we were opening them, they said: “Oh, Megalopolis? The Production Designer, Bradley Rubin, is sitting right over there!”

Soooo…yeah. We sure as shit called him over and he graciously allowed us to talk his ear off about his exeperience on making the film!!! Note that this was a very impromptu recording, so the audio is muddy, music and background noise abound, and Brad is a soft spoken person, but it’s all legible! Here’s a clip:

So strap in for an epic discussion on the film, and then we decide which of the 2 Coppola wines pair best with Godfather, and which with Megalopolis.

This is a film that - over 40 years in the making! - definitely got away from its creator, if he ever had a handle on it to begin with. But we appreciate that it exists, as a lifelong passion project that doubles as a cautionary tale about never letting go and/or never starting over. In the movie Megalopolis, “stopping time” is a great friend to Adam Driver’s creator self. Unlimoted time, as needed. But unlimited time, must like unlimited resources, is not actually any creator’s friend.

Look for our companion VINTERVIEW aka Part 3 next week, when we'll be interviewing one of the actresses from the Megalopolis movie! And whoever you think it might be - no, it's not her. (It's gonna be a wacky surprise.)