Francis Ford Coppola Asked About Casting MAGA Star Jon Voight, Says He Didn’t Want Film To Be Called ‘Woke Hollywood Production’
Screenshots via Variety YouTube
Francis Ford Coppola told Rolling Stone he did not want his film Megalopolis to be deemed a “woke Hollywood production” after being asked about casting Jon Voight in a role with a “strong resemblance” to former President Donald Trump.
“What I didn’t want to happen is that we’re deemed some woke Hollywood production that’s simply lecturing viewers,” Coppola told Rolling Stone when asked about Voight.
Coppola’s self-financed passion project releases on September 27. A logline for the film reads: “A genius artist with the power to stop time fights an arch-conservative mayor to save the dying modern world and inspire hope.”
The director said he cast “canceled” actors in his production to avoid to “woke” label.
“The cast features people who were canceled at one point or another. There were people who are archconservatives and others who are extremely politically progressive. But we were all working on one film together. That was interesting, I thought,” he said.
Also in the cast in a supporting role is Shia Labeouf, who is facing an October trial stemming from a lawsuit by former girlfriend FKA Twigs alleging physical abuse. He has mostly worked in independent productions in recent years.
At the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Megalopolis, Voight joked about his Trump support when Coppola mentioned his actor has “different political opinions” than him.
“How did you find that out?” Voight said with a laugh, referring to his numerous social media videos in support of Trump.
“Men like Donald Trump are not at the moment in charge, but there is a trend happening in the world … there is a trend happening toward the more neo-right, even fascist tradition, which is frightening because anyone who was alive during World War II saw the horrors that took place, and we don’t want a repeat of that,” Coppola said at the time.
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