If you need more Megalopolis in your life, this ‘sibling’ story to Coppola’s potentially final film may give you what you want.
Megalopolis was perhaps one of the strangest blockbusters of 2024, both because it was a strange film and also owing to the many, many circumstances and headlines surrounding its release. Now, it’s coming to graphic novels, because why not?
The 160-page book from Chris Ryall—who’s previously adapted Shaun of the Dead, Dirk Gently, and other films for the medium—and Jacob Phillips will release this fall and, according to Coppola in the press release, is more of a “sibling” to the film rather than a full adaptation. “I [told] Chris that although it was inspired by my film, it didn’t necessarily have to be limited by it. I hoped the graphic novel would take its own flight, with its own artists and writer. […] It confirms my feeling that art can never be constrained, but rather always a parallel expression, and part of the bounty we can make available to our patrons, audiences and readers.”
If you haven’t seen Megalopolis yet, the premise is that Adam Driver’s Caesar Catalina hopes to build a utopian city with his building material Megalon. Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), the mayor of New Rome, and other elites in the city conspire to stop him from building his perfect city, and meanwhile Caesar falls for Cicero’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) when they learn they can stop time together. Reactions were split between finding it flawed but endearing and too flawed to get fully invested, but audiences bounced off it pretty quickly.
Ryall hopes his Megalopolis graphic novel “honors and expands the world of the original film,” and we’ll see how that fares when it hits stores in October.
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