Francis Ford Coppola: No Truth To Apocalypse On ‘Megalopolis’

It all goes down the DMs! Sydney Warner (née Hightower) immediately caught Fred Warner’s eye after her early elimination from The Bachelor. 

“Megalopolis” has a new resident.TheWrap has confirmed that Giancarlo Esposito, perhaps best known for his role as heavies in “Breaking Bad” (and “Better Call Saul”) and “The Mandalorian,” has joined Francis Ford Coppola’s sprawling sci-fi epic. He joins an already stacked cast that includes Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Shia LeBeouf, James Remar and D.B.

EXCLUSIVE: Francis Ford Coppola has added Giancarlo Esposito to the all-star cast of Megalopolis. Esposito played Gus Fring in Breaking Bad and got an Emmy nom for reprising in Better Call Saul.

One can only imagine the blank check that Bill Lawrence has from Apple TV+ after the massive success of his “Ted Lasso,” which he co-created and has won the company dozens of awards, putting them on the TV map. He used that cachet for this week’s likable dramedy “Shrinking,” a show that almost brazenly sets up character archetypes and then asks its cast to push through the clichés of their shallow descriptions.

My guest this week is Jason Segel. 

An excerpt from the late Anne Heche’s posthumous memoir has arrived, and boy is it telling of ’90s mindsets…

You might not think that a TV series about a therapist struggling with the death of his wife and a career listening to other people talk about their issues would be a comedy from the co-creator of “Ted Lasso.” And yet, “Shrinking” does appear to be another Bill Lawrence-produced, feel-good comedy, coming to Apple TV+ later this month. As mentioned, in the trailer for “Shrinking,” we see the series follows the story of a grieving therapist (Jason Segel), as he struggles to come to terms with his wife’s sudden passing, while also raising a young daughter and trying to balance a career.

 [Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

SPOILER ALERT: After an explosive Season Two finale of The Mosquito Coast, a decision looms imminently on whether Apple TV+ reups. It so, the third season heads right into the territory of Paul Theroux’s 1981 novel that Peter Weir turned into a cult classic movie with Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and River Phoenix. The one where Ford’s brilliant counterculture inventor Allie Fox becomes so obsessed with imposing a vision of utopia that he nearly takes down his family. Here, the author discusses seeing his famed novel pre-quelized by Neil Cross (Luther), the improvements over his book, his nephew Justin starring, and why he’s so rooting for one more season.

When filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola moved forward with his ambitious self-financed feature film, “Megalopolis,” there were some people who were skeptical that the director could manage such a large project without the help of a major studio paying the bills and navigating such a large cast/crew in the modern era. Yesterday, there had been word from The Hollywood Reporter that the pic, currently shooting in Atlanta, might be in serious trouble by citing the exodus of crew members and a ballooning budget.