“We had to mine his mind” - Shia LaBeouf on working with Francis Ford Coppola

Shia LaBeouf recently shared the difficulties of collaborating with renowned filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola on Megalopolis, a 2024 epic science fiction movie that was a box office flop. He revealed all this in a joint interview with David Mamet for The Hollywood Reporter which was released on May 8, 2025, where he called the experience "wacky," and uncomfortable.

Coppola is renowned for films like Apocalypse Now and The Godfather, but Shia LaBeouf found it challenging to understand his filmmaking approach in Megalopolis. Coppola's vision needed to be interpreted in real time, LaBeouf emphasized, saying:

"He was specific. But his specificity wasn't on the page. So I can't share your dream. With Coppola, a lot needs to be talked about."

He added:

"Maybe it's just the movie that I worked on him with, but it felt like we had to mine his mind to figure out what the f--- we were even talking about. It wasn't normal language. It was this archaic rhythm that he was chasing."

Shia LaBeouf didn't mince words when contrasting Coppola's and David Mamet's directing styles, saying:

“Coppola thinks he’s Dave [Mamet]. He really believes he’s this theater director guy. He’s not… That’s not to say he’s not incredible — it’s just not what his incredible is.”

Shia LaBeouf found it really difficult to understand Coppola and got confused while David's approaches were more logical and structural.

LaBeouf explained:

"It's not helpful to the actor to get overt notes."

Shia LaBeouf reflects on the box office flop, Megalopolis

Coppola had been working on Megalopolis since 1977, and he spent more than $120 million of his own funds to make the film a reality. The movie made little over $14 million at the worldwide box office, despite its ambition and ensemble cast, which included Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, and Jon Voight.

A complicated storyline and excessively ambitious concepts, poor marketing which included fake reviews and clashes between the actors and Coppola during production, which he clearly denied were all named for its flopping at the big screen.

Shia LaBeouf plays Clodio Pulcher, in a futuristic "New Rome." But he said that the finished results were far more ridiculous than anticipated:

"It became a lot of questions on my end, which required answers, which frustrated our relationship. I became a nuisance. It’s further than what I thought he was chasing. It is way wackier than I thought. It’s wacky as f**k. I never thought we were going for wacky. I thought my character was wacky and I served that for the film. But I didn't think the whole movie was wacky."

In a September 2024 interview with The Telegraph, Coppola talked about Shia LaBeouf. He claimed that LaBeouf is "so talented," but the director claims that the actor has problems and "does create tremendous conflict." Their strategies don't seem to be in sync. Coppola, himself found it perplexing, he said talking about Shia LaBeouf:

"His method was so infuriating and illogical, it had me pulling my hair out."

Despite his difficulties with Coppola on set, LaBeouf insisted that he made an effort to show respect, as Coppola became weary of the same questions from co-star Adam Driver.

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