Coppola Calls Shia LaBeouf His Most Difficult Actor

It takes a certain level of creative madness to create something like Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola's long-gestating film that finally saw its release in 2024 after his script sat on the shelves for over 40 years. The director fully realized his passion project with a self-financed, freewheeling portrait of an artist, but the movie baffled most viewers and seemed a misbegotten idea and execution for a filmmaker who directed The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.

Coppola also learned he didn’t mesh well with one of his stars, Shia LaBeouf, whom he cited as the most difficult actor he’s ever worked with — a damning indictment from someone who had to put up with Marlon Brando’s antics twice. Mike Figgis’s documentary Megadoc, streaming on the Criterion Channel, follows the production from rehearsals to the Cannes premiere and highlights tense conversations between Coppola and LaBeouf.

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