Megalopolis Music By Osvaldo Golijov

Written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis is a Roman Epic set in an imagined Modern America starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight and Laurence Fishburn.

The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina, a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero, the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.  

A longtime collaborator of Coppola, 2x GRAMMY Award®-winning composer, Osvaldo Golijov was first approached by the iconic director over 20 years ago when Megalopolis was in its earliest stages of inception, the duo since working closely together to bring the musical vision of the modern, reimagined Roman epic to life. Recorded with the Budapest Art Orchestra, the expansive score ranges from grandiose classical melodies to film noir-inspired jazz numbers, featuring solo performances by Yo-Yo Ma, members of the Silk Road Ensemble, and more. Also featured on 32-track collection are two original songs written and performed for the film by Grace VanderWaal as her onscreen popstar character Vesta Sweetwater.⠀

Pushing beyond the confines of traditional cinema, Megalopolis prompted Golijov to deliver a soundscape as grandiose and far-reaching as the film itself. One of the key starting points for the score came from Coppola himself, who requested a “big love theme” that would permeate the film’s many layers. Rooted in largescale orchestral movements, Golijov’s cues are often repurposed by way of specific instrumentation choices, namely the musical saw, glass harmonica, organ and a wide variety of percussion instruments, which he then infused with sound design elements like rhythmic percussive clocks to capture the propulsive nature of the story. Matching the expansiveness of Coppola’s vision, the resulting 32-track collection manages to maintain a clear sonic throughline while also capturing the various intricacies of the onscreen epic.   

Golijov pays homage to Coppola’s multitude of influences throughout the soundtrack, noting, “Francis asked for the soundtrack to contain specific references (e.g. Rozsa’s epic Roman music, Herrmann’s scores for Hitchcock, the ‘geometric’ love themes in Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet), which I twisted and combined in unexpected ways, so that they might help propel the film on its dazzling journey from ancient history towards the freedom of the unknown.” 

Megalopolis is currently playing in theaters and in IMAX worldwide, and released through Lionsgate in North America.