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In Defense of Megalomania
Director Francis Ford Coppola (left) and star Adam Driver on the set of Megalopolis. (Phil Caruso)
Francis Ford Coppola sold part of his vineyard to finance a movie that’s hard to watch. We should applaud, not condemn, his ambition.
By Kat Rosenfield
09.28.24 — Culture and Ideas
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To be called a megalomaniac is not, generally speaking, a good thing. The word is synonymous with the worst sort of ambition, the kind of infamy that makes a man recognizable by just one name. Napoleon. Hitler. Mao. The megalomaniac is obsessed with power, and not just amassing it but exercising it, wielding it, using it to shape the world. He is Shelle…

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Kat Rosenfield
Culture writer, novelist, and podcaster. On Twitter at @katrosenfield.
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