Francis Ford Coppola: US politics is at ‘the point where we might lose our republic’

Speaking at Cannes, the director says Megalopolis, his reworking of ancient Rome's Catiline conspiracy, has become ever more prescient

Megalopolis review - Coppola's passion project is megabloated and megaboring

The US, whose founders tried to emulate the laws and governmental structures of the Roman republic, is headed for a similarly self-inflicted collapse, director Francis Ford Coppola has said at the premiere of his first film in more than a decade.

What's happening in America, in our republic, in our democracy, is exactly how Rome lost their republic thousands of years ago," Coppola told a press conference at the Cannes film festival on Friday. Our politics has taken us to the point where we might lose our republic."