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By his own account, Francis Ford Coppola is once again in desperate needs of money.
The American filmmaker is known for investing his own funds into his projects even if it gets him into debt.
His latest film, the 2024 Megalopolis, was no exception. Coppola poured $120 million into his long-gestating, colossal science-fiction drama, only for it to gross just $14.4 million at the global box office.
The movie also garnered mixed reviews. Euronews Culture’s film critic David Mouriquand described it as “a total shambles” and “an indulgent folly that borders on nonsensical.”
“Many of my films earn out over time,” Coppola told the New York Times earlier this month.
He gave the example of his epic masterpiece Apocalypse Now, which also drove him into debt but eventually earned about $150 million after several decades.
Only destiny will determine if Megalopolis enjoys similar fortune, but in the meantime, the 86-year-old director is moving to replenish his accounts.
Coppola will sell seven luxury watches from his personal collection at Phillips New York in early December.
“I need to get some money to keep the ship afloat,” he told the New York Times.
The main item is a self-designed watch named “FFC” and made with F.P.Journe, which is expected to fetch at least $1 million.
It is “poised to become one of the top lots of the season across the watch auction industry,” Phillips said in a press release.
Coppola’s idea for the timepiece first emerged in 2009, after his wife Eleanor gifted him a F.P.Journe watch — also due to go under the hammer this year — for Christmas, Phillips reported.
The FFC’s singular design was born from a 2012 conversation between Coppola and François-Paul Journe, the founder of the namesake brand.
The watch uses a human hand to distinguish all 12 hours and is “the first timepiece in history to employ such a feature,” according to Phillips.
The mechanism and architecture of the gloved hand are inspired from the work of 16th-century prosthetics pioneer Ambroise Paré, one of the fathers of modern surgery.
“This FFC Prototype is, without question, one of the most historically significant F.P.Journe timepieces ever made,” said Phillips deputy chairman Paul Boutros. “It showcases what can be achieved when great creative minds collaborate.”
The design was offered for sale in 2021. Only a handful of FFCs have been produced, including the prototype to be auctioned off by Coppola.
Among the six other watches sold by the filmmaker are another F.P. Journe estimated between $120,000 and $240,000, as well as two Patek Philippes.
Altogether, the seven timepieces carry an estimate up to $1,3 million, representing just over 1% of the money invested by Coppola for Megalopolis.
You have to start somewhere.