“Don’t let the now destroy the forever.” That is the philosophy preached by Cesar Catilina, an architect played by Adam Driver in Megalopolis, the messy magnum opus from director Francis Ford Coppola that hit theatres this fall. The main idea: To create a utopia, you must dream big — and knock down anything in your path.

In the Q and A that followed the movie’s Toronto International Film Festival screening, Driver said that he based his performance in part on Robert Moses. In one early scene, Catilina goes rogue and demolishes a building without the proper approvals. (The movie’s setting is a bizarro version of New York dubbed New Rome, reaffirming that the male obsession with the Roman Empire was no passing TikTok fad.) As the tower falls, Catilina uses his ability to freeze time to admire the billow of smoke that the structure has been reduced to, embodied carbon be damned.

Ultimately, this superpower is not that important to the plot. On the other hand, it underscores an old idea of architects as gods of creation who should have special authority when it comes to deciding what must be created and what should endure. No wonder marketing for Megalopolis features Driver holding a T-square the way a knight holds a sword: Cesar Catilina is a man on a crusade. Who needs zoning bylaws when you’re an uncompromising genius straight out of The Fountainhead?

For his part, Coppola describes the movie as being about hope and optimism. Evidently, Catilina is a stand-in for the director himself — someone with a bold artistic vision that he feels he must pursue at all costs for the sake of a brighter future. Mind you, while Coppola’s zany creativity is on full display throughout Megalopolis, the film depicts architecture as something more akin to war or wizardry than work. Catilina is eager to remake his city with Megalon, a pseudo-organic material based in part on designs by Neri Oxman. Yet this material gives rise to orchid-like structures with seemingly no effort required. Sure, these might be better than the casino that Catilina’s main opponent, Mayor Cicero, wanted to build. But they’re also part of a pure imaginationland that avoids engaging with any of the actual human needs or site constraints that make real architecture compelling.

Speaking of reality, an early trailer for Megalopolis included excerpts from past reviews critical of Coppola’s work. The only problem: These quotes didn’t really exist. Internet commenters speculated they had been A.I.-generated and the trailer was quickly pulled. Adding to the film’s rocky reputation, Variety has reported that Coppola surprised extras during filming with spontaneous kisses. (Coppola, in turn, is suing Variety for libel.) Perhaps creativity shouldn’t be allowed to run amok after all. 

Meanwhile, there is already another fictional architect on his way to reimagine life in The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody. Early buzz from film festivals suggests it’s a masterpiece. And if it’s not, another egotistical Hollywood architect will be along soon to demolish it and build something else.