YOU STAY CLASSY, BOBBY: De Niro Hijacks ‘Megalopolis’ Q&A, Rages Against Trump.

Francis Ford Coppola’s dream project arrives with plenty of bad buzz, from seriously negative reviews to press reports suggesting the director misbehaved on the set. (Coppola is suing Variety about said allegations).

Monday offered Coppola the chance to change the conversation. He appeared via livestream to share the journey behind “Megalopolis” and what the film means to him.

And us.

He was joined by Robert De Niro and Spike Lee, old industry friends who shared stories of their first meetings In conjunction with the 62nd New York Film Festival.

Dennis Lim, artistic director of NYFF, moderated the live event.

The Q&A, shown to dozens of theaters across the country before the movie, started with Coppola, Lee and De Niro recalling their early days in Hollywood. Lee unofficially kicked off the event’s partisan nature with a reference to “eating cats and dogs.”

The quip recalled allegations that Haitian immigrants are doing just that in the small town of Springfield, Ohio.

That was just the progressive appetizer.

Much more at the link.

I fully expect “Megalopolis” to be a hot mess, but it’s a Francis Ford Coppola hot mess that he spent $100-plus million of his own money to produce, so there’s no way I can resist going to see it.