How will theaters handle the Megalopolis live scene with Adam Driver?

“Megalopolis” is finally in theaters. Movie fans have been raving about Francis Ford Coppola’s latest saga for months – despite all the drama that comes with it – and now they can finally see the polarizing and crazy film.

To Lionsgate’s credit, it’s trying to preserve the theatrical experience that Cannes audiences had at the premiere. This also includes one of the most discussed scenes in the film: the “Megalopolis” live scene with Adam Driver.

In the film, Cesar Catalina (driver) answers questions from reporters during a press conference, with his face shown in close-up. The reporter’s question to him comes off-camera, but when the Cannes audience and others saw it, a live person standing in front of the audience was the one asking Catalina the questions.

It’s a sweet, fourth-wall-breaking moment that’s been a fan favorite since Cannes. This continued at Monday night’s IMAX Experience screenings, where the studio recruited some special guests to approach the screen and ask the driver’s character a pre-written question. There was a live component at each of the 60 different locations where the film was shown. On the one hand, at the screening in Los Angeles, entertainment journalist Scott Mantz was asked to step in front of the hall with a microphone.

Some fans have shared videos and photos of the moment from their respective screening rooms, and in some cases the guest is provided with a microphone or standing on a raised stage platform. In the case of a Monday screening at AMC Veterans 24 in Tampa that IndieWire attended, the featured audience member was not in the spotlight, but rather a microphone stand was set up before the film began. However, the lighting conditions made it difficult to decipher, as you can see in the photo below.

When the film hits theaters this weekend, IndieWire can confirm that, just like the IMAX experience screenings, select theaters will recruit another cast member to attend the screening, walk to the front and participate in the live scene with Driver’s character participates.

These “Megalopolis” screenings will be labeled “The Ultimate Experience” when you purchase your tickets, and each screening will feature what Lionsgate calls a “live participant” as part of the film. While most will also be viewable on IMAX or PLF screens, there are a handful of experiences that are also available on standard screens.

It’s a pretty huge logistical challenge, so unfortunately the live participant will not be seen at all locations and performances. The film opens this weekend on 1,700 screens and 200 IMAX locations. At the time of writing, 34 different Friday and Saturday seasons each offer the ultimate experience, and these span 23 different markets across North America, although more may be added later. Those that don’t have it have a more traditional audio track voice-over substitution instead of the live person.

There have been rumors that theater staff could be asked to temporarily step in or that random audience members could be recruited to take part, but such options do not appear to be entirely viable. It remains unclear what will happen and how you will be asked to participate when Megalopolis finally arrives on home video or streaming.

On Monday, Coppola took part in a real-life question-and-answer session that was broadcast live to viewers before the film, during which the author spoke with Robert De Niro and Spike Lee. Addressing Donald Trump and the upcoming November presidential election, Coppola said he fears America will have an “emperor” at the helm of the country in a few months.

“Megalopolis” is projected to have a fairly modest opening weekend of $5 million at the domestic box office, but the financial burden is reportedly falling on Coppola himself, not Lionsgate. Coppola financed the film himself with a budget of $120 million and now covered the marketing and distribution costs to bring the film to the big screen. We suspect that getting live artists for this rollout wasn’t cheap either.

But Coppola himself wrote the textbook “Live Cinema and Its Techniques,” a 2017 book in which he posited that digital technology would enable real-time advancements and innovations in films, just as talkies revolutionized the form. Now the audience gets a chance to see if he’s right.

Below is the full list of theater locations and showtimes offering the “ultimate experience” for “Megalopolis” on opening night on Friday, September 27th and Saturday, September 28th. More can be added later.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story stated that Jason Schwartzman performed the live scene at the film’s Cannes premiere. It was a representative of Coppola’s production company, American Zoetrope. We regret the error.