No press conference has been more anticipated this Cannes than that for Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola’s reportedly nine-figure-budgeted, self-financed retro-futurist epic. The film, which premiered Thursday night to a historically dramatic critical split, arrived on the Croisette after more than a year of salacious reports about out-of-control spending, alleged harassment, and a wildly chaotic shoot. (One of the film’s executive producers, Darren Demetre, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, “I was never aware of any complaints of harassment or ill behavior during the course of the project.”) Coppola himself hadn’t given a single interview—even for Vanity Fair’s first look, for which he opted for a detailed statement—nor addressed many of the swirling rumors, apparently waiting to let the movie speak for itself. So this meeting of Coppola, his collaborators (including Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, and his son Roman Coppola), and the press carried a certain gravity; just ask the journalists who arrived over an hour early to ensure access. (Yours truly arrived a healthy 45 minutes before start time.)

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As to the big overall question—how he feels about the finished product, so many decades after first having the seed of the idea—Coppola sang a triumphant tune, fresh off of the previous evening’s warm standing ovation. “You become filled with relief and joy,” he said, with his granddaughter Cosima Mars sitting behind him in support. “It was a crowning joy.” He argued that “the politics of today” made the film more relevant than he could have expected, given its shape as an allegory of the fall of Rome. “The role of the artist is to illuminate contemporary life.” Jon Voight, who costars in the film, added. “I saw in the work of it that [Coppola] had this vision that had bothered him to express. He had to do it. He took every risk to do it.”

The film still lacks US distribution. Coppola acknowledged the market is changing: “New companies like Amazon and Apple and Microsoft have plenty of money, so it might be that the studios we knew for so long are not going to be here in the future anymore. I don’t know.”

What did he make of those reports that he’d spent so much of his own money? (The reported budget was $120 million.) “I don’t care. I never cared,” he said. “I put the risk in the movie. I have no problems with the financials. My children, without exceptions, have wonderful careers without a fortune. They don’t need a fortune.” He went on, “It’s how I felt the film should be, and I was paying for it…. There are so many people who, when they die, say ‘I wish I had done that.’ When I die, I’ll say, ‘I got to do that.’”

Is this the end for Megalopolis in terms of editing, or might Coppola give it another crack down the line? Never say never. “The reason I often reedit my films is because I own them. If you ask why do I own Apocalypse Now? The answer is no one wanted it,” he said to laughs from the crowd. “If there’s a way to make it a little better I will try.” He indicates there are some movies he would never touch, like The Conversation or The Godfather. Then he smiles, checking himself slightly on that Godfather promise. “There is a scene I might add someday.”