Aubrey Plaza has revealed how working with famed filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola on Megalopolis “validated” her directorial instincts.

The Ingrid Goes West star, who is working on a screenplay she wants to direct, has shared what she took away from seeing The Godfather legend direct on the set of his sci-fi epic.

“All of my instincts about directing and about making movies, I felt, were validated. All the things that are important to me, I felt like were important to Francis. And all of the instincts that I would have, I think, as a director, I felt that he was embodying them,” she told Deadline.

“I just mean I felt so inspired by him. And I think all of the things that I love about making a movie were all of the things that he loved about making a movie. I think that I will definitely carry that on when I direct a movie and remember that at the end of the day making the movie is just as important as the finished movie itself.”

Plaza went on to explain that Coppola didn’t let the film’s $120 million (£95 million) budget or epic scale stop him from “playing” on set and collaborating and experimenting with his cast.

“We would do something that was off-the-cuff and weird, and Francis would say, ‘I like that, do that again.’ And then all of a sudden, the scene would change,” she recalled. “And then all of a sudden, he would have another idea. And then all of a sudden, we’re shooting in a different location we didn’t even plan to shoot.”

The Parks and Recreation star revealed to Vanity Fair last year that she was working on the script for her directorial debut, a movie in the same vein as Garry Marshall’s romantic comedies.

Discussing her plan, she told Deadline, “I don’t need to take over the world, but I want to keep up a standard of quality for any movie that I decide to make. And I do want to direct. I’m very, very much going to do that.”

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