Lionsgate on Wednesday pulled its new trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis amid revelations that critics’ quotes were fabricated.
The trailer, released Wednesday, included quotes from critics including Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert about Coppola’s previous films that did not actually appear in their reviews.
“Lionsgate is immediately removing our Megalopolis trailer,” a Lionsgate spokesperson said in a statement to The Associated Press.
“We sincerely apologize to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our selection process. We made a mistake. We are sorry.”
The trailer was released Wednesday morning and was intended to position Coppola’s latest film as a work of art that would stand the test of time, much like his previous masterpieces The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.
Lionsgate on Wednesday pulled its new trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis amid revelations that critics’ claims were fabricated
The trailer, released Wednesday, included quotes from critics like Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert about Coppola’s previous films that didn’t actually appear in their reviews (actor Adam Driver appears in the trailer).
The video begins by going back in time to show negative quotes from acclaimed critics about these films, with the title: “Genius is often misunderstood.”
The intention, it seems, was to highlight the critical divisiveness of classics like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, leaning into some of the more negative reactions to Megalopolis, the self-financed $120 million epic that opened in September.
But it was soon discovered that many of the quotes were fabricated and could not be found in the original reviews.
The trailer attributed a quote to Kael that said The Godfather “was diminished by its artistic side.”
But Kael loved The Godfather, and this line was not used in her March 1972 review of the film for The New Yorker.
Nor did Ebert write that Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” was “a triumph of style over substance.”
Rex Reed and Vincent Canby’s quotes about Apocalypse Now also did not appear in their reviews.
Megalopolis has been decades in the making and received mixed reviews following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
“Lionsgate is immediately removing our Megalopolis trailer,” a Lionsgate spokesperson said in a statement to The Associated Press (Aubrey Plaza appears in the trailer.)
The trailer was released Wednesday morning and was intended to position Coppola’s latest film as a work of art that would stand the test of time, much like his previous masterpieces The Godfather and Apocalypse Now.
The video begins by going back in time to show negative quotes from established critics about this type of film, with the title: “Genius is often misunderstood.”
The film will make its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month before hitting theaters on September 27.
The film was embroiled in controversy in May when he was accused of hugging and kissing an extra without warning while filming a scene in a nightclub.
The full trailer showcased the film’s all-star cast, including Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, and Shia LaBeouf.
Viewers are immersed in the futuristic world of New Rome, a combination of high-octane technology and a look inspired by classical antiquity.
The plot is partially influenced by an infamous coup attempt in the Roman Republic, led by the warrior statesman Catiline against the ruling consuls Cicero and Hybrida.
They enter the mind of the main character, Caesar Catiline (Adam Driver), an architect whose artistic genius and innovation put him at odds with the status quo.
New Rome has been devastated by an accident, which Catiline sees as an opportunity to transform a once-ruined city into a gleaming sci-fi utopia.
The trailer was released three months after an extra whom Coppola allegedly kissed on the set of Megalopolis broke her silence on the scandal.
A week before, Variety He posted two short behind-the-scenes videos filmed while Coppola and his crew were shooting a club scene in Atlanta that appeared to show the director leaning in toward several actresses who were dancing.
One of the women in the video, Lauren Pagone, who appeared in several scenes in Megalopolis as an extra, says she was dancing during a live take of the club scene when Coppola allegedly approached her, pulled her toward him and hugged and kissed her.
She said Variety: ‘“I was in shock. I didn’t expect him to kiss me and hug me like that. It took me by surprise. And I can tell you he came a couple of times.”
Pagone said he decided to come forward when another extra seen in one of the two videos, Rayna Menz said Deadline he The Oscar winner “did nothing to make me or anyone else on the set feel uncomfortable.”
She said: ‘I don’t like anyone speaking for me. I would never speak for that actress. I have kept my mouth shut. I have remained silent.
“But it’s frustrating for her to say, ‘Hey, it was great for everyone,’ when she doesn’t know what anyone else is feeling. You can’t speak for anyone but yourself. My experience was different.”
Menz did not respond to an email from Variety requesting additional comment.
Pagone, who has worked on shows including Paramount+’s Mayor of Kingstown and Apple TV+’s City on Fire, said that on every other project she’s done, there was an intimacy coordinator on hand during any scene that involved nudity.
According to a casting notice obtained by the publication, several actresses were allowed to go topless for the nightclub scene. Pagone was not nude and was wearing a top with a plunging neckline.
Megalopolis intimacy coordinator Samantha McDonald previously told Variety that neither she nor fellow intimacy coordinator Ashley Anderson were on the set of the nightclub scene, filmed on Feb. 14, 2023, at Atlanta’s Tabernacle concert venue.
Another cast member told Variety in recent days that they had seen Coppola kissing “several women” during a different scene involving a New Year’s Eve celebration.
It was claimed that before filming began, Coppola told the extras that he “wanted them to act like they would at a typical Christmas party and kiss each other at the end of the countdown” and added that he might step in and kiss some people himself.
After yelling “cut,” Coppola reportedly “stood up, stopped several women who were walking past him and kissed them on the cheek.”
The source added: “The women I saw being kissed didn’t see it coming. He basically grabbed them and kissed them without any consent. They all laughed for a moment and then I could tell they were shocked.”
The crew member who filmed the video that Variety initially published and who was on set for much of the shoot confirmed that Coppola kissed female extras during the New Year’s Eve sequence, adding that it was one of “several instances” in which he had kissed extras.
The film was embroiled in controversy in May when he was accused of hugging and kissing a female extra without warning while filming a scene in a nightclub.
One of the women in the video, Lauren Pagone, who appeared in several scenes in Megalopolis as an extra, says she was dancing during a live take of the club scene when Coppola allegedly approached her, pulled her toward him and hugged and kissed her.
The cast member added that her experience on set was “super weird and awkward” and probably her “worst experience on a set.”
Sources told the publication that because Coppola financed the $120 million epic himself, there was no one to complain to about his alleged behavior.
The crew member also alleged that Coppola kept “jumping up to hug and kiss various women, often inadvertently inserting himself into the shot and ruining it.”
They claimed that after several takes, Coppola grabbed a microphone and announced to everyone in the room: “I’m sorry if I come up to you and kiss you. Just know that it’s solely for my pleasure.”
Dailymail.com has contacted representatives for Francis Ford Coppola for comment.
