Lionsgate has pulled the official trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, after it was revealed that the clip featured fake quotes from real critics that panned Coppola's past films.
As seen in the clips circulating on social media, the trailer opened with a series of quotes flashing on the screen, each of them panning Coppola’s past masterpieces including 1972’s The Godfather, Apocalypse Now in 1979, and Dracula in 1992.
The only problem, as noted by Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri, is that many of the disparaging quotes, which described Coppola’s films as “sloppy,” “self-indulgent,” “hollow,” and “pretentious” were actually completely fabricated and attributed to prestigious film critics including Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael, and Andrew Sarris.
“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis,” Lionsgate said in a statement to Variety. “We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our vetting process. We screwed up. We are sorry.”
The studio did not specify where the fake quotes came from, but online sleuths suspect that an editor for the trailer may have relied on generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to pull statements from critics without verifying their authenticity.
The trailer error comes not long after a video clip of Coppola, 85, allegedly attempting to kiss female extras while filming a nightclub scene leaked online last month. Sources close to the situation told Variety at the time that no one brought up the issue as Coppola financed the film’s $120 million budget by himself, thus eliminating any checks and balances system.
However, Rayna Menz, the extra seen in the clip, spoke against the mischaracterizations of the video days later, saying “none of the claims” being made about Coppola were true.
“It was an honor to work with such a legend. This video was taken on a CLOSED set that prohibited self (sic) phones specifically for the safety of all the actors,” Menz wrote on her Instagram Story. “I am disgusted by these allegations & hope everybody will see the truth for what it is.”
Megalopolis, starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, and more will hit theaters on September 27.
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