A theatrical trailer for Francis Ford Coppola‘s decades-in-the-making epic Megalopolis has been retracted by Lionsgate Films after it was determined that quotes from film critics cited in the teaser were fabricated.
The now-pulled trailer, narrated by cast member Laurence Fishburne, sought to position Coppola’s latest as another classic in his filmography by featuring negative quotes from reviews of the director’s celebrated works like The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
As the quotes — attributed to giants of film criticism like Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael, Andrew Sarris and more — appeared onscreen, Fishburne’s narration notes how Coppola “has always been ahead of his time,” and that “true genius is often misunderstood,” before calling Megalopolis “an event nothing can prepare you for.”
However, as reported by Vulture film critic Bilge Ebiri, the quotes featured in the trailer do not appear in the respective reviews.
“What’s the intention here?” Ebiri writes. “Did the people who wrote and cut this trailer just assume that nobody would pay attention to the truthfulness of these quotes, since we live in a made-up digital world where showing any curiosity about anything from the past is seen as a character flaw? Did they do it to see which outlets would just accept these quotes at face value? Or maybe they did it on purpose to prompt us to look back at these past reviews and discover what good criticism can be? If so, then it worked, in my case.”
Said a Lionsgate spokesperson in a statement provided to multiple outlets: “Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis. 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.”
It isn’t only film critics who have found Megalopolis to be divisive. Ahead of premiering to a mixed reception at Cannes, the film’s crew members alleged Coppola behaved inappropriately while on set, and spoke to a largely dysfunctional filmmaking experience in a report published by The Guardian.
The director denied the allegations of unprofessional behaviour, saying he “wasn’t touchy-feely,” ahead of Variety publishing video footage of the director trying to kiss female extras on the film set.
Megalopolis arrives in North American theatres on September 27, and you can find its now-pulled trailer below via a third-party upload.
The film’s ensemble cast features Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Jason Schwartzman and more.
