Megalopolis Controversy Gets Trailer Pulled
In a highly unusual move, Lionsgate is now working to take down its trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis after it was revealed that it included fabricated quotes from movie critics. The company also issued an official apology to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope over the vetting process associated with the Megalopolis trailer.
The Trailer Included Fake Quotes
For those who aren’t in the know, the Megalopolis trailer dropped on Monday this week, featuring snippets from reviews for Coppola’s masterpieces, such as Apocalypse Now, the iconic The Godfather, and its sequel, The Godfather 2. These snippets were attributed to film critics like Pauline Kael, Roger Ebert, Andrew Sarris, and many others—the only thing is, they were all fabricated, and none of them appeared in the original reviews of the aforementioned movies. Considering that the latest of the three, Apocalypse Now, was released in 1979, this proves that the internet never forgets.
Defeated The Idea Of The Trailer
As a result, Lionsgate decided to pull the Megalopolis trailer, with their apology to the misquoted critics involved, Coppola, and American Zoetrope for the company’s inexcusable error in its vetting process. There’s a theory that they used ChatGPT to pull the quotes, and the LLM simply provided wrong answers.
To make things worse, it would seem that the main idea behind these quotes was to rub the success of Coppola’s previous movies into the critics’ noses. However, the idea backfired horribly.
The Film Has Divided Critics
Namely, Megalopolis was loved by the audiences at Cannes, but the movie did polarize critics. The main idea here was to use negative reviews from Coppola’s aforementioned movies—which have since become cinema classics—to say that Megalopolis will, despite its critical response, stand the test of time, just like The Godfather or Apocalypse Now.
This would be an epic move on Coppola and Lionsgate’s part if the reviews weren’t wrong. Some were pure fiction, while others were just incorrect citations.
The Controversy That Wasn’t
The Megalopolis trailer debacle isn’t the only controversial thing that Megalopolis production has weathered. Several online sources reported on Coppola’s unprofessional behavior on set, referencing a viral video that appeared to depict the director kissing extras on set. However, a week later, one of the extras who appeared in the video disputed reports of Coppola’s unprofessional behavior, stating that the director hadn’t done anything to make her or anyone else on set feel uncomfortable.
The Film Is A Massive Risk
Megalopolis was one of the largest cinematic experiments of 2024, with Coppola spending over $120 million to get the movie off the ground, as it was stuck in development hell for nearly a decade. The movie is a Roman epic set in a fictional City of New Rome in Modern America. However, New Rome demands change, which causes conflict between Adam Driver’s Ceasar Catilina and his oppressor, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito.
The two are connected by Julia Cicero, the mayor’s daughter who’s in love with Ceasar, and her divided loyalties lead her to her own conclusions about what humanity truly deserves.
Despite the fact that Lionsgate removed the Megalopolis trailer, it remains uploaded on third-party accounts for everyone to see. Megalopolis is scheduled to be released on September 27, 2024.
Source: Indie Wire
