Lionsgate on Wednesday recalled its new trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, amid revelations that critics’ quotes were fabricated.
“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis,” 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 vetting process. We screwed up. We’re sorry.”
The trailer, released earlier Wednesday, featured quotes from critics like Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert from other Coppola films that didn’t actually appear in their reviews. It seems the intention was to highlight the critical divisions of now-classics like ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Apocalypse Now’, leaning on some of the more negative reactions to ‘Megalopolis’, the self-financed opening epic of $ 120 million in September. .
The trailer attributed a quote to Kael that “The Godfather” was “diminished by its artistry.” But Kael loved “The Godfather,” and the phrase 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’. Quotes from Rex Reed and Vincent Canby, on ‘Apocalypse Now’, also did not appear in their reviews.
“Megalopolis” has been decades in the making and received mixed reviews when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The film has also come under scrutiny lately for alleged misconduct on set, after videos were leaked of Coppola hugging and kissing extras during a club scene. Representatives did not respond to the AP’s requests for comment on the videos.
The film will make its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month before hitting theaters on September 27.
