‘Megalopolis’ Trailer Pulled Because It Was Filled With Fake Critics Quotes

The fabricated reviews follow earlier on-set misconduct allegations and a mixed reception at Cannes.

It’s safe to say that Francis Ford Coppola’s highly anticipated new film, Megalopolis, is a trainwreck and it hasn’t even come out yet. Not too long ago, footage was released of Coppola planting some unwanted kisses on extras while on set. Today, the film’s distributor, Lionsgate, pulled the latest trailer after it was discovered that the quotes from film critics it used were completely made up.

Megalopolis stars Adam Driver as a genius artist named Ceaser who has a grand vision for a utopian future for the city of New Rome—but runs up against the city’s mayor, Franklin Cicero, who wants to maintain the status quo.

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The now-retracted trailer’s approach to marketing was, uh, unique, to say the least. After Megalopolis premiered to general bewilderment from audiences at the Cannes Film Festival, the marketing department figured maybe we should all view the negative press with a historical lens. So, they cut together a trailer filled with negative reviews of Coppola’s legendary works like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. The quotes were attributed to legendary film critics like Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael—but the quotes are either taken from other movies’ reviews or never existed in the first place.

As of now, it’s still live on YouTube, though.

A Roger Ebert line used in the trailer about Coppola’s 1992 horror film Bram Stoker’s Dracula says that the film was “a triumph of style over substance.” The problem is that Ebert’s review of the film doesn’t use those words at all. But Ebert did use those exact words in his 1989 review of Tim Burton’s Batman.

Lionsgate has issued an apology. How a series of errors this egregious even happened in the first place is a mystery. There’s been some speculation across the Internet that the quotes were gathered using AI, which can often “hallucinate” entirely fictional information that it then presents as fact.

The 85-year-old Francis Ford Coppola sold his Coppola Wine vineyards to fund the $120 million production of Megalopolis. The man is going to be fine no matter how much of a disaster the movie is, so really this whole experience feels like a guy burning his “Fuck You” money before he dies. The film is scheduled for release on September 27—so there’s still plenty of time for at least one or two more massive PR disasters. 

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