Francis Ford Coppola comments on the fake quotes from critics in Megalopolis trailer

A trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis was released last month but was pulled just hours later. It became apparent that the quotes from negative reviews of Coppola’s previous movies, such as The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, had been faked. Lionsgate apologized, a longtime marketing consultant was fired, and the world kept on moving. While speaking with Entertainment Tonight at the Megalopolis premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Coppola took credit for the concept of using bad review quotes in the trailer but isn’t sure how it went so wrong.

“Well I know that there were bad reviews. I’m the one that who said there were bad reviews,” Coppola said. “But I don’t know. It was a mistake, an accident, I’m not sure what happened.“

The Megalopolis trailer included a quote from iconic critic Pauline Kael, who was cited as saying that The Godfather is “diminished by its artsiness.” Not only did Kael not say that, but her original review of The Godfather was very complimentary. The Village Voice critic Andrew Sarris is also quoted, trashing The Godfather as a “sloppy self-indulgent movie” that “doesn’t know what it wants to be.” Once again, those quotes do not appear in Sarris’ review. It’s suspected that an AI engine was used to search for the quotes, but instead formed its own. “Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis,” said a Lionsgate spokesperson after the trailer was pull. “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.“

Our own Chris Bumbray caught Megalopolis at TIFF, and unfortunately, he wasn’t a fan. “In the last forty minutes, Megalopolis becomes a real disaster, with so much jam-packed into the movie’s third act that it becomes almost impossible to keep up with it,” Bumbray wrote. “It becomes nonsensical as it races towards its ending. Again, one can’t fault Coppola for his ambition. He financed the movie with money he earned, so he had every right to make exactly the film he wanted to make. But it’s hard to imagine this ever connecting with anyone other than hardcore Coppola devotees or maybe connoisseurs of bad cinema.” You can check out the rest of Bumbray’s review right here.

The official synopsis for Megalopolis reads: “Megalopolis is a Roman Epic fable set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina, a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero, the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.” The film is currently slated to hit theaters on September 27th.