Thursday, August 22, 2024

'Fake quotes' trailer pulled

Lionsgate has pulled a trailer for Francis Ford Coppola's upcoming film Megalopolis after it was discovered to contain fabricated quotes from film critics.

Megalopolis, a long-awaited science fiction epic from the legendary director, is a self-funded project that Coppola has been trying to bring to life for decades. The film, inspired by the fall of Rome, features an ensemble cast including Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, and Giancarlo Esposito.

According to Variety, the now-removed trailer included quotes supposedly from critics, critiquing Coppola's earlier films—many of which are now regarded as classics. The intent seemed to be to frame Megalopolis as a film that could overcome negative perceptions and emerge as a cinematic milestone.

However, it was quickly noticed that the quotes did not appear in the actual reviews. For example, a quote attributed to Roger Ebert, claiming Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) was "a triumph of style over substance," was actually from Ebert's review of Tim Burton's Batman (1989).

Variety's Owen Gleiberman was another critic misrepresented in the trailer. While he did review Dracula, he never called it "a beautiful mess," as the trailer falsely claimed. Gleiberman commented, "Even if you're not a fan of critics, we don't deserve to have words put in our mouths."

Lionsgate issued a public apology, stating: "We are immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis. We sincerely apologise to the critics involved, as well as to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope, for this inexcusable error. We screwed up. We are sorry."

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