Lionsgate Pulls Megalopolis Trailer Featuring Fake Film Critic Quotes
Originally appeared on E! Online
An attempt at using self-deprecating humor to promote Francis Ford Coppola's new movie has backfired.
The first full trailer for the dystopian Megalopolis, featuring actors such as Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf and Aubrey Plaza, was released Aug. 21. It began by featuring negative quotes from film critics about the director's past projects. However, there was just one catch: They were made up.
Amid the controversy, distributor Lionsgate pulled the video and issued an apology.
“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis," a spokesperson said in an Aug. 22 statement to E! News. “We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and [production company] American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our vetting process. We screwed up. We are sorry."
Among the fake quotes seen in the trailer: Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman was falsely cited as calling Coppola's 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula "a beautiful mess" when he first reviewed the film for Entertainment Weekly at the time of its release.
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“Even if you’re one of those people who don’t like critics, we hardly deserve to have words put in our mouths. Then again, the trivial scandal of all this is that the whole Megalopolis trailer is built on a false narrative," Gleiberman told Variety. "Critics loved The Godfather. And though Apocalypse Now’ was divisive, it received a lot of crucial critical support."
He added, "As far as me calling Bram Stoker’s Dracula a 'beautiful mess,' I only wish I’d said that! Regarding that film, it now sounds kind."
One quote featured in the trailer was real, although it was presented out of context: The trailer quoted late Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert as calling Coppola's 1992 movie Bram Stoker's Dracula "a triumph of style over substance." The legendary writer, who died in 2013, had actually used those words in his review of Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster Batman.
Megalopolis also stars Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Voight and is set for release Sept. 27.
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