Francis Ford Coppola Addresses Controversial Marketing Mistake for ‘Megalopolis’

Director Francis Ford Coppola has publicly addressed the recent controversy surrounding the marketing of his upcoming film, ‘Megalopolis.’ In a statement made during the film’s screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, Coppola referred to the issue as a ‘mistake’ and an ‘accident.’

The controversy emerged when the initial trailer for ‘Megalopolis’ incorporated fabricated quotes from renowned film critics. These quotes, which were intended to praise Coppola’s past classics such as ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Apocalypse Now,’ were later found to be false. Critics noted that most of them had expressed positive sentiments about the films in question.

Coppola acknowledged his partial responsibility for the quotes, stating, ‘I’m the one who said there were bad reviews, but I don’t know. It was a mistake, an accident.’ The distributor Lionsgate responded quickly to the backlash, retracting the trailer and issuing an apology to both the critics involved and Coppola himself.

A spokesperson for Lionsgate stated, ‘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.’

Despite the marketing misstep, Coppola is optimistic about ‘Megalopolis,’ which features a diverse cast including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Shia LaBeouf, and Laurence Fishburne. The director remarked, ‘It’s not like anything you’ve seen.’

He explained that he wanted to create a film that is uniquely his own, reflecting on his previous work and the long journey of experimentation leading to this project. Coppola drew parallels to the art world, suggesting that great art often emerges from what was once deemed too risky or a failure.

‘Apocalypse Now is a perfect example. When it came out, people said, ‘What the hell is this?’ But they never stopped going to see it,’ he noted. He elaborated on ‘Megalopolis,’ expressing that the film cannot be easily categorized, which he believes is a positive aspect.

‘With ‘Megalopolis’ you can’t put a label on it. And that’s great. That’s the kind of film I like,’ Coppola concluded.