The latest trailer for MegalopolisFrancis Ford Coppola’s upcoming film starring Adam Driver has been pulled by distributor Lionsgate after it was found to include fake movie review quotes.
“Lionsgate is immediately pulling our trailer for Megalopolis,” a Lionsgate spokesperson told PEOPLE. “We sincerely apologize 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.”
The announcement in question was made earlier on Wednesday, August 21. Includes fragments Megalopolis footage, as well as title cards consisting of negative quotes about some of Coppola’s previous films. Quote about Godfather, attributed to the late Pauline Kael at The New Yorker, says the film is “diminished by its art.” A quote from the late Andrew Sarris on The Village Voice calling it a “sloppy, self-indulgent film”.
However, as reported by Vulture, those words cannot be found in authentic reviews from Kael or Sarris Godfather from 1972. Quotations attributed to critic Rex Reed and the late critics Vincent Canby and Roger Ebert also do not appear in their reviews.
What is Megalopolis About? Everything you need to know about Francis Ford Coppola’s $120 million project
Megalopoliswhich Coppola, 85, wrote, directed and produced with $120 million of his own money, starring Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Voight, Grace VanderWaal, Shia LaBeouf and Dustin Hoffman, plus Coppola’s sister Talia Shire and her son Jason Schwartzman. He made the series during its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May, earning mixed reviews from critics and facing reports that Coppola allegedly misbehaved on set.
The now-retired trailer features a list of quotes disparaging Coppola’s earlier work and the voice of Fishburne intoning, “True genius is often misunderstood. One filmmaker was always ahead of his time.”
Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro celebrate ‘The Godfather’ in honor of 50 years at the 2022 Oscars.
Francis Ford Coppola in May 2024.
Andreas Rentz/Getty
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date with the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Megalopolis will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September, ahead of a September 27 release.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education