Trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s new movie pulled over ‘fake quotes’
The trailer for a new film made by Francis Ford Coppola has been pulled over claims it included fake quotes.
Lionsgate, the movie’s distributor, was forced to withdraw the trailer for Megalopolis amid allegations it included made-up verdicts from reviewers.
Released on Wednesday, the trailer showed quotes from negative film reviews for the 85-year-old director’s former big hitters, including The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Meanwhile, the narrator can be heard saying: “Genius is often misunderstood.”
But several of the quotes used in the trailer could not be found in the original reviews, according to entertainment website Vulture.
The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael was purported to have said The Godfather was “diminished by its artsiness” but the comment was not found in her positive reviews of the first two films.
Village Voice’s Andrew Sarris did not like The Godfather but did not describe it as “a sloppy, self-indulgent movie” as the trailer claimed he had.
Daily News critic Rex Reed did not use the phrase “an epic piece of trash” to describe Apocalypse Now in his reviews of the film.
The trailer also alleged Roger Ebert said Bram Stoker’s Dracula is “a triumph of style over substance” but the comment could not be found in his positive review.
Lionsgate said it was “immediately recalling” the trailer, which had amassed more than 1.3 million YouTube views in less than 24 hours.
“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement.
“We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope [the production company] for this inexcusable error in our vetting process. We screwed up. We are sorry.”
Megalopolis, which was bought by Lionsgate for US distribution, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year to mixed reviews.
The Roman-inspired film starring Adam Driver, which is said to have boasted a $120million budget funded by Mr Coppola, currently has a rating of 53 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, the US review website.
Megalopolis is set to be released on Sept 27. It follows a muddled struggle for power among the elites of New Rome, a parallel version of modern-day New York City.
Some people on social media speculated artificial intelligence tools could have been used as part of the process for making the trailer, allegations Lionsgate has not responded to.
The Telegraph has contacted Lionsgate for comment.