Lionsgate Yanks ‘Megalopolis’ Trailer, Apologizes For Fake Critic Quotes: ‘We Screwed Up’

Lionsgate has apologized and removed a trailer for the upcoming Francis Ford Coppola film “Megalopolis” after accusations of fabricated critic quotes.

“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for ‘Megalopolis,’” a Lionsgate spokesperson said in a statement, per Variety. “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.”

The trailer in question was released on Wednesday morning. It included big-name critics such as Roger Ebert panning Coppola’s previous projects, but upon closer inspection, it became clear that the quotes were either made up or attributed to the wrong films.

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The trailer highlighted negative quotes about Coppola’s films as a means of showing the divisiveness of his work. This seemed to be an effort to counteract the mixed reactions “Megalopolis” received at Cannes, per NBC News. 

One such faux quote was attributed to Variety reviewer Owen Gleiberman, who was said to have described “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” as a “beautiful mess” in 1992 when it was released. 

“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 said. 

“Critics loved ‘The Godfather.’ And though ‘Apocalypse Now’ was divisive, it received a lot of crucial critical support. 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.”

Ebert was said to have described “Dracula” as being “a triumph of style over substance,” which actually came from a review he did on “Batman” (1989).

Reviewer Pauline Kael was quoted as saying “The Godfather” was “diminished by its artsiness,” but that line never appeared in her original review for The New Yorker either.

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“Megalopolis” is a science fiction drama film with an ensemble cast including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D. B. Sweeney, and Dustin Hoffman. 

It follows Cesar Catilina (Driver) as an architect attempting to rebuild a utopian dreamland against the wishes of corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Esposito) after a disaster hits. 

“Megalopolis” is set to debut in theaters nationwide beginning September 27.