Studio pulls Megalopolis trailer over fake reviews

The trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis has been withdrawn by Lionsgate because the clip included fabricated quotes from real film critics about the filmmaker’s previous works.

The studio, responsible for distribution of the film in the US, apologised to the critics and to Mr Coppola “for this inexcusable error in our vetting process”.

“We screwed up,” Lionsgate said in a statement on Wednesday.

Megalopolis, self-funded by Mr Coppola, received mixed reviews at this year’s Cannes film festival.

The now-dropped trailer may have been a play off that lukewarm reception, attempting to show that critics aren’t always the best judges by going back in time to show negative reviews for past Coppola films. “Genius is often misunderstood,” says Megalopolis co-star Laurence Fishburne in a voice-over.

But those negative reviews were manufactured.

The spot included a quote from critic Pauline Kael as writing The Godfather was “diminished by its artsiness”, when her actual review was decidedly positive.

Similarly, critic Rex Reed’s apparent dig at Apocalypse Now – “an epic piece of trash” – was made up.

And the late critic Roger Ebert’s alleged insult of the film Bram Stoker’s Dracula – “A triumph of style over substance” – appears to be taken from his review of a different film by a different director, Tim Burton’s Batman.

It is unclear how the quotes were created.

The trailer was viewed more than 1.3 million times the day it was posted online.

The epic fantasy, with stars including Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza and Nathalie Emmanuel, cost Mr Coppola a reported $120m (£91.6m).

In his review, the BBC’s Nicholas Barber called it a “pretentious, portentous curio”, akin to someone recalling a “crazy dream”.

The film is due to hit US theatres on 27 September.

The production was hit by another controversy in May after Variety obtained footage of Mr Coppola during a nightclub scene on the Megalopolis set last year, apparently trying to kiss female extras. Sources told the Guardian that the famed director had behaved inappropriately toward women in the movie.

Mr Coppola denied the allegations, telling the New York Times in June: “I’m not touchy-feely. I’m too shy.”