By The latest trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s epic “Megalopolis” arrived online this morning and now, less than twelve hours later, distributor Lionsgate is pulling the clip from release.
The reason ties to the opening 30 seconds or so of the trailer which boasts a number of pull quotes from famous film critics like Pauline Kael, Roger Ebert and Rex Reed that make it appear as though they gave “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” bad reviews.
The point of their inclusion was to position the film as though it’s another work by Coppola that was misunderstood at release and ultimately will be recognised as a masterpiece. Indeed, the reviews for “Megalopolis” have been notably divisive so far.
Turns out the quotes are fabricated as none of the phrases attributed to the critics are found in any of their reviews. As a result, they’re pulling it. Lionsgate says in a statement:
“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for ‘Megalopolis’. 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.”
One of those falsely quoted is long-time critic Owen Gleiberman who dubs Coppola’s “Dracula” adaptation a “beautiful mess” in the trailer. Gleiberman tells Variety:
“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.
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.”
One of the quotes has been found – Roger Ebert did indeed use the quote for “a triumph of style over substance” but not in relation to “Dracula” – rather it was for Tim Burton’s “Batman”.
“Megalopolis” hits U.S. cinemas on September 27th.
The post “Megalopolis” Trailer Pulled Over Fake Quotes appeared first on Dark Horizons.
