Francis Ford Coppola Sues ‘Variety’ for $15 Million Over ‘Megalopolis’ Article
Famed director Francis Ford Coppola has launched a $15 million libel lawsuit against Variety over the publication calling his behavior during the production of Megalopolis “unprofessional.”
In the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday against Variety Media LLC and other defendants and obtained by Rolling Stone, Coppola’s lawyers hail the 85-year-old as a “creative genius.” “Some people are jealous and resentful of genius,” the lawsuit says. “Those people therefore denigrate and tell knowing and reckless falsehoods about those of whom they are jealous.”
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On July 26, Variety ran an article about the upcoming sci-fi film that furthered reporting from The Guardian in May that alleged Coppola had tried to kiss topless or scantily clad background actors while filming a party scene “to get them in the mood.”
The Variety article included two videos that purportedly showed Coppola “trying to kiss young female extras,” noting that a source claimed Coppola “kept leaping up to hug and kiss several women, often inadvertently inserting himself into the shot and ruining it.” The article also claimed that because the $120 million film was self-financed by Coppola, “none of the traditional checks and balances [were] in place” and there was no HR to lodge complaints with. Coppola argues these claims subjected him to “hatred, contempt, ridicule, or obloquy,” because it made him seem “incompetent” and “wasting money.”
The lawsuit claims that Variety was reckless in its actions because the production crew and background actors all signed NDAs in which “they promised to keep confidential any information” regarding the movie and the productions. But because Variety spoke with sources who signed NDAs, they “knew, therefore, that their sources were unreliable and did not tell the truth when they signed the NDAs.”
The crew member who filmed the videos of Coppola mingling with background actors “could not be trusted and wished to harm Coppola,” the lawsuit claims, because they ignored the instruction that private photography was prohibited.
Coppola’s legal team claims that Variety’s article was borne out of “malice,” and the accusations were “made to harm Coppola’s reputation and cause him severe emotional distress.” “While I have no intention of litigating this in the media, I will vigorously defend my reputation and have trust in the courts to hold them accountable,” Coppola said in a statement to Deadline. (Both Rolling Stone and Variety share a parent company, PMC. A PMC spokesperson tells Rolling Stone, “While we will not comment on active litigation, we stand by our reporters.” Variety executive editors Brent Lang and Tatiana Siegel, the piece’s authors, are also named as defendants in the suit.)
Coppola’s epic passion project Megalopolis is set for theatrical release on September 27. The Godfather director spoke to Rolling Stone last month about his journey in creating the film, which he had been toying with since the 1970s. “I have everything to lose here,” he said. “And, in a way, I have nothing left to lose anymore.”
He also addressed the allegations in the interview, calling the Guardian article “totally untrue.” “The truth of the matter is, they were looking for some sort of dirt. The young women I kissed on the cheek, in regards to the New Year’s scene, they were young women I knew,” Coppola said. “It’s all so ridiculous. Look at the timing of that article. It’s right before we’re about to premiere the film at Cannes. They’re just trying to damage the picture.”
Talk around the movie, which stars Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf, Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza, among others, has been slightly clouded by reports of Coppola’s alleged behavior on set. This week, Lauren Pagone, a Megalopolis background actress who spoke with Variety in a follow-up article about Coppola’s behavior, sued the director and others for civil battery and negligent failure to prevent sexual harassment. Pagone claims in her lawsuit that Coppola hugged and kissed her before touching her “butt without her consent,” leaving her “shocked and confused.” (Coppola has not yet addressed Pagone’s lawsuit.)
And in August, the film’s trailer was taken down after it was discovered that unfavorable quotes attributed to critics were fake.
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