'Megalopolis' trailer pulled for using fake quotes from critics

Lionsgate pulled the new trailer for Megalopolis within hours of its release on Wednesday, after it was found to include fake quotes from real film critics. The company has since apologised to both the critics and director Francis Ford Coppola, saying that it "screwed up."

Megalopolis' latest trailer intended to depict Coppola's previous work as divisive, opening with a voiceover stating that "true genius is often misunderstood." The trailer then proceeded to display quotes purportedly from well-known film critics panning past Coppola films which are now highly regarded.

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According to Megalopolis' trailer, Andrew Sarris allegedly called The Godfather "a sloppy self-indulgent movie" that "doesn't know what it wants to be," while Pauline Kael considered it "diminished by its artsiness." Apocalypse Now was ostensibly labelled "hollow at the core" by Vincent Canby and "an epic piece of trash" by Rex Reed. Roger Ebert seemingly called Bram Stoker's Dracula "a triumph of style over substance" while Owen Gleiberman considered it "a beautiful mess."

However, as spotted by Vulture reporter Bilge Ebiri, almost all of the quotes in the trailer are demonstrably false. These critics did not write about Coppola's films using the words Megalopolis' trailer falsely attributed to them, and some didn't even hold the same opinions the trailer presented them as having. For example, while Kael gave The Godfather a positive review, her fake quote in the Megalopolis trailer incorrectly indicated that she derided it.

Within hours of Ebiri's report, Megalopolis' distributor Lionsgate apologised and announced the new trailer would be taken down immediately. Of course, because the internet is forever, the Megalopolis misinformation trailer is still available to view on multiple other YouTube channels.

"Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis," Lionsgate wrote in a statement shared with multiple publications. "We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and [Megalopolis' production company] American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our vetting process. We screwed up. We are sorry."

On Aug. 23, Variety reported that Lionsgate ending their working relationship Eddie Egan, the marketing consultant behind the Megalopolis trailer that used fake quotes. Sources told Variety that Lionsgate and Egan did not set out to falsify quotes wholesale, and that there was an error in the vetting and fact-checking of the quotes Egan provided for the trailer.

Exactly how these fake quotes made it into Megalopolis' trailer is unclear. Many on social media have theorised that the quotes were created using a generative AI tool such as ChatGPT, though Lionsgate has not confirmed this. Variety's Aug. 23 report noted that their own efforts to use ChatGPT to create negative quotes about Coppola's work resulted in remarkably similar quotes to the trailer.

It would not be surprising if AI was involved. There have already been numerous instances of generative AI being inappropriately applied despite people not fully understanding what it actually does, producing similar results.

Last year two lawyers were fined after their legal filing cited six non-existent cases generated by OpenAI's ChatGPT. Another lawyer was subsequently caught citing fake cases that their client, disbarred former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, had generated using Google Bard. In both cases they claimed to be unaware that the generative AI tools actually generate content, or that such content could be false.

Megalopolis' misinformation trailer tried to spin a tale of an unjustly vilified visionary

While most of the other critics misquoted in Megalopolis' trailer are dead, Variety's Gleiberman has responded to the incident. Gleiberman did review Bram Stoker's Dracula for Entertainment Weekly in 1992, however neither the word "beautiful" nor "mess" appeared in his article. It's an assessment he says "now sounds kind."

"Even if you're one of those people who don’t like critics, we hardly deserve to have words put in our mouths," Gleiberman told Variety. "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."

It's understandable why Megalopolis' marketing team tried to present Coppola as a misunderstood genius. Early screenings of Megalopolis have garnered mixed reactions, with Coppola's $120 million passion project leaving audiences baffled and bewildered.

Megalopolis follows Cesar (Adam Driver), an architect who has the power to stop time and wants to build a utopia called New Rome. He's also in love with the corrupt mayor's (Giancarlo Esposito) daughter (Nathalie Emmanuel). The film is currently sitting at 53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes based on 68 reviews, while its Metacritic score is 59 based on 28 reviews.

Coppola stubbornly dismissed negative reactions to Megalopolis earlier this year, incorrectly claiming that "if you look at each and every mixed or negative notice it’s always something heard from an unknown source." Every review used to calculate Megalopolis' Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores is attributable to a named film critic and publication, and is easily accessible online.

"I really feel it’s unpardonable to attack a movie because it doesn’t play by Hollywood’s current rules, by quoting unnamed sources who probably weren’t at the screening and may not exist," Coppola told Air Mail (via Independent).

It's unlikely Coppola had anything to do with the creation of Megalopolis' latest trailer. Even so, his complaints feel rather ironic now that the film he was defending has just tried to promote itself with false quotes from named critics.

UPDATE: Aug. 23, 2024, 5:36 p.m. EDT This article has been updated to include the news that Lionsgate has fired marketing consultant Eddie Egan. Additional reporting by Belen Edwards.

Megalopolis arrives in theatres Sept. 27.