Trailer for “Megalopolis” removed by Studio Lionsgate

Trailer for “Megalopolis” removed by Studio Lionsgate

The latest trailer for Big cityFrancis Ford Coppola’s upcoming film starring Adam Driver was pulled by distributor Lionsgate after it was discovered that it contained fake quotes from film reviews.

“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Big city“, a Lionsgate spokesperson told PEOPLE. “We sincerely apologize to the critics involved, as well as to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope, for this inexcusable error in our review process. We messed up. We are sorry.”

The trailer was released on Wednesday, August 21st. It contains insights into Big city Footage and title cards with negative quotes about some of Coppola’s earlier films. A quote about The Godfather, attributed to the late Pauline Kael at The New Yorker, says the film is “detracted from its artistry.” A quote from the late Andrew Sarris at The Village Voice calls it “a sloppy, self-indulgent film.”

However, as Vulture reported, these words are not found in the actual reviews by Kael or Sarris. The Godfather from 1972. Quotes attributed to critic Rex Reed and the late critics Vincent Canby and Roger Ebert also do not appear in their reviews.

Big citywhich the 85-year-old Coppola wrote, directed and produced with $120 million of his own money. The film also stars Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Voight, Grace VanderWaal, Shia LaBeouf and Dustin Hoffman, as well as Coppola’s sister Talia Shire and her son Jason Schwartzman. The film made a splash when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, receiving mixed reviews and facing reports of alleged inappropriate behavior by Coppola on set.

The now-removed trailer includes a list of quotes disparaging Coppola’s previous work, as well as a voiceover from Fishburne, who says, “True genius is often misunderstood. A filmmaker was always ahead of his time.”

Francis Ford Coppola in May 2024.

Andreas Rentz/Getty


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Big city Its North American premiere will take place at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September before being released in theaters on September 27.

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