Director Francis Ford Coppola was finally asked about a since-pulled trailer for “Megalopolis” that featured fake, negative reviews from critics like Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael.
“It was a mistake, an accident, I’m not sure what happened,” Coppola told Entertainment Tonight, while walking the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The first trailer for “Megalopolis” showcased negative reviews for Coppola’s films “Apocalypse Now,” “The Godfather” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” The pans were accompanied by a voice-over from Laurence Fishburne, sharing that “true genius is often misunderstood.”
The trailer appeared to be playing damage control after Coppola’s initial festival screenings garnered mixed reviews. The framing that Coppola’s classics were once rejected by critics would be a great point, if it were true. Unfortunately, none of the quotes used in the trailer were real. Frequently, the critics cited were overwhelmingly positive about the films in question upon their release. Distributor Lionsgate recalled the trailer, saying “we screwed up.”
At TIFF, Coppola took credit for the idea of centering old negative reviews, but shared that he had no idea how the AI-generated non-quotes ended up in the trailer.
“I know that there were bad reviews. I’m the one that who said there were bad reviews,” he said.