Of all the blitheringly stupid things to do... Lionsgate have removed their trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s new film, after using damning reviews of the filmmaker’s earlier movies - which turned out to be fake.
ADVERTISEMENTA new trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s forthcoming film Megalopolis was released yesterday, with a somewhat audacious marketing angle.
Before the images for the director’s self-financed $120 million epic even started, the trailer featured several film review quotes from famous critics who had trashed Coppola’s previous films like The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
This was apparently done to show how these films had been negatively received upon their release but are now considered classics, and that Megalopolis was fated to share the same journey.
“Genius is often misunderstood,” says the accompanying trailer narration.
A ballsy move, especially because Coppola’s newest, which premiered this year in Cannes, has been savaged by critics. In our review, we called it a “disastrous folly” and an “unwieldy mess” that is comfortably one of the most ambitious yet shallow and awful films you’ll see all year. You can read our full review here.
However, it turns out that the rather savvy marketing tactic has massively backfired, as the critics’ quotes used in the trailer were made up.
Yes, really.
Talk about not doing yourself any favours – especially for a film which is already on shaky grounds due to its more-than-mixed initial reception.
Lionsgate has recalled its trailer for Megalopolis and admitted that they “screwed up.”
“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis,” a Lionsgate spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”
Indeed, the trailer attributed a quote to Pauline Kael that The Godfather was “diminished by its artsiness.” But Kael loved The Godfather, and this phrase was not used in her March 1972 review of the film for The New Yorker. Roger Ebert also did not write that Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula was “a triumph of style over substance” - his quote is actually pulled from his 1989 review of Batman.
Quotes from Rex Reed and Vincent Canby about Apocalypse Now did not appear in their reviews, while Andrew Sarris’ quote used in the trailer – “a sloppy, self-indulgent movie” – is also not in his review for The Godfather.
“Genius is often misunderstood”? That much is true, and we do invite you to make up your own mind about Megalopolis.
However, we also invite Lionsgate - and any other studios thinking of doing the same - to do better. While film critics are frequently - and unfairly - dismissed as pretentious or out of touch with the public, there really is no excuse for this sort of behaviour, which feels like petty catharsis disguised as "Oh look how critics are wrong about the greatest films - please come see our film".
Additionally, critics are by their very profession film fans and nothing is more satisfying than to champion a film. Megalopolis needs critics on side when it actually comes out later next month, and falsifying quotes is not the way to do that. Quite the opposite, in fact.
ADVERTISEMENTWhat is more galling is that considering the sheer amount of negative criticism surrounding the film, there was an open goal to be scored. It would have been significantly more interesting - and definitely more ethical - to quote the bad reviews for Megalopolis in the trailer and follow it up with: “Watch the most divisive film of 2024.”
Just a thought... considering the marketing team clearly need all the help they can get.
Megalopolis hits theatres on 27 September. Good luck to it – and to anyone buying a ticket.
