An attempt at using self-deprecating humor to promote Francis Ford Coppola‘s new movie has backfired.
The first full trailer for the dystopian Megalopolis, featuring actors such as Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf and Aubrey Plaza, was released Aug. 21. It began by featuring negative quotes from film critics about the director’s past projects. However, there was just one catch: They were made up.
Amid the controversy, distributor Lionsgate pulled the video and issued an apology.
“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Variety. “We offer our sincere apologies to the critics involved and to Francis Ford Coppola and [production company] American Zoetrope for this inexcusable error in our vetting process. We screwed up. We are sorry.”
E! News has reached out to Lionsgate for comment and has not heard back.
Among the fake quotes seen in the trailer: Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman was falsely cited as calling Coppola’s 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula “a beautiful mess” when he first reviewed the film for Entertainment Weekly at the time of its release.
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