Lionsgate recalls Megalopolis trailer

Lionsgate has withdrawn the trailer for Francis Ford Coppola's passion project Megalopolis. The decision follows the discovery that the trailer has misquoted critiques of some of Coppola's most popular films, such as The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and Bram Stoker's Dracula. In their latest statement, the distributor said, "Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis. 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.”

To cite an example of a fabricated line in the trailer, it quoted the late Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert as saying "a triumph of style over substance" about Coppola's Dracula film. The strategy to mention the reviews was to underscore that the filmmaker's works stood the test of time while suggesting that it would be the same case for the upcoming Adam Driver starrer.

The official logline of Megalopolis reads, "New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor's daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves."

The cast also includes Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, Grace VanderWaal, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, DB Sweeney, and Dustin Hoffman.

Marking Coppola's comeback as a director after 2011's Twixt and his first feature in the sci-fi genre, Megalopolis is slated for a September 27 release in theatres.