Lionsgate has pulled its trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed sci-fi epic Megalopolis, after it was revealed to feature fabricated quotes from film critics.

The trailer begins with a voiceover narration from cast member Laurence Fishburne, who says: “True genius is often misunderstood.”

A procession of film review quotes then begin to flash on the screen, offering harsh critiques of Coppola’s past films.

“A sloppy, self-indulgent movie,” reads an early review of The Godfather, while another critic declares Apocalypse Now “a spectacular failure”.

However, as pointed out by Vulture‘s Bilge Ebiri, most of these lines did not exist in the original reviews.

Having been called out for the misleading quotes, Lionsgate has since pulled the trailer and issued an apology.

“Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis,” it said. “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.”

Variety’s @OwenGleiberman is incorrectly cited in the new “Megalopolis” trailer. Here’s what thinks about it:

“Even if you’re one of those people who don’t like critics, we hardly deserve to have words put in our mouths. Then again, the trivial scandal of all this is that the…

— Katcy Stephan (@katcystephan) August 21, 2024

Owen Gleiberman of Variety, who is also incorrectly cited in the trailer, said of the fabricated quotes: “Even if you’re one of those people who don’t like critics, we hardly deserve to have words put in our mouths. Then again, the trivial scandal of all this is that the whole Megalopolis trailer is built on a false narrative.”

Ebiri, meanwhile, questioned the decision to market the film with fake quotes, given that that it will likely need critics to champion it.

“Yes, Coppola has built a career on films that perplex some critics and audiences when they first come out but are eventually revealed to be visionary works of art,” he said. “And, yes, Megalopolis will be a divisive movie.”

“Taking on critics might be an exciting and cathartic marketing tactic, but I suspect Megalopolis will need critics championing it when it actually comes out. And making up fake quotes from our heroes is probably not the best way to get us on your side.”

Critics who saw Megalopolis at its Cannes premiere last May emerged with mixed responses – The Ringer’s Manuela Lazic wrote that the film “ultimately amounts to a banal vanity project”, while GQ’s Iana Murray called it “ludicrous and awe-inspiring”. While it received a seven-minute standing ovation from the audience, some of its members were also reportedly booing.

The film stars Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, a genius architect with the power to control time. After an accident destroys a decaying metropolis called New Rome, Cesar aims to rebuild it as a sustainable utopia, while facing opposition from corrupt Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito).

Releasing in cinemas on September 27, the film also stars Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza and Shia Labeouf among others.

In NME’s two-star review of Megalopolis, Lou Thomas wrote: “The whole piece is so uneven, that at times it’s akin to watching a toddler being given free rein as an interior decorator. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you always should.”