Francis Ford Coppola has admitted to kissing women on the Megalopolis set but denied allegations of unprofessional behaviour. / (min cost $ 0 ) or signup to continue reading In May, the 85-year-old director - who funded the $US120 million film - was accused of pulling women to sit on his lap and trying to kiss a string of scantily clad female extras during filming for a nightclub scene. Speaking to Rolling Stone, he described the original report in The Guardian as "totally untrue".
"The truth of the matter is, they were looking for some sort of dirt," he told the magazine. "The young women I kissed on the cheek, in regards to the New Year's scene, they were young women I knew..
. "It's all so ridiculous. Look at the timing of that article.
It's right before we're about to premiere the film at Cannes. They're just trying to damage the picture." Coppola insisted someone wanted to hurt his movie because he doesn't "follow rules" set by Hollywood.
"There's a prevailing tendency in Hollywood to say, if you follow our rules, you'll have a better chance of a success. "'Well, what about Francis? He doesn't follow your rules.' 'Well, look, what's going to happen to him, he's going to have a failure'.
"I'm trying to do something different here. Film is change. I mean, the movies that your grandchildren are going to make are going to be nothing like what we see now.
" Coppola has been defended against the claims he acted inappropriately by Megalopolis executive co-producer Darren Demetre..