When Lionsgate released the second trailer for Francis Ford Coppola ‘s epic film “ Megalopolis ” on Wednesday morning, it began with a litany of pans of his past work from several renowned critics. In quotes attributed to their reviews of “The Godfather,” the trailer cites The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael as calling it “diminished by its artsiness,” and Village Voice’s Andrew Sarris as criticizing the “sloppy self-indulgent movie.” Other quotes from critics such as Roger Ebert, John Simon, Stanley Kauffmann, Vincent Canby and Rex Reed similarly flash across the screen, offering harsh critiques of Coppola’s work on masterpieces such as “Apocalypse Now.
” The idea being these movies stood the test of times — their initial reactions, not so much. “Megalopolis,” which premiered at Cannes, was dismissed by many critics as indulgent and muddled. The new trailer aims to position Coppola’s latest film, as a work of art that will age well, much like its predecessors from the famed director.
It’s an interesting point to make, but there’s a pretty significant hole in the trailer’s argument. The problem, and it’s a pretty massive one, is these quotes don’t actually appear in any of the cited reviews. As pointed out by Vulture and verified by Variety , none of the phrases can be found in the versions of the stories available online.
It’s not clear at this time where any of the quotes originate from. Ebert’s quote calling “Dracula” a “tri.