Scandal-plagued "Megalopolis" trailer uses AI‑generated fake quotes

There have been many scandals surrounding the film Megalopolis recently. First, videos leaked showing the director kissing extras, and now there's an uproar after the release of a trailer that used fake quotes from critics. There's more to the story.

"Megalopolis" is a new film by Francis Ford Coppola, the creator of the legendary "Apocalypse Now." The production has been talked about for months. It was announced as an epic tale and one of the year's best films. The story revolves around political ambitions and a utopian city governed by its own laws. Coppola shelled out $120 million from his pocket. He sacrificed part of his shares in his family winery to make the film with a star-studded cast. Until now, "Megalopolis" was written about as a masterpiece and a movie that could achieve significant success in theaters worldwide. However, worrying reports about Coppola's behavior on set, where he was reportedly hugging and kissing extras, started to surface.

The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and is now entering wide distribution in theaters. The American premiere is scheduled for October 25. With so much talk about the film due to various scandals, the audience might be larger than initially expected.

It all started with the release of a trailer that used several excerpts from critics' reviews. This is a standard practice. However, journalists quickly realized that the quotes used in the trailer were fabricated. "Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Megalopolis,'" said a spokesperson for Lionsgate. "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."

This kind of situation has never happened before. The "blunder" was covered by all global media. However, the studio's apology did not end the matter. It turned out that the fake quotes, purportedly from critics' reviews, were generated using artificial intelligence.

According to Variety, Lionsgate decided to end its collaboration with experienced marketing consultant Eddie Egan following the controversy. The false quotes were most likely generated by artificial intelligence, such as a chatbot similar to ChatGPT.

Lionsgate even decided to test how ChatGPT would handle generating negative opinions about other Coppola films, such as "The Godfather" or "Apocalypse Now," discovering astonishing similarities to those visible in the trailer. Journalists noted that AI twisted the meanings of critics' statements. The chatbot generated negative quotes even if the critics liked the film and spoke positively in their reviews.

As Variety reports, the marketing campaign's goal was to show that Coppola's films had been misunderstood and "ahead of their time" since the 1970s.

Egan, who has had a long career in the film industry, including 19 years spent at Universal, did not comment on the matter, nor did representatives of Lionsgate. As a result of the controversy, Lionsgate took full responsibility for the mistake and announced the premiere of "Megalopolis" in theaters and IMAX, noting that Coppola is funding the marketing campaign, and his nephew Robert Schwartzman is set to provide "alternative marketing services."