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Trailer Watch: Megalopolis
Taking a page from Lost Highway‘s long-ago trick of using “Two Thumbs Down” as a blurb for the poster, the trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis pullquotes many of the negative responses to his work over the years, some from long-dead critics like Andrew Sarris and John Simon. (Here’s Vadim Rizov’s review from Cannes.) The film opens September 27 from Lionsgate.
UPDATE: Lionsgate has pulled the Megalopolis trailer originally included in this post after critics and outlets pointed out that the negative blurbs contained in the trailer could not be sourced from the original reviews and may be fabricated. In a statement released to Variety, Lionsgate 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.”
As we pointed out above, deceased critics Andrew Sarris and John Simon were quoted, but so was the very much alive Owen Gleiberman, now a Variety critic, who was able to spot the falsehood. “As far as me calling Bram Stoker’s Dracula ‘a beautiful mess,’ I only wish I’d said that! Regarding that film, it now sounds kind,” he commented.
