Current:Home > StocksFrancis Ford Coppola sues Variety over story alleging ‘Megalopolis’ misconduct -EliteFunds
Francis Ford Coppola sues Variety over story alleging ‘Megalopolis’ misconduct
View
Date:2025-04-16 05:57:21
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Francis Ford Coppola has sued Variety, saying that a July story that said he ran an unprofessional set with impunity and touching and tried to kiss female extras during the production of his film “Megalopolis” was false and libelous.
The suit, which seeks at least $15 million from the entertainment trade publication, was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, two weeks before the director’s long-dreamed-of and self-financed epic is to be released in U.S. theaters.
The suit calls the director of “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now” a “creative genius” and says others are “jealous” and therefore tell “knowing and reckless falsehoods.”
It says Variety’s “writers and editors, hiding behind supposedly anonymous sources, accused Coppola of manifest incompetence as a motion picture director, of unprofessional behavior on the set of his most recent production, Megalopolis, of setting up some type of scheme so that anyone on the set who had a complaint of harassment or otherwise had nowhere to lodge a complaint, and of hugging topless actresses on the set. Each of these accusations was false.”
The lawsuit also names the story’s reporters, Brent Lang and Tatiana Siegel, as defendants.
It repeatedly says Variety was either knowingly publicizing falsehoods or showing reckless disregard for the truth, echoing a standard for libel established by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A Variety spokesperson, Jeffrey Schneider, told The Associated Press, “While we will not comment on active litigation, we stand by our reporters.”
The July 26 story used anonymous reports and videos from crew members of the shooting for “Megalopolis” of a nightclub scene in an Atlanta concert hall in February, 2023. The story said Coppola tried to kiss young female extras and “appeared to act with impunity” on the set. It said the film’s financial arrangements meant “there were none of the traditional checks and balances in place.”
In one video, Coppola, wearing a white suit, walks through a dancing crowd, stopping to apparently lean in to several young women to hug them, kiss them on the cheek or whisper to them. Another video shows him leaning into a woman who pulls away and shakes her head.
All of the women have tops on, and the Variety story mentions “topless” extras only in reference to an original report on the allegations in the Guardian.
In a subsequent story about a week later, which is mentioned only parenthetically in Coppola’s lawsuit, one of the women, Lauren Pagone, spoke to Variety and agreed to be identified, saying Coppola left her “in shock” when he touched, hugged and kissed her without her consent.
Pagone said she came forward because another of the extras, Rayna Menz, said in Variety’s sister publication Deadline that Coppola did nothing to make her or anyone else on the set uncomfortable.
The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Pagone has.
Asked about the touching and kissing allegations by The AP before the lawsuit was filed, Coppola said, “I don’t even want to (talk about it). It’s a waste of time.”
Later in the same interview, without being asked about the subject again, Coppola said “I’m very respectful of women. I always have been. My mother taught me — she was a little nuts — she said, ‘Francis if you ever make a pass at a girl, that means you disrespect her.’ So I never did.”
The lawsuit takes particular issue with an assertion in the Variety story that Coppola inadvertently got into a shot and ruined it. The suit says Coppola was well aware that some camera angles would include him, and that he was supposed to appear in the scene anyway.
“The average reader would understand that Coppola was so aged and infirm that he no longer knew how to direct a motion picture,” the suit says.
“Megalopolis” is a Roman epic set in a futuristic New York starring Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel. Coppola sold off pieces of his considerable wine empire to largely finance it himself.
___
AP Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.
veryGood! (5565)
Related
- Average rate on 30
- New York man convicted of murdering woman who wound up in his backcountry driveway after wrong turn
- Pilot dies after small plane crashes at Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas
- Group sues Arkansas attorney general for not approving government records ballot measure
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Phoenix woman gets 37-year prison sentence in death of her baby from malnutrition, medical neglect
- Chicago Bears hire Seattle Seahawks' Shane Waldron as their offensive coordinator
- Brazil’s official term for poor communities has conveyed stigma. A change has finally been made
- California DMV apologizes for license plate that some say mocks Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Oppenheimer' dominates the Oscar nominations, as Gerwig is left out for best director
Ranking
- Highlights from Trump’s interview with Time magazine
- Love Is Blind Contestant Spots This Red Flag in Season 6 Trailer
- What is nitrogen hypoxia? Alabama execution to proceed with unprecedented, controversial method
- Takeaways from the Oscar nominations: heavy hitters rewarded, plus some surprises, too
- Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
- Man ordered to stand trial in slaying of Detroit synagogue leader
- To parents of kids with anxiety: Here's what we wish you knew
- Georgia secretary of state says it’s unconstitutional for board to oversee him, but lawmakers differ
Recommendation
Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
Grand jury indicts farmworker charged in Northern California mass shootings
The US military has carried out airstrikes in Somalia that killed 3 al-Qaida-linked militants
Norman Jewison, Oscar-nominated director of 'Fiddler on the Roof' and 'Moonstruck,' dies at 97
'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
Niecy Nash Reveals How She's Related to Oscar Nominees Danielle Brooks and Sterling K. Brown
Ryan Gosling Calls Out Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie Oscars Snubs
I Have Hundreds of Lip Liners, Here Are My Top Picks Starting at $1— MAC, NYX, and More