Francis Ford Coppola has spent the last four decades of his life trying to bring Megalopolis to the screen. He's finally done it, but it has not been an easy road. In fact, it has been the most hectic and unpredictable rollout of the director's career, which is saying a hell of a lot.
Megalopolis has been beset by polarizing reviews, allegations of on-set misconduct by Coppola, and a trailer that seemingly used AI to generate negative reviews of the director's previous films. It got so messy that Lionsgate, the studio that acquired the passion project, took down the trailer and issued an apology (they've since uploaded a new one).
Coppola denies allegations of on-set misconduct
Now, Francis Ford Coppola is suing Variety. He made the announcement on September 11, after the outlet published a piece detailing the director's alleged, aforementioned misconduct during the film's production.
According Deadline, Coppola is filing a lawsuit on the grounds of libel, stating that Variety caused him "emotional distress" during the promotional cycle of his new film. His Sauer & Wagner attorneys filed a statement detailing this distress, and dismissing the misconduct allegations outright:
"Each of these accusations was false and knowingly so. They were made to harm Coppola’s reputation and cause him severe emotional distress."
The director is suing Variety for $15 million
It's worth noting that Coppola is already embroiled in a legal battle pertaining to the Megalopolis set. Lauren Pagone, one of the extras who worked on the film, filed a suit against Coppola on September 9. Pagone was one of the people who agreed to be interviewed for the Variety piece, and she is suing for civil assault, civil assault and negligent failure to prevent sexual harassment.
Coppola has not addressed Pagone's comments directly. Instead, his statement denigrates Variety and those who participated in the piece as being jealous of his genius. Coppola's wording, not ours. "Those people therefore denigrate and tell knowing and reckless falsehoods about those of whom they are jealous," the rest of the statement asserted.
The director is seeking $15 million, as well as additional punitive damages from Variety Media LLC. The suit also names the two journalists who wrote the article, Brent Lang and Tatiana Siegel.