Megalopolis: AI may be behind fake Coppola 'reviews'

We now know where the “fakes” in the latest trailer put online by Lionsgate come from.

Lionsate has found the culprit. This week, the studio was caught in a very embarrassing controversy, after the release online of a trailer for Megalopolisthe latest film by Francis Ford Coppolawhich he is distributing in the United States. The video was peppered with quotes from old critics, trashing the American director's previous works. The Godfather, Dracula Or Apocalypse Now were passing through, to show that the filmmaker was never recognized at his true value in the present. His films were only described as “masterpieces” after the fact.

An effective method to protect Megalopolis of all the reviews to come (knowing that they have already started to rain down in the wake of the Cannes screening last May). Yes, but here it is, the reviews cited were all false! Faked! Invented and attributed to real critics (dead, for the most part). A great scam quickly exposed, which forced Lionsgate to withdraw the trailer and make a public apology.

The distributor announced today that it had discovered the couplabe. Eddie Egan, the marketing consultant who designed this trailer for Megalopoliswas fired. Sources assure Variety that neither Lionsgate nor Egan intended to fabricate these quotes. The fault? A lack of verification and fact-checking of the sentences provided by the consultant, who allegedly used AI (Artificial Intelligence) to generate these false quotes. Variety confirms having experimented with ChatGPT and “The answers provided were strikingly similar to the quotes included in the trailer.”

Eddie Egan, who has been independent since 2019, had worked closely with Lionsgate chairman Adam Fogelson for more than 20 years, after they worked together at Universal and then STX.