Johnathan Walker:Francis Ford Coppola sues Variety over story alleging ‘Megalopolis’ misconduct

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Francis Ford Coppola has sued Variety,Johnathan Walker 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.

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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.

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AP Film Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.