The launch of Megalopolis has been a mega mess. Director Francis Ford Coppola was accused of inappropriately kissing extras, and then the trailer was pulled because it featured fabricated quotes from critics. And now Coppola is continuing to dig the hole deeper by explaining how he intentionally cast cancelled actors to avoid being "deemed some woke Hollywood production."
In an interview with Rolling Stone published Sunday (August 25), Coppola was asked about casting Jon Voight, a die-hard Trumper.
Coppola said, "What I didn't want to happen is that we're deemed some woke Hollywood production that's simply lecturing viewers. The cast features people who were cancelled at one point or another. There were people who are archconservatives and others who are extremely politically progressive. But we were all working on one film together. That was interesting, I thought."
This includes casting Shia LaBeouf, who has been accused of sexual battery and assault, and who acknowledged that he "hurt that woman" and "hurt many other people, and many other people before that woman."
Elsewhere in the Rolling Stone interview, Coppola responded to the accusations that he had behaved inappropriately with extras, saying that the allegations were "totally untrue." He said, "The young women I kissed on the cheek, in regards to the New Year's scene, they were young women I knew. It's all so ridiculous. Look at the timing of that article. It's right before we're about to premiere the film at Cannes. They're just trying to damage the picture."
For those who haven't already been put off by the whole situation, Megalopolis comes out on September 27.