‘Megalopolis’ Finds a Fall Guy for AI Trailer Snafu and Hollywood Cries Foul

Megalopolis Finds a Fall Guy for AI Trailer Snafu

We’ll find out whether Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is a masterpiece or a stinker when it arrives in theaters on Sept. 27, but the behind-the-scenes dramas have already been riveting. The latest twist was the snafu over the sci-fi drama’s trailer, which was pulled by distributor Lionsgate on Aug. 21, after just one day, when it was revealed that the critics’ quotes being cited in the teaser were bogus. Lionsgate apologized for the mistake — “We screwed up,” a spokesman offered — but it’s what happened next that is still irking some folks in Hollywood; Lionsgate fired Eddie Egan, a longtime marketing consultant who’d been working on the film and who, like everybody else at the studio, had been duped by an AI bot into believing the quotes were real. “They threw Eddie under the bus,” one Hollywood exec who has worked with Egan in the past tells Rambling Reporter. “Egan has the most amount of integrity, a low-key guy who never liked the spotlight. His entire life’s work will now be defined on Google as the person who tried to game the system by creating misinformation.” According to THR’s sources, Egan (who declined to comment for this report) didn’t deliberately game anything. The idea for the trailer was to lean into Megalopolis’ negative press by showcasing bad reviews of other Coppola films that proved to be cinematic tours de force. But the AI engine used to dig up examples of those sorts of reviews took creative license, inventing quotes from Andrew Sarris (who never actually called The Godfather “a sloppy self-indulgent movie”) and Pauline Kael (who never called Apocalypse Now “hollow at the core”). It was a mistake, to be sure, but not one that can be entirely blamed on Egan. As a prominent producer tells THR, the trailer was almost certainly vetted by a half-dozen others, including top brass at the studio and its marketing team, none of whom spotted the error, and they are keeping their jobs. Lionsgate declined to comment and offered no date for when a new, presumably quote-free trailer would be released. 

Robert Downey Jr., Have We Got a (Non-Marvel) Role for You

What do Dennis Hopper, Ike Turner, Robert Blake, Rob Lowe, Heidi Fleiss and assorted mafia kingpins have in common? They were all represented by defense attorney Peter Knecht, whose posthumous memoir, Blood & Justice on the Sunset Strip, has just been published (BearManor Media) — nearly 10 years after his death from cancer at age 78. The tell-all chronicles his improbable adventures, from his escape from the Nazis with his family in 1936 to a violent attack at his home above the Strip in 1998, when a disgruntled former client slit his throat from ear to ear. Cops initially thought the attacker had been hired by Knecht’s wife, Ava Cadell, who’d appeared briefly and scantily in films like Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 before becoming a sexologist. “The younger wife is always the number one suspect, which was so devastating,” Cadell tells THR. In fact, not only did Cadell stanch the bleeding and save her husband’s life, but she spent a decade after his death working to get his manuscript published. “My favorite parts of the book,” she says with a laugh, “are the parts that I’m in that talk about our incredible love story.” She’s now in talks to develop the book into a film or series. Who does she see in the role of Knecht? Another former client, naturally. “I think Robert Downey Jr. would be perfect to play Peter.”

Patti Smith (and Pals) Battle City Hall Over a Garden

A tree may grow in Brooklyn, but Nolita might be out of luck. Plans are underway in New York to demolish the Elizabeth Street Garden to make way for affordable housing for the elderly — unless a save-the-park campaign by Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and Patti Smith can change City Hall’s mind. “It’s a perfect place,” Smith tells THR. “It’s in the middle of the city, but you can sit there surrounded by fig trees and statues, listening to birds sing — it’s a beautiful thing.” Smith and her fellow ESG lovers have sent letters to the mayor pleading for a stay of execution — the publicly accessible park is slated to be closed Sept. 10 — offering alternative locations in the neighborhood for housing. “A lot of people fighting for the gardens are my age and older, and I’m 77,” Smith goes on. “There are other places they can build housing for the elderly.” So far, Smith’s pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears. According to Joseph Reiver, director of the gardens, the city “continues to feed the false choice that it’s either the garden or affordable housing.”

If Starting a Streaming Service Were Easy, Everyone Would Do It. Oh, Wait, They Are

What’s the difference between chicken nuggets and streaming content? An eight-episode order doesn’t come with fries. Still, Chick-Fil-A is reportedly launching its own subscription service, a bird-brained idea but hardly the first time a non-entertainment company gave streaming a try.

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In 2015, the online retailer announced it’d be launching a streamer to rival Amazon’s. “We already have the traffic, we’re looking for a bigger share of their wallet,” boasted then-CEO Patrick M. Byrne. Alas, the service was never delivered, and Byrne resigned in 2019 (after an affair with a Russian agent … long story).

Hasbro 

The toy-maker behind such screen-friendly playthings as My Little Pony and Transformers tried a cable channel, The Hub, in 2010, in partnership with Discovery. Four years later, Hasbro grew out of the venture, and The Hub disappeared. But Hasbro is at it again, recently announcing a Dungeons & Dragons streamer.

Brewdog

In 2019, the Scottish beer company started The Brewdog Network, a $5-a-month service that produced content like Are You Smarter Than a Drunk Person? The service no longer appears active, but you can get a taste of it on Prime, where Brew Dogs, its series about brewing in San Diego, is rentable for $2.99 an episode.

Scientology 

This 24-hour service, still very much available, doesn’t cost a dime — just maybe your soul? Now in its sixth year, it continues to produce shows like L. Ron Hubbard: In His Own Voice. But with all the star power at its disposal, it’s surprising they aren’t thinking bigger. Where’s Battlefield Earth 2?

This story first appeared in the Sept. 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.