Francis Ford Coppola Sues Variety for $15 Million

Lawyered up. Photo: Getty Images

The drama associated with Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis is seemingly never-ending. The director is now suing Variety magazine for libel over claims made in a July 26 article that Coppola had acted with “impunity” on the film’s set. The director is seeking $15 million in damages from Variety Media LLC and the journalists who wrote the piece, Brent Lang and Tatiana Siegel, his lawyers said in a September 11 filing. The Variety story included two videos of Coppola, which the authors stated showed the “director trying to kiss young female extras.” Coppola’s suit requests a jury trial and notes that anybody on set who took the videos had signed an NDA. “The signatories to the NDA agreed to hold all such information in the strictest confidence and assure that the confidential information not be published,” the suit says. “Defendants knew, therefore, that their sources were unreliable and did not tell the truth when they signed the NDA.”

“Some people are creative. Very few people are creative geniuses,” the suit begins. “In the world of motion pictures, Plaintiff Francis Ford Coppola (‘Coppola’) is a creative genius. Some people are jealous and resentful of genius. Those people therefore denigrate and tell knowing and reckless falsehoods about those of whom they are jealous.”

The suit also rejects the article’s assertion that “there were none of the traditional checks and balances in place” during the filming of Megalopolis. The suit claims these allegations were “made maliciously, with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard for whether the statements were true or false.” Coppola served Variety with a retraction demand, per the filing, which the site did not comply with. The Variety article was published two months after The Guardian reported that Coppola had allegedly tried to kiss female extras to get them “in the mood.”

“Nothing in my 60+ years career can equal the painstakingly difficult yet artistically triumphant journey of bringing Megalopolis to the screen. It was a collaboration of hundreds of artists, from extras to box office stars, to whom I consistently displayed the utmost respect and my deepest gratitude,” Coppola said in a statement shared with People on September 12. “No publication, especially a legacy industry outlet, should be enabled to use surreptitious video and unnamed sources in pursuit of their own financial gain.”

Just two days prior, on September 9, Megalopolis extra Lauren Pagone, who was quoted by Variety, sued Coppola and others in Georgia for civil battery, civil assault, and negligent failure to prevent sexual harassment, per Deadline. That lawsuit reportedly claims Pagone “was not provided with any rider that explained the details for sexual content and/or nudity guidelines on set nor was there any description as to what she or other actors would soon experience on set.”