Lionsgate has withdrawn a trailer for the upcoming film Big city due to the use of fake quotes from film critics.

Self-financed by legendary director Francis Ford Coppola after decades of trying to get it made in Hollywood, the film is a science fiction take on the fall of Rome, starring an ensemble cast including Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza and Giancarlo Esposito.

Over diversityThe now-deleted trailer featured quotes from critics who had panned Coppola’s previous films, which are now considered classics, to create the impression that this new film could break through all the negativity and become a cornerstone of cinema.

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However, people noticed that the quotes featured do not appear in the reviews at all. In the case of Roger Ebert’s quote “a triumph of style over substance,” which in the trailer supposedly referred to Coppola’s film, Bram Stoker’s Dracula from 1992, actually comes from his review of Tim Burton’s Batman three years earlier.

One of the falsely quoted critics is diversityOwen Gleiberman. He also reviewed Coppola’s vampire film at the time, but did not call it “a beautiful mess” as the trailer suggested.

“Even if you are one of those people who don’t like critics, we hardly deserve to have words put in our mouths,” he said.

“The trivial scandal of the whole thing, however, is that the whole thing Big city Trailer is based on a false narrative. Critics loved The GodfatherAnd although Apocalypse now was controversial but received much critical support.”

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Lionsgate apologized for the controversy and said in a statement: “Lionsgate is immediately recalling our trailer for Big city.

“We sincerely apologize to the critics involved, as well as to Francis Ford Coppola and American Zoetrope, for this inexcusable error in our review process. We messed up. We’re sorry.”

Big city is scheduled to be released in cinemas in the UK and US on September 27th.

Joe Anderton is a freelance news journalist and Wales-based Digital Spywhere he has been working since 2016.

In his time, he has reported on numerous live events, interviewed celebrities both big and small, and incorporated countless great/terrible (delete as appropriate) puns into his articles.

Joe is a huge fan of both mainstream and obscure TV shows and movies, and is especially interested in video games. Although he is primarily a PlayStation gamer, he plays on Xbox, Nintendo, and PC/Steam Deck, and likes to keep track of many of the games he doesn’t have time for.

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