<p class="ingestion featured-caption">Adam Driver as Caesar on the "Megalopolis" poster.Lionsgate Films</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>A trailer for Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis" was pulled because it used fake quotes.</li><li>Coppola also came under fire when videos of him kissing extras on the set surfaced online.</li></ul><p>Lionsgate Films has pulled the trailer for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/francis-ford-coppola-hotel-georgia-2024-7">Francis Ford Coppola</a>'s science-fiction drama "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/megalopolis-francis-ford-coppola-on-conspiracy-of-bad-reviews-cannes-2024-5">Megalopolis</a>" after it was found to use fake quotes from critics. This is the latest controversy that the movie has faced.</p><p>Set in a dystopian future, the film scheduled for release in September<strong> </strong>sees an architect named Caesar (<a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-driver-movies-ranked-critics-scores-2023-3">Adam Driver</a>) and the mayor of the imagined US city, New Rome, fight over how to rebuild it following a disaster.</p><p>It's a passion project that Coppola has been trying to make since 1983. However, the scale and ambition of the movie, which features a technologically advanced city and its lead character controlling time, has made it difficult for the director to persuade studios to provide the huge budget necessary to pull it off.</p><p>Their reluctance could be surprising considering Coppola has made some of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-movies-to-watch-2017-4">best movies of all time</a>, including "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now." However, the skepticism could partly stem from the fact that his recent projects, including "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2617410817/weekend/">Twixt</a>" and "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0964185/?ref_=bo_se_r_1">Tetro,</a>" failed to ignite the box office. Studios may fear Coppola doesn't have his finger on the pulse like he once did.</p><p>Coppola took it upon himself to fund the movie himself, including selling his vineyards in Sonoma County, California, in July 2021 for an undisclosed amount. Robert Nicholson, an expert in West Coast wine assets, estimated in an interview with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/industrynews/francis-ford-coppola-plans-to-sell-sonoma-county-wineries-to-delicato-famil/">North Bay Business Journal</a> that the sale could have fetched between $500 million and $1 billion.</p><p><a target="_blank" class href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/megalopolis-francis-ford-coppola-first-look-exclusive">Vanity Fair</a> reported the director used this money to make "Megalopolis" for $120 million.</p><p>Here's a complete timeline of the drama surrounding "Megalopolis."</p>