Some surprise footage has surfaced from Francis Ford Coppola’s newest film called “Megalopolis” that’s got people talking. In the video, which entertainment magazine Variety got their hands on, the famous 85-year-old director Coppola is seen kissing some of the extras during the filming of a nightclub scene. Because of this, it’s brought up old discussions about what behavior is okay on movie sets and that independently made films like this one might not have the normal protections in place.
The incident supposedly happened last year and shows Coppola getting close and kissing some of the extras who were dressed to stand out in the nightclub scenes. Word is he told everyone through a microphone “Sorry if I come up to you, just think of it as something I’m doing for me.” Some past reports also said Coppola likes to pull girls onto his lap and kiss extras to “help set the mood” which doesn’t sound very professional.
Other people in the movie business thought what Coppola did was strange. As one source told Variety, “I’ve worked with big name directors before and that’s not usual behavior – normally they just say something encouraging like ‘high energy guys.'” No one said they’d seen a director or even a camera person actually touch an actor on set before now.
The fact that Coppola fully paid for the $120 million “Megalopolis” himself has gotten some attention too. Since there wasn’t a big studio backing it, there wasn’t a human resources department there to make sure things stayed on the right track. As someone told Variety, “Who could the extras complain to? Tell Coppola he was doing something wrong and expect him to do anything about it when it was his own movie?”
Though not everyone agrees what happened was wrong. The executive producer, Darren Demetre, said Coppola was “just trying to inspire the club feel” and that no one complained. The first assistant director thought the set had “a great atmosphere where everyone got along.”
When a newspaper asked Coppola about it in June, he denied doing anything inappropriate. He said “I’m too shy for that kind of thing” and that when he had crushes on girls as a kid, he’d never disrespect them.
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“Megalopolis,” about a Roman story taking place in modern-day America with stars like Adam Driver and Aubrey Plaza, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year to mixed reactions. It took some work but Lionsgate will release the movie this coming fall. As always, people in Hollywood are still talking about what should and shouldn’t happen on film sets, especially when there’s less supervision.
