Famed director Francis Ford Coppola has filed a $15 million lawsuit against diverse On the post that described his behavior during production. huge city “unprofessional.”
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday against Variety Media LLC and other defendants that was obtained by Rolling StoneCoppola's lawyers have praised the 85-year-old as a “creative genius.” “Some people are jealous of and resentful of genius,” the lawsuit says. “Those people abuse those they are jealous of and deliberately and recklessly spread falsehoods.”
On July 26, diverse He posted an article about the upcoming sci-fi movie that boosted reports of The Guardian Last May, reports claimed that Coppola tried to kiss topless or semi-nude background actors while filming a party scene “to put them in the mood.”
the diverse The article included two videos showing Coppola “attempting to kiss young actresses,” noting that one source claimed that Coppola “continued to jump in to hug and kiss various women, often inadvertently inserting himself into the shot and ruining it.” The article also claimed that because the $120 million film was self-financed by Coppola, “none of the traditional checks and balances were in place.” [were] “In his place” and there was no human resources department to report complaints to. Coppola claims these allegations exposed him to “hatred, contempt, ridicule or slander” because they made him appear “incompetent” and “wasting money.”
The lawsuit alleges that diverse The company was reckless in its actions because the production crew and background cast had all signed non-disclosure agreements in which they “promised to keep confidential any information” related to the film and production. But because diverse The newspaper spoke to sources who signed non-disclosure agreements, saying they “knew, therefore, that their sources were unreliable and were not telling the truth when they signed the non-disclosure agreements.”
The lawsuit alleges that the crew member who filmed videos of Coppola mingling with background actors “could not be trusted and wanted to harm Coppola,” because they ignored instructions prohibiting private filming.
Coppola's legal team claims that Varieties “While I do not intend to pursue a lawsuit in the media, I will vigorously defend my reputation and trust the courts to hold it accountable,” Coppola said in a statement to Deadline. (Both Rolling Stone and diverse It is owned by a parent company, PMC. A PMC spokesperson says: Rolling Stone, “We have no comment on pending litigation.” diverse (Executive editors Brent Lang and Tatiana Siegel, the authors of the article, are also named as defendants in the lawsuit.)
Coppola's epic passion project huge city The film is scheduled to be released in cinemas on September 27. The Godfather The director spoke to Rolling Stone Last month, he spoke about his journey into film production, which he has been playing with since the 1970s. “I have everything to lose here,” he said. “In a way, I have nothing to lose anymore.”
He also addressed the accusations in the interview, describing them as: Guardian “The article is ‘absolutely untrue,’” Coppola said. “The truth of the matter is that they were looking for some kind of dirt. The young women I kissed on the cheek, in connection with the New Year’s Eve scene, were young women I knew. This is all so ridiculous. Look at the timing of this article. It’s before the film premieres in Cannes. They’re just trying to damage the image.”
Talk of the film, which stars Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf, Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza, among others, has been clouded by reports of Coppola’s alleged on-set behavior. This week, Lauren Bajon, a co-star in the film, announced her retirement. huge city The background actress I spoke to diverse In a subsequent article about Coppola's behavior, Pajon sued the director and others for civil assault and negligent failure to prevent sexual harassment. Pajon alleges in her lawsuit that Coppola hugged and kissed her before touching her “buttocks without her consent,” leaving her “shocked and confused.” (Coppola has not yet addressed Pajon's lawsuit.)
In August, the film's trailer was removed after it was discovered that unfavorable quotes attributed to critics were fake.
