What Is Going On with Francis Ford Coppola?!

Before its glitzy world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Megalopolis faced some controversy when stories emerged regarding director Francis Ford Coppola’s alleged inappropriate behaviour towards young female extras. Variety and The Guardian first covered the story, with the latter writing that some witnesses have claimed ‘Coppola came on to the set and tried to kiss some of the topless and scantily clad female extras. He apparently claimed he was “trying to get them in the mood”.’

The report came as part of a wider story on Coppola’s fraught production of his passion project, which was decades in the making and largely funded out of his own pocket. ‘Several sources also felt that Coppola could be “old school” in his behaviour around women’, wrote The Guardian. In response to these comments, the executive co-producer Darren Demetre stated that ‘There were two days when we shot a celebratory Studio 54-esque club scene where Francis walked around the set to establish the spirit of the scene by giving kind hugs and kisses on the cheek to the cast and background players. It was his way to help inspire and establish the club atmosphere, which was so important to the film. I was never aware of any complaints of harassment or ill behaviour during the course of the project.’

Last week, Variety published two videos taken by a crewmember during production that seemed to show Coppola trying to kiss some of the topless and half-nude female extras. A spokesperson for Coppola declined to comment to the publication on the videos or the claims, but a source did sidestep the issue to note that, ‘despite the death of Coppola’s wife, Eleanor Coppola, in April, ‘Megalopolis’ came in on time, on budget.’

Now, things have gotten much messier. Deadline published an article that featured the extra from that video denying claims she was harassed or abused by Coppola. Rayna Menz came forward and posted on Instagram that she was ‘disgusted’ by the report and that ‘it was all false. In fact, I was the one who asked him to dance. I asked him to dance, in front of everybody else.’

The Deadline piece is very odd in that it’s extremely passionately written and calls out both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter for what it calls ‘a trail of surprisingly aggressive reports […] which used Coppola letting go some below the liners to fuel a report that his production was out of control […] One wonders why journos are working so hard trying to tarnish one of the greatest living filmmakers America has produced, at a time when he is grieving the loss of his wife.’

This whole story is very odd. It is true that a lot of the pre-premiere reporting on Megalopolis was pretty negative in tone, focusing on the cost and the seeming lack of interest from Hollywood insiders towards distributing it. It’s been written off as the year’s biggest flop before it’s played in a single American theatre. When the allegations of untoward behaviour towards his employees emerged, it seemed like a sign of Coppola’s crumbling legacy. And the video seemed damning. But the woman involved says it’s all taken out of context and being used to hurt both her and Coppola. Variety didn’t reach out to her for comment before hitting ‘publish.’

So, why has this story turned out like this? Deadline calls out sloppy reporting from its competitors, but those rival publications are also its siblings. Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline — the three biggest trades in the entertainment industry — are all owned by Penske Media. That media empire, run by Jay Penske, also owns Rolling Stone and Billboard, and has a controlling share in Vox Media. They purchased Dick Clark Productions, which also puts them in charge of the Golden Globes, Country Music Awards, and Billboard Awards. They essentially have a stranglehold over the ways that the entertainment world is covered. Two publications went anti-Coppola and used a possible case of harassment to make the point, while another refuted it and stood tall as the pro-artist voice. But it’s all for clicks that are going into the same pocket.

And in the middle of this is the cold hard reality that instances or possibilities of harassment, assault, and workplace misconduct are seen as fair game targets for sloppy reporting and agenda-driven headlines. Not that it was ever different, of course. We’ve all seen how this rodeo goes. But there is something admittedly sinister about these reporters and editors seeing that video and not for one second thinking, ‘Maybe we should find the woman involved and hear her story.’ If she had been assaulted, wouldn’t it be basic journalistic practice to get her statement on the matter? That they didn’t suggests that her welfare was not their priority. So, what was their priority? The Penske Media shareholders seeing the line go up as their clickbait brought in ad revenue? A bunch of bitter behind-the-scenes folks who decided to weaponize a moment of possible pain to get in a few hits at a guy they don’t like?

Women’s safety and journalism wither away while corporate interests soar. That feels like what this boils down to. And boy, isn’t that so incredibly sad?