Extra kissed by Francis Ford Coppola on set of ‘Megalopolis’ left “in shock”

An extra who was kissed on the set of Megalopolis by director Francis Ford Coppola has said the incident has left her “in shock”.

Last week, footage leaked from the making of the film showing Coppola, 85, kissing several extras. In two different video clips, published by Variety, the director is seen hugging and kissing female extras during the making of a dancefloor scene.

He is reported to have said over a microphone: “Sorry, if I come up to you and kiss you, just know it’s solely for my pleasure”.

Now, one of the women in the clips, Lauren Pagone, has said: “I was in shock. I didn’t expect him to kiss and hug me like that. I was caught off guard. And I can tell you he came around a couple times.”

One of the other extras, Rayna Menz, told Deadline this week that she had not found Coppola to be inappropriate. “He did nothing to make me or for that matter anyone on set feel uncomfortable,” she said.

Coppola has not responded to requests for comment.

Megalopolis, which was self-financed by Coppola and took decades to make, received a mixed reaction at its Cannes Film Festival premiere in May. The film stars Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, an architect-scientist who wants to improve a fictional version of New York City called New Rome.

The film has also received a mixed reaction from critics, sitting on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 52 per cent. Many have commented on the movie’s “bizarreness”, with The Guardian describing it as “bloated, boring and bafflingly shallow”.

In a two-star review, NME wrote: “The trouble is – and maybe this was also part of the point, somehow – the whole piece is so uneven, that at times it’s akin to watching a toddler being given free rein as an interior decorator. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you always should.”

“All this being said, Coppola deserves a great deal of credit for ploughing $100million of his own money into making his film, his way. Whether Megalopolis is a critical or commercial success remains to be seen but it’s strange enough to surely have a long life as a cult film.”

Elsewhere, Coppola lamented the state of modern cinema in May, claiming that some major studios no longer focus on making high quality films, but instead are solely interested in making money due to their high levels of debt.

He did, however, say he believes streaming services could interrupt the old system and potentially have a positive impact on the industry.

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