‘Megalopolis’ Libel Suit: Variety May Make Francis Ford Coppola an Offer He Can’t Refuse, Legal Experts Say

Francis Ford Coppola is going to the mattresses against Variety with a $15 million libel lawsuit, a nasty bit of business that’s probably more about the “Godfather” director clearing his name of misconduct allegations than anything else, legal experts tell TheWrap.

Odds are long for the case to ever make trial, let alone succeed, as California is among the toughest states for libel cases, First Amendment attorneys agree. But Coppola’s personal motivations and the media’s extreme allergy to issuing retractions will likely meet in some back-alley arena. And a settlement could involve embarrassing editorial concessions from the trade that has been better known in its 118 years for cozying up to Hollywood heavies than tearing them down.

Coppola filed his lawsuit against Variety and two of its editors last week in a California civil court, claiming the paper acted recklessly and with malice — key elements for any libel or defamation suit — when it published its story in late July. The report, based on two anonymous on-set sources, said Coppola acted inappropriately with scantily clad extras while shooting his new epic “Megalopolis” in Georgia, and it provided blurry video clips of the moment in question.

Bylined by executive editors Brent Lang and Tatiana Siegel, the report corroborated witness accounts buried in a story in The Guardian published two months earlier. According to one person familiar with the matter, the Variety story was put together over two days after the videos came in cold through its tip line; the reporting was vetted by both inside and outside counsel, and the clips were embedded in the site’s proprietary player, watermarked and pre-empted by an ad.

Coppola was furious.

The videos show him mingling, brushing cheeks and greeting extras, but are inconclusive as to whether anything truly untoward took place. Soon thereafter, he dispatched members of the “Megalopolis” cast and crew to defend him.

First Assistant Director Mariela Comitini described the environment as “vibrant, professional, and positive.” Executive co-Producer Darren Demetre said Coppola greeted the actors on the dance floor “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.”

When Coppola objected with a cease-and-desist letter demanding a retraction, Variety doubled down on its reporting — and hasn’t budged. “While we will not comment on active litigation, we stand by our reporters,” a spokesperson for parent company Penske Media Corporation told TheWrap late last week.

He’s trying to clear his name. Really, are they going to go start deposing [the 150 people or so] who were there? … Or is this to get a retraction out of Variety, kind of close the book on this?

Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers

To many, the lawsuit is about more than the core facts of the matter – whether Coppola was inappropriately touchy with some women on his set – and as much about Variety’s surprising choice to embarrass an 85-year-old cinematic legend.

Coppola lost his wife of nearly 60 years in mid-April just as he was finishing “Megalopolis,” a few weeks before the self-financed film was due to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. His desolation at the loss of his wife and partner were common knowledge at the festival, even though the film received scathing reviews.

As Hollywood’s house organ, Variety has a reputation for being friendly to the trade that buys millions of dollars in advertising in its pages and is not known for muckraking scoops like the Harvey Weinstein scandal that broke in the New York Times and The New Yorker.

But the lawsuit was the topic of widespread gossip and commentary over Emmy weekend, when executives and talent speculated about who was more embarrassed, and what would happen next. One #MeToo Weinstein survivor who spoke to TheWrap said she disagreed with Variety’s choice to run the story.

“We have to know the difference between rape and whatever this was,” she said, dismissing the evidence of the videos as the kind of thing that happens on sets.

Variety also described “unprofessional” and “unusual” behavior — including Coppola showing up in the shots in question, inferring that he had “ruined” some of the footage while chasing after extras. In his lawsuit, Coppola said that simply wasn’t the case.

“There were four cameras shooting during the above-referenced scene and three of the cameras were mobile, with the crew often changing positions,” the lawsuit states. “At different times, members of the crew and Coppola were in some of the shots. That was anticipated and unavoidable. That is one reason why shots are edited. Moreover, it was planned for Coppola to appear in the referenced scene.”

A “Megalopolis” extra moves to sue

Nowhere did the initial Variety story suggest anyone had filed an actionable complaint, nor had any accuser come forward by name. That changed on August 2, when “Megalopolis” extra Lauren Pagone spoke with Variety. Then last week she filed a civil lawsuit against Coppola and his affiliated companies in Atlanta. Pagone’s complaint includes six counts, ranging from civil battery and assault to negligent failure to prevent sexual harassment, and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Pagone says she was one of the extras whom Coppola hugged, kissed and touched without consent during the party scene filmed Feb. 14, 2023, at Atlanta’s Tabernacle theater, leaving her “shocked and uncomfortable.” Despite her resistance, she says Coppola pursued her between takes, making sexual comments about her appearance, touching her back and waist, leaving wet kisses on her cheek and encouraging her to sit on his lap and call him “uncle.”

Coppola continues to deny anything inappropriate took place. In a statement to TheWrap, he praised his “Megalopolis” crew, “to whom I consistently displayed the utmost respect and my deepest gratitude.”

“To see our collective efforts tainted by false, reckless and irresponsible reporting is devastating,” the statement continues. “No publication, especially a legacy industry outlet, should be enabled to use surreptitious video and unnamed sources in pursuit of their own financial gain.”

Despite the acrimonious nature of the spat, experts agree that a jury trial seems highly unlikely, since neither side really wants the painstaking — and often painful, as Fox News found out last April in Delaware — process of libel-case discovery to play out in public.

Defamation cases “can end up being embarrassing for everyone involved,” Neama Rahmani, a trial lawyer, former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told TheWrap. “Look, he’s trying to clear his name. Really, are they going to go start deposing [the 150 people or so] who were there? … Or is this to get a retraction out of Variety, kind of close the book on this?”

Pagone’s suit could hold up Coppola’s libel filing, since its outcome would surely impact it, Los Angeles entertainment and employment attorney Camron Dowlatshahi told TheWrap. He could theoretically clear that hurdle by convincing the California court that it’s frivolous – but that’s an “uphill battle,” Dowlatshahi said.

And as this war wages on, that hill only gets steeper.

“California is really First Amendment-friendly,” Rahmani said. “That’s why Johnny Depp (who won his defamation case against Amber Heard in 2022) filed in Virginia.”

And a public figure like Coppola has an “additional burden,” Rahmani said. “You have to show malice — not just that the statement wasn’t truthful, but that there was knowledge it wasn’t, or reckless disregard for the truth. That’s why you see this back-and-forth: Putting [Variety] on notice, asking for a retraction.”

Dowlatshahi suggested that if a trial ever manifested, the film production footage from the scene in question could be ordered up as evidence.

“I would assume there were cameras everywhere,” Dowlatshahi said. “Rarely do you have hard evidence like that. Assuming there’s a specific time [Pagone] alleged she was groped, there’s a way to check that with certain cameras, that’s going to be dispositive for the case.”

Coppola, who self-financed the $120 million budget for “Megalopolis,” which Lionsgate is scheduled to release on Sept. 27 in theaters and Imax, would probably count any kind of backpedaling from Variety as a win, attorneys who spoke with TheWrap said. And that’s probably what he’s ultimately pursuing. While leveraging a lawsuit may be his best shot, Variety’s tripling-down on its reporting is, at least for now, the immovable object in the way of Coppola’s irresistible force.

And the trade has a lot of layers of protection going for it, Dowlatshahi said.

“If the authors of the article are speaking to [a witness], and she’s saying these things happened, that’s not reckless disregard,” he said. “Because you’re just receiving information, they don’t necessarily have to prove that it’s true or not.”

Sharon Waxman and Pamela Chelin contributed reporting to this story.

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