Right before Francis Ford Coppola’s 40-years-in-the-making passion project Megalopolis premiered at Cannes, The Guardian ran a piece on the film’s production that wasn’t a takedown, but wasn’t glowing either. At best the article painted Coppola as underprepared, at worst it showed him to be grossly inappropriate with female extras. The film itself was not well-received, so Coppola’s promotion over the summer has been a beleaguered mix of defending the finished work as well as his process. On the film front, the studio tried to get ahead by releasing a trailer featuring bad reviews of previous Coppola classics… only for it to be quickly uncovered that all the reviews were fake. As for Coppola defending his own behavior, other outlets followed The Guardian’s lead, including a Variety cover story about him that was published alongside video footage of him kissing women on set. It seems that Variety story was the straw that broke Coppola’s back: he’s now suing them for libel and $15 million in damages.

The suit, which was filed in the Superior Court of California, Los Angeles on Wednesday, Sept. 11 and reviewed by PEOPLE, names Variety and executive editors Tatiana Siegel and Brent Lang. Siegel and Lang appear on the byline for the article, which was initially published on July 26, 2024 and remains live on the Variety website.

In the suit, Coppola, 85, claims that Variety knew the allegations leveraged against him were “false” and they were made to “harm Coppola’s reputation and cause him severe emotional distress.” He further says “harm has been caused” and he is seeking no less than $15 million in damages and a jury trial.

On Wednesday night, a rep for Coppola issued the following statement on behalf of the director to PEOPLE.

“Nothing in my 60+ years career can equal the painstakingly difficult, yet artistically triumphant journey of bringing Megalopolis to the screen. It was a collaboration of hundreds of artists, from extras to box office stars, to whom I consistently displayed the utmost respect and my deepest gratitude,” the statement read.

“To see our collective efforts tainted by false, reckless and irresponsible reporting is devastating. No publication, especially a legacy industry outlet, should be enabled to use surreptitious video and unnamed sources in pursuit of their own financial gain,” it continued. “While I have no intention of litigating this in the media, I will vigorously defend my reputation and have trust in the courts to hold them accountable.”

Reps for Variety and its parent company PMC did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The Variety story published in July, which is at the center of Coppola’s complaint, cited anonymous sources that claimed the director tried to kiss female extras in a nightclub scene that were “topless” or “scantily clad.” The source was also allegedly reported as claiming at one point after multiple takes, that Coppola grabbed a microphone and said out loud, “Sorry, if I come up to you and kiss you. Just know it’s solely for my pleasure.”

The lawsuit also complains about the Variety article’s inclusion of video footage reportedly from the scene in question, where Coppola seemingly kisses and dances with female extras while filming in a nightclub. Siegel and Lang wrote that the video corroborated claims that Coppola was trying to kiss extras that initially surfaced in an article by The Guardian on May 14.

…In the court filings, Coppola’s attorneys asserted that before filing the lawsuit, he “provided evidence to Variety that the above allegations were false and Coppola requested that the allegations be retracted. Variety refused and doubled down. It repeated the same allegations and thereby emphasized its malice toward Coppola. In order to clear his name and obtain a public determination of the falsity of Variety’s allegations, Coppola has brought this case.”

[From People]

“While I have no intention of litigating this in the media…” he says in a statement to People Magazine. Coppola made sure the Megalopolis set was an anti-woke safe space for Trump supporters and credibly accused domestic abusers in the cast; a place where at least two intimacy coordinators were among the crew, yet none were present during the filming of this infamous nightclub scene. Multiple trade papers researched and reported on these facts, but it’s 85-year-old Hollywood veteran Coppola who’s suffering emotional distress — to the tune of $15 million — from their (accurate) accounts of him? With this lawsuit, Coppola is accusing Variety of trying to destroy his reputation, when in reality he’s the one successfully doing that to himself. Sadly, though, I’m not surprised by this DARVO move from him. What I am confused by is why is he suing Variety now, but didn’t sue The Guardian back in May?

Photos credit: Lu Chau / Wenn / Avalon