Appeals court tosses Coppola’s defamation suit over ‘Megalopolis’ story

Coppola had tacitly admitted to hugging and kissing extras, but denied they were topless — as the Guardian had reported, and as Variety had claimed to confirm.LOS ANGELES (CN) — A California appellate panel on Friday threw out a defamation suit filed by Francis Ford Coppola against Variety over a news story about the acclaimed director’s latest film “Megalopolis.”According to the 2024 article, the 87-year-old “Godfather” director behaved eccentrically during the production, running in and out of shots and was was even seen trying to hug and kiss topless extras during the filming of what Variety called “a bacchanalian nightclub scene.” A trial court judge denied Variety’s motion to dismiss the complaint on First Amendment grounds, writing, “a defamatory implication that plaintiff was committing unwanted touching (battery) is something that can only be ascertained through witness statements.”But the three-judge Second Appellate District panel disagreed, finding that some of the statements made in the Variety article were nonactionable opinions and the others Coppola hadn’t adequately shown were false.“Coppola does not dispute he kissed some female extras while filming the nightclub scene, and defendants’ suggestionthat their videos appear to corroborate the Guardian’s reporting is a statement of opinion that is not actionable as libel,” Associate Justice Lamar Baker wrote in the 29-page ruling. “The statement that Coppola often inadvertently inserted himself into shots and ruined them is a combination of nonactionable opinion and a factual statement for which Coppola has provided no evidence of falsity.”Neither sets of attorneys responded to emails requesting comment on the ruling.Coppola claims to have spent some four decades making Megalopolis, as well as $120 million of his own money, much of which came from his winemaking empire. The film was a critical and commercial disaster, making back only $15 million at the box office.A documentary about the making of Megalopolis titled, appropriately enough, “Megadoc,” shows Coppola engaging in numerous improv rehearsals with the star-studded cast and experimenting with camera tricks. At one point, he asks cast member Shia LaBeouf (who has inexplicably shaved his eyebrows), “You know why I’m doing this movie? I already have fame. I already have Oscars. What do I get that I want? Some fun. I wanna have fun."Months before the film premiered, the Guardian ran a lengthy story about the lavish production, which included a number of anecdotes about the much revered filmmaker’s behavior. In one, Coppola is said to have come “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.’”Two months later, Variety published an article corroborated the Guardian’s story and adding a video it had obtained from a crew member purporting to show the hugging and kissing, as well as Coppola “often inadvertently inserting himself into the shot and ruining it."The story included an unnamed source who told the paper “after multiple takes, Coppola got on a microphone andannounced in earshot of everyone in the room, ‘Sorry, if I come up to you and kiss you, just know it’s solely for my pleasure.’”Coppola sued Variety — but not the Guardian — claiming libel, denying he ever hugged or kissed an actress who was topless.“The average reader would understand that Coppola was so aged and infirm that he no longer knew how to direct a motion picture professionally or efficiently," the director argued, while touting himself as “a creative genius” and noting “some people are jealous and resentful of genius” and “therefore denigrate and tell knowing and reckless falsehoods about those of whom they are jealous.”In a written declaration, Coppola said “at no time on the set of ‘Megalopolis’ did I ever hug or kiss an actress who was topless,” pointing to the embedded video, which shows him appearing to kiss, on the cheek, a scantily clad but not topless cast member.After the lower court denied Variety’s anti-SLAPP motion, the paper appealed. In his ruling, Baker wrote, “Coppola does not deny that he kissed extras during filming of the nightclub scene, or even that the videos show him doing so. The only proposition relevant to kissing extras he alleges is false is that the women were topless at the time. Defendants’ article, however, did not state they were. Rather, the carefully worded statement in the article is that the videos appear to corroborate other reporting by the Guardian concerning kissing of other topless women and, so phrased, the Variety article’s statement is nonactionable opinion about the videos’ content.”As to the the other key claim in the article, that Coppola absent-mindedly wandered into shots and ruined them,Baker wrote that while “wandering” into frame was a provable assertion of fact, “ruining” the shot was a statement of opinion, and not libelous.Justices Brian Hoffstadt and Dorothy Kim, concurred with the ruling.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads