An extra on the set of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” has come forward to describe the “shock” she felt after the director kissed her during the filming of a scene.
Her comments come a week after Variety published videos of the Oscar-winning filmmaker milling through a crowd while stopping to kiss female background actors. One of the women in the video, Lauren Pagone, who appeared in multiple scenes in “Megalopolis” as an extra, says she was dancing in the middle of a live take of a nightclub sequence when Coppola approached her and pulled her toward him. He then hugged and kissed her.
“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.”
Pagone has worked on several studio projects in recent years including Paramount+’s “Mayor of Kingstown” and Apple TV+’s “City on Fire” and says the situation was unusual. On every other project Pagone had done, an intimacy coordinator was on hand during any scenes in which there was nudity. Several actresses were cleared to do topless nudity for the nightclub sequence, according to a call sheet reviewed by Variety. Pagone did not appear nude and was outfitted in a top with a plunging neckline.
Pagone decided to come forward when another woman, Rayna Menz, told Deadline that she was one of the actresses seen in one of the two videos published by Variety. Menz told the trade publication that Coppola “did nothing to make me or for that matter anyone on set feel uncomfortable.”
Menz did not respond to an email from Variety requesting additional comment. Pagone was upset that Menz would speak for the entire cast and crew of the film.
“I don’t appreciate anybody speaking for me. I would never speak for that actress,” Pagone adds. “I’ve kept my mouth shut. I’ve kept quiet. But it’s frustrating that she’s putting out there, ‘Hey, it was great for everyone’ when she doesn’t know what other people were feeling. You can’t speak for anyone but yourself. My experience was different.”
A spokesperson for Coppola said no one was available for comment on this article.
“Megalopolis” intimacy coordinator Samantha McDonald previously told Variety that neither she nor Ashley Anderson, the film’s other intimacy coordinator, were on set for the nightclub scene, which was filmed on Feb. 14, 2023, at Atlanta’s Tabernacle concert hall. “I can’t really speak to the reason why they chose to bring us in when they did and not when they didn’t,” McDonald said.
In recent days, another member of the cast approached Variety to say that they had witnessed Coppola kissing “multiple women” during a different scene involving a New Year’s Eve celebration. Shortly before filming started, Coppola told the extras that he wanted them to act as they would at a typical holiday party and kiss each other at the end of the countdown, the cast member said. He added that he might jump in and kiss a few people himself.
After calling cut, Coppola got up, stopped multiple women as they passed him and kissed them on the cheek. “The women that I saw being kissed did not see him coming. He just basically grabbed them and planted the kiss on them without any kind of consent,” the person added. “They all kind of laughed it off for a moment and then I could tell that they were just surprised.”
The crew member who shot the video that Variety initially shared and who was on the set for almost all of the shoot confirmed that Coppola kissed female extras during the filming of the New Year’s Eve sequence and said it was one of several instances in which the director kissed background performers.
The cast member who has worked on a number of high-profile productions in and around Atlanta says, “My entire experience being on that set was super weird and uncomfortable. It was probably the worst experience for me on a set ever.”
The videos that Variety previously published seemed to corroborate parts of a May report in the Guardian that claimed the 85-year-old director “tried to kiss some of the topless and scantily clad female extras” and told them “he was ‘trying to get them in the mood.’” In one of Variety’s videos, Coppola can be seen moving toward Pagone who turns her back to him. He then pulls her closer to him and appears to hug and kiss her.
Sources said Coppola, a film icon who has directed classics such as “The Godfather” and “The Conversation,” appeared to act with impunity on set. They noted that because Coppola financed the entire $120 million budget himself, there was no place to complain about unorthodox behavior. Movies that are produced by streamers and major studios have more formalized human resources departments where actors and crew members can raise issues and concerns.
The crew member who took the video told Variety that Coppola kept leaping up to hug and kiss several women, often inadvertently inserting himself into the shot and ruining it, which the crew member said was unusual. (Pagone confirmed to Variety that the video she appears in was during a live shot and was not taken during a break.)
The crew member said that after multiple takes, Coppola got on a microphone and announced 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.”
Lionsgate is releasing “Megalopolis,” which stars Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza and Shia LaBeouf, domestically on Sept. 27.
From Variety US