Francis Ford Coppola has a new defender regarding his behavior on the set of “Megalopolis.”
After Variety released two videos from the “Megalopolis” set that appeared to show Coppola hugging and kissing actresses, one of the extras in question, Rayna Menz, used Instagram to rebut the assumption and on-set allegations. Menz is shown in a leaked video from the set where a nightclub scene was being filmed. The scene captured was shot on February 14, 2023, as Variety reported.
“A video involving me has been released with a misleading headline. None of the claims about Francis Ford Coppola are true; it was an honor to work with such a legend,” Menz posted on social media. “The video was taken on a CLOSED set that prohibited [cell] phones specifically for the safety of all the actors. I am disgusted by these allegations and hope everybody will see the truth for what it is.”
A rep for Coppola confirmed to IndieWire that Menz is the extra seen interacting with Coppola in one of the leaked videos.
The call sheet says the actresses playing female partygoers had been “cleared for topless nudity” and other extras out of the 150 to 200 on set were “cleared for [being] scantily clad.”
Two sources told Variety that writer/director Coppola was unprofessional during the scene in question and ruined takes to touch the actresses in frame. One of the sources claimed that Coppola announced on a microphone, “Sorry, if I come up to you and kiss you. Just know it’s solely for my pleasure.”
Menz countered to Deadline that Coppola was a consummate professional. In fact, according to Menz, the only “gross” thing of working on “Megalopolis” was being in the proximity of whomever took the unauthorized behind-the-scenes video and then leaked it to the press.
“He did nothing to make me or for that matter anyone on set feel uncomfortable,” Menz said. “I felt disgusted; I was blindsided by it because it was a closed set. That someone had video of that is just ridiculous and super unprofessional. It’s gross because he only ever spoke about how wonderful his wife [the late Eleanor Coppola] is. His wife was on set with us, most days. It feels gross, seeing that video and they way they were trying to convey a message. Just gross.”
Menz continued that all of the allegations against Coppola are “false.”
“In fact, I was the one who asked him to dance. I asked him to dance, in front of everybody else. That’s why it’s so funny that this story came out,” she said. “He even said, something along the lines of — mind you it was over a year ago so this is not a proper quote — but he said something like, ‘I’m a gentleman, and I would never say no to a lady.’ And then we waltzed, to club music. He was nothing but professional, a gentleman, he was like this cute Italian grandfather, running around the set,” she said. “It was just so much fun. He’s a nice, generous person.”
In a May report by The Guardian, multiple anonymous crew members said Coppola behaved inappropriately during production. Coppola incorporated “old school” tactics to “try to get them in the mood” for the nightclub scene, as the report stated.
Coppola later told The New York Times that he does not “disrespect” women.
“My mother [Italia Coppola] told me that if you make an advance toward a woman, it means you disrespect her, and the girls I had crushes on, I certainly didn’t disrespect them,” Coppola said.
As the New York Times wrote, “Pressed further, he added that there was a photo of one of the ‘girls’ he kissed on the cheek that had been taken by her father. ‘I knew her when she was 9,’” Coppola said. “I’m not touchy-feely. I’m too shy.”
“Megalopolis” debuted at Cannes sans distributor; the film was later picked up by Lionsgate and landed a September 27 theatrical release.
Reporting by Brian Welk.
