“Megalopolis” extra Lauren Pagone has come forward to identify herself as the woman Francis Ford Coppola allegedly hugged and kissed on the set of his forthcoming film. Pagone spoke out to Variety after another extra, Rayna Menz, came to Coppola’s defense on Instagram.
“I was in shock. I didn’t expect him to kiss and hug me like that,” Pagone, who said she appears in multiple “Megalopolis” scenes as an extra, told the publication. “I was caught off guard. And I can tell you he came around a couple times.”
As Variety reported, Pagone 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.”
Pagone, whose credits also include “Mayor of Kingstown” and “City on Fire,” cited how her experience on “Megalopolis” vastly differed from the other professional sets. She said she is speaking out because of Menz’s social-media post stating that “none of the claims about Francis Ford Coppola are true.”
“I don’t appreciate anybody speaking for me. I would never speak for that actress,” Pagone said of Menz. “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.”
An unnamed “Megalopolis” cast member also told Variety recently that Coppola was kissing “multiple women” during the nightclub scene in question. The story reads, “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.”
The source told the outlet, “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. They all kind of laughed it off for a moment and then I could tell that they were just surprised.”
The cast member echoed Pagone, saying, “My entire experience being on that set was super weird and uncomfortable. It was probably the worst experience for me on a set ever.”
IndieWire has reached out to Coppola’s representatives for comment on the latest allegations.
Previous 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.”
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 addressed the initial allegations in an interview with The New York Times, saying that he does not “disrespect” women.
“Megalopolis” executive co-producer Darren Demetre previously told IndieWire that he was “never aware of any complaints of harassment” during production. First assistant director Mariela Comitini also told IndieWire that “working alongside Francis Ford Coppola was an honor” and Coppola led a “vibrant, professional, and positive environment on set.”
