Lionsgate has parted ways with Eddie Egan, the marketing consultant who came up with the “Megalopolis” trailer that included fake quotes from famous film critics.

The studio pulled the trailer on Wednesday, after it was pointed out that the quotes trashing Francis Ford Coppola’s previous work did not actually appear in the critics’ reviews, and were in fact made up.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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    27 days ago

    The stupid part is that you can find legitimate negative quotes just using Google. No AI needed!

    The Godfather - “overly long and boring.” Rex Reed, 1972

    https://www.ruthlessreviews.com/reviews/the-worst-review-the-godfather-ever-received-by-michael-mckown

    Apocalypse Now - “The Vietnam War was a tragedy. Apocalypse Now is but this decade’s most extraordinary Hollywood folly.” Frank Rich, Time Magazine, 1979

    “profoundly anticlimactic intellectual muddle” - Vincent Canby, New York Times, 1979

    https://theweek.com/entertainment/5191/apocalypse-now-original-1979-reviews

    • jonne
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      26 days ago

      Honestly surprised anyone actually uses chat GPT for real work without checking it. I thought everyone agreed it was basically still a toy at this point.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    It was stupid enough that they made up quotes from dead critics, because people could look it up, but they also made up quotes from living critics, which is just unbelievably moronic.

  • magnetosphere@fedia.io
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    26 days ago

    I would be absolutely furious with this dipshit… but it doesn’t matter how I feel. He has burned himself very publicly, and now the entire industry knows he can’t be trusted or relied on.

  • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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    26 days ago

    Fucking called it. The moment the first version of this story was posted I said it was going to turn out to be ChatGPT.

    How are there still people out there falling for this shit? What fucking rock do they live under?

    • TheFriar@lemm.eeM
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      26 days ago

      You mean how are there professionals falling for the ease of using chatGPTinstead of just searching for a fucking real review? Because I honestly have zero idea. Why do people even use it at all?

      • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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        26 days ago

        Exactly. After the fucking law firm almost got disbarred because it made up fake cases you’d think people would start to get the message that this is not a safe tool to use in a professional setting.

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
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    26 days ago

    Is this entire thing actually just a “guerrilla” play as a marketing tactic? Please realize that you are now engaged with this movie and potentially you just watched the trailer to “see what the fuss was about” when you otherwise would not have done that…