Megalopolis background actor says Francis Ford Coppola did not act inappropriately

Last week, Variety published a series of videos from the set of Megalopolis purporting to depict director Francis Ford Coppola allegedly kissing extras on set. This accusation has been simmering for some time, and the Variety video certainly aimed to corroborate the allegations. But whatever he was doing in the video, it doesn’t matter too much because the woman in question denies any misconduct on Coppola’s part.

Per Deadline, the background artist in the video, Rayna Menz, says she is “disgusted” by the headlines and considers it “an honor to work with such a legend.”

“A video involving me has been released with a misleading headline,” Menz writes in an Instagram Story. “None of the claims about [Francis Ford Coppola] are true; it was an honor to work with such a legend. This video was taken on a CLOSED set that prohibited self [sic] phones, specifcally for the safety of all the actors. I am disgusted by these allegations & hope everybody will see the truth for what it is.”

Speaking to Deadline, Menz claims the allegations were “all false.” Menz says that she was the one to ask Coppola for a dance, which is “why it’s so funny that this story came out.”

“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,’” she said. “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. It was just so much fun. He’s a nice, generous person.”

Several reports have taken swings at the octogenarian filmmaker for, in essence, making a very expensive independent movie. The Guardian published a piece positing whether the director of The Conversation had “ever directed a movie before?” The Hollywood Reporter has a similar report on the “ballooning budget” and “absolute madness” of Coppola’s production.

In June, Coppola denied the misconduct allegation, sort of. “My mother 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,” he told The New York Times. “I’m not touchy-feely. I’m too shy.”