Francis Ford Coppola named worst director

Francis Ford Coppola, one of Hollywood’s greatest filmmakers, has been named worst director for his self-financed project Megalopolis in this year’s Razzies.

Announced two days before the Oscars reward Hollywood’s finest, the Razzie Awards name and shame the year’s worst films.

In an Instagram post, Coppola said he was “thrilled” to accept the award, “at a time when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary movie-making”.

Madame Web picked up the award for worst picture, screenplay and actress for its star Dakota Johnson, while Joker: Folie à Deux also collected two awards.

The organisers have described their awards as the “ugly cousin to the Oscars”.

Megalopolis, an epic fantasy starring Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza and Nathalie Emmanuel, cost Coppola a reported $120m (£95m).

It also faced controversy after the trailer was withdrawn by studio Lionsgate, because the clip included fabricated quotes from real film critics about the filmmaker’s previous works.

“Even a cinematic maestro occasionally musters up a misfire,” the Razzies said, in a press release announcing Coppola’s win.

It comes almost exactly 50 years after Coppola won a best director Oscar for The Godfather part II.

In his Instagram post, Coppola said: “In this wreck of a world today, where art is given scores as if it were professional wrestling, I chose to not follow the gutless rules laid down by an industry so terrified of risk that despite the enormous pool of young talent at its disposal, may not create pictures that will be relevant and alive 50 years from now.”

He concluded his post by thanking everyone who worked on the film, adding: “Box office is only about money, and like war, stupidity and politics has no true place in our future.”

Elsewhere, Madame Web, the fourth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, picked up three awards after being branded a “tangled mess” by critics.

Starring Johnson and Sydney Sweeney, both the film premise and the acting came under fire in a string of one-star reviews.

Based on Marvel Comics, the film centres around a paramedic with arachnid-based psychic powers.

The trailer went viral in 2023 for its “laughably unsure tone”.

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel and Worst Screen Combo were both “won” by Joker: Folie à Deux.

The film, starring Joaquin Phoenix, was a much-anticipated sequel to its predecessor, 2019’s Joker, but it largely disappointed critics.

There was better news, however, for Pamela Anderson, who earned this year’s Razzie halo for her role as a fading dancer in The Last Showgirl.

Other winners include Jon Voight as Worst Supporting Actor for Megalopolis, Reagan, Shadow Land and Strangers, as well as Jerry Seinfeld (Worst Actor) and Amy Schumer (Supporting Actress) both for Unfrosted.