Almost a fortnight ago came a cover story in The Hollywood Reporter about famed film producer Scott Rudin’s history of alleged abuse of his staffers.
The report talked with several of Rudin’s ex-staffers chronicled his alleged behavior including throwing items (teacup, baked potato, stapler) at underlings in his New York office, threatening career retribution if they left his employment, and smashing a computer monitor on the hand of an assistant which saw him sent to the Emergency Room.
Today, Rudin has released a statement that he is stepping back from a number of his upcoming films. Rudin commented on the weekend that he’s stepping back from his Broadway efforts, and has now done the same with his screen work.
In the statement, published at Variety, he says:
“When I commented over the weekend, I was focused on Broadway reopening successfully and not wanting my previous behavior to detract from everyone’s efforts to return. It’s clear to me I should take the same path in film and streaming. I am profoundly sorry for the pain my behavior has caused and I take this step with a commitment to grow and change.”
In recent years Rudin has been most involved with New York-based distributor critical darling A24 which had four films in the works with him including Alex Garland’s “Men,” Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” the Jennifer Lawrence-led “Red, White and Water” and Steven Yeun-led domestic drama “The Humans”. An A24 source tells THR that Rudin is no longer involved in any of them.
Rudin has been a massive presence in the film industry for decades, involved in many major awards contenders with films like “No Country for Old Men,” “The Social Network,” “Uncut Gems,” “Lady Bird,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Captain Phillips,” “True Grit,” “The Truman Show” and “There Will Be Blood” among many more.
In the wake of the THR story, the industry was largely silent but pressure has been mounting from unions in regards to toxic work environments. Over the weekend several developments also happened with Rudin giving The Washington Post a statement about his “history of troubling interactions with colleagues” and apologising for his past behavior.
On Sunday the twin brother of former Rudin assistant Kevin Graham-Caso addressed the producer in an emotional social media post, demanding “real consequence” from the entertainment industry for Rudin’s alleged behavior.
At present, there is no official comment or confirmation about Rudin’s name being in the credits of those five aforementioned A24 films. Rudin’s next film release is Netflix’s “The Woman in the Window” due next month.