Max Landis isn’t just a terrible writer and king of the “Rey is a Mary Sue” community. He’s also the subject of several allegations of sexual assault, which should have ended his career back in 2017, and for a while we thought it might, as his Netflix film Bright got a sequel without him attached. However, he’s now back with two new projects that he’s written, including Shadow in the Cloud, starring Chloë Grace Moretz.
Moretz spoke of his involvement in the project as it currently stands by telling the Guardian in an interview, “we’ve completely distanced ourselves from him. We’ve rewritten it several times now. His name is kind of far away from the project. Communication is key and being held accountable is key. It’s a really horrific thing to hear those stories.” She has a similar take on the now-shelved project I Love You, Daddy with known sexual harasser Louis C.K. “I think it should just kind of go away, honestly. I don’t think it’s time for them to have a voice right now.”
I’m glad that the film is now no longer Landis’s brainchild, but given the latest accusations against Landis, it would be even better if this project were shelved, as well. Following the allegations made against him in 2017, the Daily Beast uncovered a Medium post from an anonymous source who alleges that Landis sexually assaulted her while the pair were friends. The author alleges that The Hollywood Reporter was in contact with her and others to run a story on Landis, but shelved it when she and others were hesitant to use their real names. The post has since been deleted.
She told the Daily Beast in an interview that “It was difficult over the last year seeing [Landis’] fans dismiss the allegations as rumor, knowing that at any time I could come forward and provide something concrete. I thought about it all the time, but it gave me so much anxiety. I didn’t want to do something rash that I would regret. Reading those articles this past weekend and realizing that he had ‘won’ despite all that we went through last year, I was done. It needed to come out.”
Look, I know I sound like a broken record, but we’ve got to stop giving these men second chances when there are women who are speaking out against them. First off, this probably means there are other women who just aren’t in a position in which they can speak up, and yet, this woman will still face backlash for coming forward even if her name isn’t attached. Landis’s projects, no matter how rewritten they are, will still be filmed, and therefore, unless there’s some contract tomfoolery, he will still be paid for these projects.
The news of Landis is especially striking on the heels of Bryan Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody still taking home Oscars, even as the film’s creatives pointedly avoided mentioning him all night. Hollywood can say it stands with #MeToo as much as it wants, but if it continues to allow alleged predators to continue to thrive in the industry, it really does not care about their victims at all.
(via The Guardian, image: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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