It’s long been true that a white guy can thrive in Hollywood despite having a combative reputation. But thanks to the Me Too movement, those days are slowly but surely coming to close. The latest fallout comes after FKA Twigs’ allegations of abuse from her former partner, actor Shia LaBeouf. Twigs filed suit against LaBeouf last month for sexual battery, assault and infliction of emotional distress.
LaBeouf’s abusive and erratic behavior have been an open secret in Hollywood for years, but he is only just now seeing the repercussions. He was cast in Olivia Wilde’s new film Don’t Worry Darling, her highly anticipated followup to her breakout hit Booksmart. But the actor was booted from Wilde’s film in September after displaying increasingly unstable behavior and antagonizing his coworkers. Apparently, he violated Wilde’s “zero asshole policy” on set, which the actress-turned-director described as key to a functional and enjoyable film shoot.
Sources close to the film said of LaBeouf, “He is not an easy guy to work with,” and that his behavior and attitude were “off-putting” to Wilde and her cast and crew, so he was removed before production began. But while LaBeouf exited the film, he appeared in a music video directed by Wilde in October. The video was made for the song “Love Me Like You Hate Me” by Rainey Qualley, a.k.a. Rainsford, and starred Qualley’s sister Margaret opposite Margaret’s rumored flame, LaBeouf.
Wilde agreed to direct the music video as a favor to the Qualley sisters, but after shooting was wrapped, LaBeouf emailed the team his own cut of the video before Wilde could submit hers. The final cut, especially in situations like this, comes from the director. But LaBeouf and producer Luke Turner decided that they knew better than Wilde, the actual director.
Wilde countered that she would be submitting her take soon, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, LaBeouf lashed out over email. “The response apparently did not sit well with LaBeouf who responded again by suggesting that the correct response would have been to write thank you and that ‘we should go with this’ in reference to the one he submitted. Per a source who saw the email, he also wrote: ‘Great jazz musicians know when not to play.'”
Okay, so LaBeouf is not only disregarding his director’s input, but referring to himself as a great jazz musician? What an arrogant piece of garbage. I seriously doubt LaBeouf would have tried to pull the same behavior with a male director. Wilde responded simply, “I’m out,” and had her name removed from the project. Rainey Qualley later gave her a “special thanks” in an Instagram post.
Hopefully, Wilde’s “no assholes policy” will inspire other directors not to indulge terrible actors and their oversized egos. Directors set the tone on film sets, and more women directors should mean a lower tolerance for sexist, abusive behavior all too frequently indulged by male directors. Accountability matters.
(via Variety, featured image: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)
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