Following in the wake of Harvey Weinstein, James Toback, Kevin Spacey, and others in Hollywood accused of sexual harassment, misconduct, and assault, the lid has come off another industry power player.
The LA Times reports that six women have stepped forward and accused filmmaker Brett Ratner of sexual harassment and misconduct. Natasha Henstridge, Olivia Munn, Jaime Ray Newman, and Katharine Towne are among those who have gone on the record with the paper, share their experiences of uncomfortable and inappropriate encounters with the director. They all have a similar throughline, with Ratner persisting in his attentions, to a degree both uncomfortable and unprofessional, leaving some of his victims shaken for years.
Munn, whose story has previously been detailed in the press, fully shares what she encountered while visiting the set of “After The Sunset.” She was asked to drop off some food in his trailer, where she was told he was not present. However, Munn was surprised to find him there, and when the tried to leave, the director told her to stay.
“He walked out … with his belly sticking out, no pants on, shrimp cocktail in one hand and he was furiously masturbating in the other,” Munn said. “And before I literally could even figure out where to escape or where to look, he ejaculated.”
Munn gave a “startled scream” and left, and when she shared what happened with the man who told her to drop off the food, he didn’t take it seriously. “It was just, ‘Ugh, sorry about that.’ ”
The actress did speak to a lawyer, but was advised that her career as fledgling actress might be in jeopardy if she went after a well know director. “That did leave an impact on me. How broken do women have to be before people listen?” Munn said.
While no one is going to particularly miss the cinema of Brett Ratner, it’s worth noting that he might be more powerful than you realize. He’s one of the co-founders of RatPac-Dune Entertainment, who co-finance many of Warner Bros. top tier pictures. This year alone, they’ve been involved with “Dunkirk,” “The Disaster Artist” (which was at New Line before A24 snapped it up), “It,” and “The Lego Batman Movie.” Removing Ratner from the day to day operations in Hollywood is going to involve more than just making sure he doesn’t direct another movie for a long time.
Through his attorney Martin Singer, Ratner denies these allegations.