Actress Rebel Wilson is not done blasting Sacha Baron Cohen for her horrible experiences in his 2016 film, “The Brothers Grimsby.” Last week, the “Pitch Perfect” star alleged that Cohen was trying to block the publication of her memoir, “Rebel Rising,” wherein she divulges negative experiences while working on Cohen’s comedy. Now, she is accusing the comedian of “bullying and gaslighting” her after the release of a video purporting to contradict her allegations against him surfaced online.
While speaking with The Sunday Times, Wilson shared her dismay about the production in more detail and said, “It turned out to be the worst professional experience of my career.” The actress said she couldn’t help but feel “disrespected on set” and didn’t speak out at the time for fear of being labeled “a troublemaker.”
“It’s one thing for someone who is fat to exploit their size for comedy, but it’s another for somebody else to humiliate you,” Wilson said, also claiming all the costumes were fitted so audiences could “see all the cellulite on my thighs and a top to show the fattest part of my arm,” leaving her feeling “like I was something to be laughed at and degraded because of my size.”
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A spokesperson for Baron Cohen responded to Wilson’s claims via Variety, “While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of ‘The Brothers Grimsby.’”
A producer on “Brother Grimbsy” who chose to stay anonymous provided a statement refuting many of Wilson’s claims.
“In my capacity as a writer and producer, I was present with Sacha and Rebel on pretty much a daily basis from the moment she was engaged as an actor to the moment the movie wrapped and she was no longer involved,” they wrote. “Throughout this entire period, she was treated with the utmost respect and empowerment and was welcomed as a collaborator in all creative areas; the script, costume, hair, makeup – everything that involved her.”
“The Brothers Grimsby” centered on a top M16 spy (Mark Strong) forced to team up with his football hooligan brother (Cohen). One of the central comedic conceits in the film is Baron Cohen’s character having a fetish for plus-sized women; the comedy explicitly aimed at creating jokes at the expense of the women’s weight and appearance in the movie (Gabourey Sidibe’s scenes are even worse).
Having played characters named “Fat Amy” in the “Pitch Perfect” series, Wilson has had a complicated time with her appearance, trying to embrace body positivity but not opening herself up to self-exploitation. During her “Pitch Perfect” years, the actress says she had a clause in her contract not to lose weight, and when she did slim down drastically a few years back, she says her agent was reluctant to hear about her “getting healthier.”
“Basically, no one apart from my mum wanted me to lose weight,” she said. People thought I’d lose my pigeonhole in my career, playing the fat funny character, and they wanted me to continue in that.”
“I knew how to be fat,” she wrote in the book. It’s who I was.”
With Wilson continuing to do press about her memoir, we likely haven’t heard the end of the actress railing about Cohen, the film, and her unfortunate exploitation on the set of the crass comedy. One hopes that Cohen can at least own up to his part in some of the misjudged and now poorly-aged comedy in the film, but don’t be surprised if this back and forth continues between the two stars.