Anna Faris accuses director Ivan Reitman of bullying behaviour on film set
The filmmaker, who also directed 1984’s Ghostbusters and 1988’s Twins, died earlier this year in February aged 75.
Actress Anna Faris has accused the late director Ivan Reitman of yelling at her and slapping her on the bottom while on the set of the 2006 film My Super Ex-Girlfriend.
The Scary Movie star, 45, made the allegations of bullying behaviour from early in her career during the latest episode of her podcast Unqualified with guest Lena Dunham.
Speaking on Wednesday’s episode she said: “One of my hardest film experiences was with Ivan Reitman.
“I mean, the idea of attempting to make a comedy under this, like, reign of terror, he was a yeller. He would bring down somebody every day and my first day, it was me.”
The actress, who played Hannah Lewis in the romantic comedy, recalled how her first scene was a fight sequence with Uma Thurman which they filmed in the winter in New York.
She explained that before they shot the scene she was in hair and makeup and the hair stylist had accidentally knocked a jar of wig glue over her and her character’s expensive costume which made her late to the set.
“I was terrified truly that my first day Ivan thinks that I’m some kind of diva that’s not coming out of my trailer,” she said.
“I’m like in the middle of the street that’s all lit, it’s a night shoot and Ivan is just taking me down.”
Asked if Reitman yelled at her, Faris confirmed he did and that he would say “Annie, you can’t play like that around here” which she said caused her to almost cry.
“I felt angry and hurt and humiliated and defensive. Eventually, I said ‘did no one tell you what happened?'”, she added.
“At that point he kind of just shut up and went behind the camera but then later, he slapped my ass too. That was a weird moment.”
After recalling the experience, Dunham questioned Faris if anyone had stepped in, to which she replied: “No, it was like 2006.”
Reitman, who also directed 1984’s Ghostbusters and 1988’s Twins, died earlier this year in February aged 75.
In 2017, Faris shared on her podcast that she was made to feel “small” when a film director slapped her on the bottom while on set but did not provide a name at the time.
She said: “I had a director… I was on a ladder where I had this scene and I was supposed to be taking books off a shelf, and he slapped my ass, in front of the crew, so hard, and all I could do was giggle.
“I remember looking around and I remember seeing other crew members being, like, ‘What are you going to do about that? That seemed weird.’
“That’s how I dismissed it. Like it wasn’t a big deal. But it made me feel small. He wouldn’t have done that to the lead male.”
She said that nobody had stood up for her because the man was a director and admitted that she dealt with the situation by telling herself to “buck up”.
The mother-of-one had at the time shared her story following the claims of sexual harassment that have emerged against the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
