In 2017, during the dawn of the #MeToo movement, Anna Faris recounted an unpleasant incident on a film set that included various inappropriate behaviors by the head of the production in which he worked. At that time, the actress omitted the name of the director, but now, in her podcast ‘Unqualified’, Faris has decided to reveal it: it was none other than Ivan Reitman, the director who died last February responsible for titles such as ‘Ghostbusters’ and its sequel.
Reitman’s “reign of terror”
On the show, in which Faris chats with Lena Dunham, he talks about his experience filming ‘My Super Ex Girlfriend’, which he describes as a “reign of terror” commanded by Reitman.
“One of my toughest experiences in film was with Ivan Reitman. The idea of trying to make a comedy under his kind of reign of terror…was one of those who scream. I could bring someone down every day, and on my first day , It was me”.
Also, has gone into detail about the alleged assault he received from the filmmaker; a “very strong slap on the ass” that, to make matters worse, he gave himself in front of the team present, and to which he reacted with humor as a kind of protection mechanism.
“I was doing a scene where he was on a ladder to get books off a shelf and he slapped me real hard on the ass in front of the crew. All I could do was giggle.
I remember looking around and I remember seeing team members being like, ‘Wait, what are you going to do about it? That was weird.’ And that’s how I let it go. I was like, ‘Well, that was nothing. It’s not that bad. Get to work, Faris. Just laugh’. But she made me feel small. I wouldn’t have done that to the male lead.”
After these words, Lena Dunham asked the obviousstating that “I don’t think you’re the first person to have reported this, and I’m so sorry you had that experience. Didn’t anyone step in to say ‘No’?”. To this, Anna Faris simply answers “No. It was more or less in 2006”; underlining the changes that have taken place in the industry over time.
In closing, Faris mentions another nasty comment from Reitman, who assured the actress’s agent that he hired her solely for her legs.
“I remember the same director telling my agent, who later told me, that I had great legs and that’s why he hired me. And listen, that’s a hell of a compliment. I like my legs. But that It conditioned my experience with the whole project. I don’t think they hired the male lead because he had great legs. That’s why I felt like they hired me for those elements, and not for [mi talento]”.