There’s been a lot of controversy surrounding director Bryan Singer in the last year, as continued allegations of sexual assault have hounded the filmmaker. There was a big uproar recently, when it was announced that Singer was still staying on the reboot of Red Sonja, despite all the allegations against him. Well, it seems Millennium Films finally reached its breaking point, because it’s now being reported that Bryan Singer has been dropped from Red Sonja!
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THR was doing a profile on the current scandal surrounding Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara and the actress he slept with in exchange for furthering her career; apparently, she was pushed off onto Millennium Films’ CEO Avi Lerner, who cast her in a few projects. This marks the second time this year that Lerner’s name has been attached to a major Hollywood controversy, as THR points out:
“Lerner made news recently when he hired Bryan Singer to direct a reboot of Red Sonja. After Singer was accused in an Atlantic magazine article of sexually assaulting underaged boys, Lerner dismissed the story as “agenda-driven fake news,” then walked the statement back. Eventually, he dropped Singer from the project because he was unable to secure a domestic distributor.”
It was previously reported that Red Sonja has been put on hold due to Singer’s presence, and now we know that it became an insurmountable problem. It’s actually a major heel-turn for Avi Lerner, who vehemently defended Singer being part of Red Sonja earlier this year:
“I continue to be in development for Red Sonja and Bryan Singer continues to be attached,” producer Avi Lerner said in a statement published via THR. “The over $800 million Bohemian Rhapsody has grossed, making it the highest grossing drama in film history, is testament to his remarkable vision and acumen. I know the difference between agenda driven fake news and reality, and I am very comfortable with this decision. In America people are innocent until proven otherwise.”
Singer has been accused of some truly horrific crimes, including multiple counts of sex with underage boys and rumors that the Oscar-winning writer/director was part of a secret ring of abusers, within Hollywood’s gay community. Singer and his legal team have maintained their denials of the claims, stating the following:
“Bryan categorically denies these allegations and will vehemently defend this lawsuit to the very end…When Sanchez-Guzman filed for bankruptcy only a few years ago, he failed to disclose this alleged claim when he was supposed to identify all of his assets, but conveniently, now that the bankruptcy court discharged all of his debts, he is able to recall the alleged events.
The attorney behind this lawsuit is the same lawyer who represented Michael Egan, the convicted felon who sued Bryan Singer in 2014. In the end, Egan was forced to dismiss that case once the facts came out and his story completely fell apart.”
We’ll keep you updated about the status of Red Sonja.
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